Experimental analysis of the spectral broadening in a data eraser/rewriter based on a saturated UL-SOA

A Data eraser/rewriter based on the ultra-long semiconductor optical amplifier (UL-SOA) gain saturation is a new technique able to erase amplitude modulation signal at high bit rates with high extinction ratio. However the main drawback of this technique is the spectral broadening which occurs after the erasure, being the UL-SOA self-phase modulation the effect responsible for this. Therefore, experimental analysis of this spectral broadening is presented. The influence of some parameters is analyzed. The major spectral broadening measured was 1.8 nm, being a problem in WDM applications. Moreover, it is presented a discussion about how the spectral broadening can be prejudicial as well as how to reduce this drawback.