All-optical Mach-Zehnder wavelength converter with monolithically integrated DFB probe source

The first interferometric wavelength converter with an integrated continuous-wave (CW) probe source is presented. The two-port device operates independent of polarization for a broad range of input wavelengths. The input dynamic range is enhanced by an integrated input preamplifier. Input powers as low as -5.4 dBm in the fiber are converted with penalties as low as 0.6 dB at a bit rate of 2.5 Gb/s. The device is shown to operate with the same low penalty for same-wavelength operation as well. The chirp parameter /spl alpha/ is measured to be 2 for wavelength conversion. No chirp is added to the input signal for same-wavelength operation.