Experimental study on 40Gb/s all-optical Optical decision based on cross-gain modulation in SOA

Yaotian Wang (1), Jinlong Yu (2), Likai Zhu (3),Yandong Zhang (4), Yang En-ze (5) 1 : Tianjin Univ. 300072 email: wang_yaotian@hotmail.com Jinlong Yu, Likai Zhu, Yandong Zhang, Yang En-ze: Tianjin Univ. 300072 yujinlong@mail.tju.edu.cn, zlk1980@hotmail.com

Abstract
An improved scheme for all-optical pulse decision gating by cross-gain modulation(XGM) in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is shown in this paper. Influences of the property of optical clock pulses (including the pulse extinction ratio (ER) and the power) on the shape of regeneration pulse of this optical decision gate are studied by means of numerical simulation and experiment. The power and extinction ratio of optical clock pulses are adjusted in the process of numerical simulation. In the beginning, with the power of clock pulses rising or ER dropping, the pattern of the regeneration pulse gets better and the 1 code noise comes down. There are optimal values of the power and ER of clock pulse for the best pattern of the output pulses. If the ER continues to decrease, the ER of output pulses dropped. Similarly, if the power of clock pulse continues to increase the pattern of the regeneration pulse gets worse. In experiment of optical decision, 40Gb/s regenerated pseudo random bit-sequence (PRBS) data signal was got from degraded PRBS input signal and recovery clock pulses by passing the optical decision gating. The result of experiment is uniform in the numerical simulation.
Key words: optical fibre communication technology, semiconductor optical amplifier, cross gain modulation, all-optical

40Gb/s system,3R regeneration, all-optical decision,extinction ratio

1.

Introduction

The growth of broadband services has triggered a need for enhanced capacity of the transport networks. Following the development of WDM systems, high-speed all-optical communication and broadband networks will be the next step to provide this capacity. However, in such communication, the optical signal will experience severe degradation of parameters such as the optical signal-to-noise ratio, the extinction ratio, the bit duration and jitter[1]. In order to drastically eliminate these effects and achieve terabit/s capacity, 3R regeneration (Re-amplification, Retiming, Reshaping) of the optical signal is essential. Optical decision gating is one important part of all-optical 3R system to get the regeneration data signal. For data pulses were degraded after transmitting through long fibre, clock pulses are extracted from the degraded data pulses. In optical decision gating, data signal controls the optical switch on and off, and the data is loaded on the clock pulses. In this way, clock pulses become to regenerated data pulses and are got in output. Several kinds
Optical Transmission, Switching, and Subsystems III, edited by Rodney S. Tucker, Dominique Chiaroni, Wanyi Gu, Ken-ichi Kitayama, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6021, 60210B, (2005) 0277-786X/05/$15 doi: 10.1117/12.636683

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of optical decision gating have been studied recently[2-7]. An improved scheme for 40Gb/s all-optical pulse decision based on cross-gain modulation in SOA is shown in this paper. The schematic diagram of optical decision is shown in Fig. 1

Data in Recovery Clock

1 0 0 1 0 1

2
SOA

Data out 2

1 1 0 1 0 filter

Fig.1. optical decision using XGM in SOA

In order to perform regeneration operations on optical data signal above 40 Gbit/s, SOA with nonlinear optical characteristics was exploited. When two optical beams were injected into SOA with different wavelength, the carrier density of SOA was dropped and the gain of one optical beam is effected on by the power of the other beam. Degraded data signal fed to SOA with the average power at the wavelength 1 is used to modulate the carrier density and consequently also the gain of the SOA. Another wave light injected in SOA is the recovery clock pulses (periodic pulses extracted from input degraded data signal) at the wavelength 2 . The clock pulses are amplified in different gain with data signal changing the carrier density in SOA. Thus, the inverted data is loaded on clock pulses at the wavelength 2 , and the regenerated signal is obtained. The pulse of the regenerated signal is similar to the clock pulse whose pattern is better than that of the input data signal pulse, so the regenerated signal pulse has less noise, less timing jitter and higher signal noise ratio (SNR).

2.
2.1 Theoretical Analysis

Numerical simulation

The differential carrier density inside SOA is assumed to be governed by the following rate equation [8]

Ai N (t , z ) I N (t , z ) = a[ N (t , z ) N 0 ] eV e t i =1,2 hvi wd

(1)

Where N (t , z ) refers to the carrier density at a position z inside SOA active layer at time t . I is the injection current, e is electron charge, V is the active volume of the SOA,

e is carrier lifetime, is optical

mode confinement factor, a is gain coefficient, N 0 is the average carrier density required for transparency,

h is Plancks constant, is photon frequency, w and d are the width and height of the SOA active layer,

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Ai is defined by equation (2) and represents the optical field amplitude at wavelength i .
Ai = Pi exp(ii )
(2)

Where index i corresponds to different selection, 1 means input data signal pulses and 2 means input clock pulses. In (2), Pi and

i are the power and phase of the input light. Parameters of two light have effects on the

rate equation. If some CW assist light is inject into SOA, the carrier is consumed continuously, so carrier density will recover to a level at low density. The lifetime is shortened [9]

In order to get the SOA gain equation, the function g ( z , t ) as gain exponent function is defined by equations (3), and h(t ) as amplify function which represents the integrated gain at each point of the pulse profile is defined by equation (4).

L is the length of SOA active layer.

(3) (4)

g ( z, t ) = a[ N ( z, t ) N0 ]
h(t ) = g ( z , t )dz
0 L

Pi ( z, t ) represents the power of the input optical beam at a position z at time t .

differential power decided by equation (5).

Pi ( z , t ) is the z

Pi ( z , t ) = [a[ N ( z , t ) N 0 ] int ]Pi ( z , t ) z

(5)

int is the internal loss. If int << g, it is possible to solve these equations, and the gain equations are got by
substituting equations (3)(5) to equation (1)

Pouti (t ) = Pini (t ) exp[h(t )]

(6) (7)

outi (t ) = ini (t ) h(t )

1 2

Equations (6) and (7) are respectively the power and phase of the output pulses.

is the line width

enhancement factor. The regeneration pulses is influenced not only by the pattern of input data pulse, but the gain curve of SOA. From the above equations, adjusting clock pulses will influence the rate equation, change the gain curve, and consequently improve the pattern of output pulse. 2.2 Numerical simulation Based on the model discussed above, numerical simulation of the process of all optical decision was made using

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matlab. The parameter values assumed in this work are as follow. Injection current I=500mA, length of active

layer L=500um, width of active layer w=3um, height of active layer d=0.08um.The 40Gb/s pseudo random input data signal pulses to the decision gate was assumed to be

Pdata (t ) = Cn ( Pdata
n

t T n + P) exp T0

(8)

Where the digital code Cn is either 0 or 1. The pattern length of the pseudo-random digital sequence
7

Cn

was set to 2 1 . P is the power amplitude noise factor. Tn is the pulse position in time, and T0 is the pulse-width parameter. The full-width at half-maximum ( TFWHM ) of a gauss pulse is related to T0 as

TFWHM = 2 log(1 + 2)T0

As the same, clock pulses was assumed to be
t T n exp +P line T0
2

(9)

Pclock (t ) = Pclock
n

(10)

Where P line is the CW assist light used to change the ER of the clock pulse. The input Signal pulse width ( TFWHM ) is 16ps, the peak value of the input pulse power is 9mw. The clock pulse width is 12ps; the average power of clock pulse is 4mw. Fig. 2 shows the eye diagram of regenerated pulses. ER of the clock pulse is adjusted, and the average power of clock pulse is fixed on 4.5mw. The value of Pline is increased from 0mw to 4mw in order to decrease the ER of the clock pulse. In the beginning, Pline was 0mw(a), the carrier density of SOA was consumed rapidly and recovered slow, so the gain of SOA and the output can not follow the input light variation at such high frequencies. With the Pline increasing and ER dropping, the carrier recovered at lower density and lifetime was shortened. The pattern of the regeneration pulse got better and the 1 code noise came down. There is optimal ER value of clock pulse for the best pattern of the output pulses (d). If the ER continued to decrease, the SOA worked at saturation all the time, so output pulses ER dropped (f), and regeneration pulse pattern gets worse. It is difficult to adjust the ER of clock pulse to the optimal value by injecting CW assist light with the same frequency wave, but the clock power can be easy adjusted at the fixed clock pulse ER. Fig.3 shows the eye diagram of regenerated pulses by changing the power of the clock pulses when pulse ER is 2.6. Carrier lifetime will drop with the input power increasing. In beginning, pattern effect of the regeneration pulse was obvious (a), while it was reduced with the power rising. (d) shows the best value. With the power increasing continually, SNR of regeneration pulse fell rapidly. 0 code looked close to 1 code with small amplitude, output pulse pattern was worsened again.

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====
(a) (b) (c)

cII

:V.L'AL L\
/

(d)

(e)

(f)

Fig 2. the eye diagram of regenerated pulses , changing the CW assist light of the pulse when the average power is 4.5mw

a0mwb1mwc1.5mwd2.5mwe3.5mwf4mw

(a)

(b)

(c)

LAAAAc

(d)

(e)

(f)

Fig 3. the eye diagram of regenerated pulses , changing the power of the clock pulses when pulse ER is 2.6

a1.8mwb2.25mwc3.6mwd4.5mwe6mwf6.75mw

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3. Experimental setup
The experiment setup is shown in Fig.4 40Gb/s return-to-zero (RZ) pulse PRBS signal was obtained with 10Gb/s RZ pulse PRBS signal and 1x4 multiplexer. Data signal was degraded by propagating in single mode fiber (SMF). A continuous-wave LD is used to stabilize the data pulse wavelength. 40GHz recovery clock signal is extracted from degraded signal with a F-P filter of high finesse (f=1012). Synchronization of the PRBS pulses and the clock pulses is performed with the optical delay line (ODL). Two SOAs, as decision gate, are connecting in series to extend the nonlinear active area[10]. After the dual SOAs is an optical narrowband filter which eliminates the pattern effect of regenerated signal. The regenerated signal is displayed on oscilloscope and optical spectrum analyzer.
10Gb/s 4 10G 40Gb/s MUX SMF 40Gb/s
LD

ODL
CW

SOA 40GHz

SOA

OBF
NEW 40Gb/s

F-P
SOA

OBF

Oscilloscoper Spectrum Analyzer

Fig.4 All optical 3R regeneration experiment architecture

Two SOA drive circuits are all 250mA. For the 40Gb/s PRBS, frequency is 40.22732GHz central wavelength is 1552.6nm. Via 883m SMF, the average power fed into dual SOAs is 3.67dBmw (shown in Fig.5), and timing jitter of the data signal is more than 2.8ps and the SNR less than 3.02. For the recovery clock pulses series, central wavelength is 1548.58nm, the average power fed into dual SOAs is 1.5dBmw (shown in Fig.6). The ER of clock pulse, shown on the oscilloscope, is 1.98, and timing jitter less than 1.0ps. Compared with the degraded signal, the regenerated data signal is shown in Fig.7 with timing jitter less than 1.47ps, SNR more than 6.0. We have no 40GHz bit error rate measuring equipment, so the BER can not be given in this paper.

AA
I
I

IJJ

Fig.5 Eye diagram of degraded signal

Fig.6 Eye diagram of recovery clock pulses

Fig.7 Eye diagram of regenerated signal

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We change the clock pulses with different power to testify the result of numerical simulation that the power of the clock affects the pulse pattern and the SNR of the regenerated signal. The regenerated signal is shown in Fig.8. In (a) clock power was 0 dbmw, pattern effect happened obviously. In (b) clock power was 1.5dbmw, the 1 code noise came down, pattern effect was avoided, and SNR of output signal increased. IN (c) clock power was 2.5 dbmw, the 0 code noise increased. Although pattern effect did not happen, the ER of output pulses dropped.

(a)

(b) Fig.8 regenerate result in different inject power

(c)

4.

Conclusions

In the experiment of optical decision, the 40Gb/s data signal was successfully regenerated from degraded PRBS input signal. The regenerated signal has less noise, less timing jitter and more regular pulses than the input signal. CW assist light added into clock pulse helps to reduce the carrier density lifetime of SOA and avoids pattern effect. The ER of the recovery clock pulse is not high, but it is better to regenerate the new signal than that high ER does. With the power of clock signal rising the 0 noise increases and the 1 noise comes down. To obtain a regular pulse pattern and high SNR of the regenerated signal, the power of the clock signal should injects in proper value.

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