Tb/S All-Optical Nonlinear Switching Using SOA Based Mach-Zehnder Interferometer
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Scientia Iranica D (2014) 21(3), 843{852 Sharif University of Technology Scientia Iranica Transactions D: Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering www.scientiairanica.com Tb/s all-optical nonlinear switching using SOA based Mach-Zehnder interferometer Y. Khorramia;, V. Ahmadia and M. Razaghib a. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, P.O. Box 14115-143, Iran. b. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, P.O. Box 416, Iran. Received 23 June 2012; received in revised form 29 October 2012; accepted 6 May 2013 KEYWORDS Abstract. A new method for increasing the speed of all-optical Mach-Zehnder Interfero- metric (MZI) switching with a bulk Semiconductor Optical Ampli er (SOA), using chirped Ultrafast nonlinear control signals, is suggested and theoretically analyzed. For 125fs input and chirped control optics; pulses, we show acceleration of the gain recovery process using the cross phase modulation All-optical devices; (XPM) e ect. Our method depicts that Tb/s switching speeds, using bulk SOA-MZI with a Switching; proper Q-factor, is feasible. For the rst time, we reach operation capability at 2Tb/s with Chirping; a Q-factor of more than 10. The new scheme also improves the extinction and amplitude Mach-Zehnder ratio of the output power, as well as increasing the contrast ratio of the switched signal. interferometer; We use a nite di erence beam propagation method for MZI analysis, taking into account Semiconductor optical all nonlinear e ects of SOA, such as Group Velocity Dispersion (GVD), Kerr e ect, Two ampli ers. Photon Absorption (TPA), Carrier Heating (CH) and Spectral Hole Burning (SHB). c 2014 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction scheme at 40 Gb/s [5]. Bischo et al. suggested a new method using a XGM holding signal for increasing High-speed optical communication networks with ter- the speed of SOA-MZI converters to 160 Gb/s [6]. abit transmission capabilities attract much attention, Nakamura et al. experimentally demonstrated a single in terms of high capability and exibility in optical channel OTDM, using a hybrid integrated SOA-MZI up signal processing. Such ultrafast optical signal process- to 168 GB/s [7-9]. Recently, Gutierrez suggested a new ing can be achieved using a Symmetric Mach Zehnder approach for all-optical signal processing using turbo- (SMZ) all optical switch family, including an origi- switched SOA-MZI at 160 Gb/s [10]. For bit rates nal SMZ switch [1,2], a Delayed Interference Signal- higher than 168 Gb/s, data patterning e ects are ob- wavelength Converter (DISC) [3], and a Polarization served on the output signal, resulting in an increase in Discrimination SMZ (PD-SMZ) [4]. The Semiconduc- the probability of erroneous data detection. Repetition tor Optical Ampli er (SOA) is a key element in many rates higher than 500 GB/s require a subpicosecond ultrafast switching schemes. The speed of switches signal pulsewidth and the switching windows must based on SOA is limited, especially because of SOA approach the picosecond limit [1]. In these conditions, carrier dynamics. To overcome this limitation, di erent subpicosecond nonlinearities impose limitations on the approaches have been used. Wang et al. proposed and switching structure. These limitations are attributed experimentally demonstrated a SOA based di erential to inherent patterning e ects associated with the gain recovery process in an SOA [6]. In this paper, we propose a new method for controlling the nonlinear *. Corresponding author. Tel/Fax: +98 9190197109; E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Yaser Khorrami); phase di erence between MZI arms, using chirped v [email protected] (V. Ahmadi); [email protected] control pulses. As a result of the frequency chirp (M. Razaghi) imposed on an optical pulse, its spectrum is consider- 844 Y. Khorrami et al./Scientia Iranica, Transactions D: Computer Science & ... 21 (2014) 843{852 SOA2, respectively. 'NL is the total phase di erence accumulated by the optical signals given by Eq. (3). is the linewidth enhancement factor associated with the gain changes due to carrier depletion and carrier heating. In the di erential scheme, the switching window width is determined by the time-delay between the two control pulses [1] as: 1 n p o Figure 1. Structure of monolithically integrated MZI T = = G + G 2 G G cos(' ' ) ; 4 1 2 1 2 1 2 switch with two SOA's and four multimode interference (4) couplers (MMIs). Signal (Ps) and control pulses (Pc1;Pc2) are used in the co-propagation arrangement. 1 n p o T = G + G + 2 G G cos(' ' ) : 4 1 2 1 2 1 2 (5) ably broadened. On the other hand, unchirped pulses have the narrowest spectrum and are called transform- limited [11]. We show that the phase di erence between 3. Theoretical model MZI arms can be equalized uniformly due to spectrum The following modi ed nonlinear Schrodingerequa- broadening, compared with an unchirped condition, tion [12-14] is used for the analysis of SOAs and the which provides a better pattern quality factor. characteristics of the switching scheme: " # 2. SOA-MZI switch @ i @2 + + 2P +ib jV (; z)j2 V (; z) 2 2 2 In our study, all optical switch modeling consists of @z 2 @ 2 2 a symmetric MZI with two SOA located in the same ( relative position of each arm, as shown in Figure 1. 1 1 = g () + i The data signal enters the structure and splits 2 N f() N symmetrically into each arm by the rst multimode interference coupler (MMI). Two further control signals 1 1 @g(; !) @ also are launched to each SOA via second and third + gT ()(1 + i T ) i 2 2 @! ! @ couplers. The mechanism of switching is based on a 0 ) time di erential between control pulses, so that the 1 @2g(; !) @2 data signal is injected between two control pulses. V (; z); (6) 4 @!2 @ 2 Control 1, as shown in Figure 1, is presented in the !0 lower arm and changes the refractive index of the where: lower SOA before the signal pulse enters. Control 2 0 1 is injected to the upper arm after the data signal and Z 1 @ s=s 2 A saturates the upper SOA. In the switched state, the gN () = g0 exp e jV (s)j ds ; (7) Ws control pulse, Pc1, saturates the lower SOA, inducing a 1 phase shift of 'NL between two arms, and a switched = +1 data signal from bar (Pout) to cross (Pout) output port. Z 1 s= 2 Control pulse, Pc2, switches back the SOA-MZI f() = 1 + u(s)e shb jV ( s)j ds; from constructive to destructive interference and so shbPshb 1 (8) resets the switch for the next set of pulses that arrive. Output power can be written as [1]: gT () n p o = Pin P = G +G 2 G G cos(' ' ) ; Z+1 out 8 1 2 1 2 1 2 (1) s=ch s=shb 2 =h1 u(s)e (1e ) jV ( s)j ds; P n p o 1 P = in G +G +2 G G cos(' ' ) ; out 8 1 2 1 2 1 2 (2) Z+1 s=ch s=shb 4 h2 u(s)e (1 e ) jV ( s)j ds; ' (t)=' (t)' (t)=( =2) ln(G =G ): NL 1 2 2 1 1 (9) (3) @g(; !) P (t) is input power and G (t), ' , G (t) and = A + B [g g(; ! )]; (10) in 1 1 2 @! 1 1 0 0 '2 are the gain and phase di erences of SOA1 and !0 Y. Khorrami et al./Scientia Iranica, Transactions D: Computer Science & ... 21 (2014) 843{852 845 @2g(; !) = A + B [g g(; ! )]; (11) gain change due to CH and TPA, u(s) is the unit @!2 2 2 0 0 step function, is the CH relaxation time, h is !0 CH 1 the contribution of stimulated emission and free carrier g(; !0) = gN (; !0)=f() + gT (; !0): (12) absorption to CH gain reduction, h2 is the contribution of TPA, A1 and A2 are the slope and curvature of A local time frame (= t z=vg) is introduced, which linear gain at !0, and B1 and B2 are constants. The propagates with group velocity, vg, at the center fre- quency of an optical pulse. The slowly varying envelope gain spectrum of an SOA can be approximated by the approximation is used in Eq. (4). Here, V (; z) is the following second-order Taylor expansion in !: time domain complex envelope function of an optical @g(; !) pulse, jV (; z)j2 corresponds to the optical power, is g(; !) =g(; ! ) + ! 2 0 @! The Group Velocity Dispersion (GVD), is linear loss, !0 2P is the Two-Photon Absorption (TPA) coecient, (!)2 @2g(; !) b (= ! n =cA) is the instantaneous Self-Phase Modu- + : (13) 2 0 2 2 @!2 lation (SPM) term, due to the instantaneous nonlinear !0 Kerr e ect (n2), !0(= 2f0) is the center angular The time derivative terms in the modi ed nonlinear frequency of the pulse, c is the velocity of light in a Schrodingerequation are replaced with the central- vacuum, A is the e ective area of the active region, di erence approximation in order to solve the equation gN () is the saturated gain due to carrier depletion, by the FD-BPM [12]. The parameters used in the g0 is the linear gain, Ws is the saturation energy, s is simulation are listed in Table 1 [1,15]. the carrier lifetime, f() is the SHB function, Pshb is the SHB saturation power, shb is the SHB relaxation 4. Simulation results and discussion time, N and T are the linewidth enhancement factors associated with gain changes, due to carrier depletion Our numerical model is compared with Bischo 's and Carrier Heating (CH), gT () is the resulting results [16] in Figure 2.