Demonstration of extinction ratio improvement from 2 to 9 dB and intensity noise reduction with the MZI-GCSOA all-optical 2R regenerator

In this letter, we experimentally demonstrate improved static and dynamic characteristics of the all-optical 2R regenerator based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers. A true digital-like optical decision characteristic with an adjustable decision threshold has been found. A tremendous noise suppression at the logic "0" and a large improvement in the extinction ratio have been obtained even for a very deteriorated input signal with small extinction ratio at a bit rate of 2.488 Gb/s. An 8-dB improvement in extinction ratio can be achieved for an input extinction ratio of 5- and 7-dB improvement for an input extinction ratio of 2 dB. Furthermore, a good regeneration is achieved over a broad wavelength range of 20 nm.