Low cross talk, high-extinction-ratio wavelength switching based on four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Summary form only given. The future high-speed optical behaviour will incorporate all-optical wavelength converters to allow information to be transferred between channels in a wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) or optical FDM transmission system. Analogous to a space switch, wavelength switching elements must: be cascadable and provide low cross talk and high signal-to-noise ratio. Four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is desirable for frequency conversion due to its continuous tuning and transparency to modulation format.