Wavelength characterization of all-optical wavelength shifter

We report broadband operation of an all-optical wavelength shifter, performing simultaneous drop and wavelength-conversion of a burst of OOK data selected by an optical gate. The device operates entirely in the photonic domain and is based on a single Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. The circuit is suitable for dynamic wavelength routing and add/drop operation in WDM systems and packet switched networks. Experimental characterization of device operation for different wavelength conversion values of the gated data demonstrates error-free operation at 10 Gb/s with moderate power penalty over the entire C-band.