Reduction of patterning effects in SOA-based wavelength converters by combining cross-gain and cross-absorption modulation

A scheme for mitigating patterning effects in wavelength conversion by using a concatenated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and electroabsorption modulator (EAM) is proposed. The optimization of the parameters of the semiconductor devices and receiver electronics is theoretically investigated. The bit error ration (BER) of the output signals in both the co-propagating and the counter-propagating configurations is quantitatively evaluated. The simulation results indicate that the patterning effect in wavelength conversion due to the slow recovery of the carrier density in the SOA can be well compensated by a concatenated EAM. The simulation results are confirmed by preliminary pump-probe experiment using a 10 Gb/s clock pulse train.