Optically Efficient Nonlinear Signal Processing

Abstract

Optical signal processing techniques employ a wide range of devices and various nonlinearities to achieve multiple network functionalities. The choice of nonlinearity can also impact the relative efficiency, both in terms of energy and material consumption, of the signal processing function being implemented. Techniques for some of the important functionalities, wavelength multicasting, wavelength-division multiplexing to time-division multiplexing, add-drop multiplexing, and wavelength exchange are compared in terms of the used optical spectrum, number of pumps required, and optical energy consumed. These include varieties of four-wave mixing, cross-phase modulation, Kerr-effectbased polarization rotation in optical fibers, and three-wave mixing in lithium niobate waveguides (WGs). Future possibilities of greener optical signal processing using on-chip WG technologies are discussed within the scope of recent developments in the dispersion tailored, highly nonlinear WGs.

Recent Advances in Ultra-High-Speed Optical Signal Processing

“…Various types of optical signal processing have been demonstrated for ultra-high-speed OTDM data 1,10 , using not only fibres, but also compact devices such as semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA), periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides (PPLN), chalcogenide waveguides and silicon nanowires. For the detection of OTDM data, optical demultiplexing and clock recovery are required.…”

“…Optical signal processing (OSP) has been the subject of many efforts in the optical communications research community 1 . Indeed, OSP can achieve operation bandwidths which exceed the capability of electrical signal processing (ESP) by several orders of magnitude.…”

Temporal self-imaging effect for periodically modulated trains of pulses

“…Photonic Signal Processing [1][2][3][4][5] is becoming today one of the most active research topics in optics and photonics, as all-optical processing offers a better performance for high-speed signals than electronic alternatives. Many well-established techniques for optical processing are based on volume optics, employing schemes that combine the diffraction of optical beams propagating through free space, thin lenses and prisms.…”

Ultra-high-speed optical serial-to-parallel data conversion by time-domain optical Fourier transformation in a silicon nanowire

“…Such high data rates rely on optical signal processing (OSP), which is based on nonlinear optical effects with intrinsic response times down to a few femtoseconds allowing for operation speeds of several Tbit/s. Compared to electrical signal processing (ESP), OSP has the capability to transparently process data regardless of the bit rate, thus enabling a scaling of the operation speed without an associated increase in energy consumption [5]. Hence, OSP is being actively pursued as a possible technology in future communication systems, but the exact role remains to be determined.…”