Title :
Photocurrent-assisted wavelength (PAW) conversion with electrical monitoring capability using a traveling-wave electroabsorption modulator
Author :
Chou, Hsu-Feng ; Chiu, Yi-Jen ; Keating, Adrian ; Bowers, John E. ; Blumenthal, Daniel J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Abstract :
A new mechanism of cross-absorption modulation is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to assist wavelength conversion using a traveling-wave electroabsorption modulator (TW-EAM). The photocurrent signal generated by the pump propagates along the TW electrodes and changes the absorption of the waveguide, which imprints data to the probe. The photocurrent signal can also be received by an external electronic circuit to provide monitoring capability. This photocurrent-assisted mechanism does not rely on the saturation of absorption and has the potential to reduce the high pumping power required by EAM-based wavelength converters. Using 2.5-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero data, the conversion range can cover 30 nm in C-band and the lowest power penalty is 0.5 dB.
Keywords :
electro-optical modulation; electroabsorption; optical communication equipment; optical wavelength conversion; optoelectronic devices; photoconductivity; wavelength division multiplexing; 2.5 Gbit/s; 2.5-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero data; C-band; EAM-based wavelength converters; cross-absorption modulation; electrical monitoring capability; external electronic circuit; monitoring capability; photocurrent signal generation; photocurrent-assisted mechanism; photocurrent-assisted wavelength conversion; power penalty; traveling-wave device; traveling-wave electroabsorption modulator; Absorption; Electrodes; Electronic circuits; Monitoring; Photoconductivity; Plasma welding; Probes; Signal generators; Waveguide transitions; Wavelength conversion;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LPT.2003.821095
