Investigation of cascade limits of optoelectronic wavelength converters in a recirculating loop experiment

Cascadable wavelength converters are desired for future optical networks in which an optical path may pass through many optical wavelength converters. Furthermore, bit-rate transparency may be required in order to support networks which allow multiple bit-rates to be transmitted. Optoelectronic (OE) wavelength converters are an attractive approach in which to implement the wavelength conversion function. We describe cascade limits observed in OE wavelength converters in recirculating loop experiments. Additionally, the limiting effect of reducing the converter electro-optical bandwidth is examined