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IEEE Photonics Technology Letters

SOA Fiber Ring Laser-Based Three-State Optical Memory

Jing Wang, Yuancheng Zhang, Antonio Malacarne, Minyu Yao, Luca Potì, Antonella Bogoni

Published Aug 28, 2008• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

By exploiting three coupled semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) fiber ring lasers, a compact, integratable, and polarization-independent three-state all-optical memory is demonstrated, with 40-dB extinction ratio for each state. Dynamic flip-flop operation between states is also demonstrated with switching pulse energy of 13.6 nJ. Due to the broad bandwidth of SOA gain spectrum, the wavelength range of set pulses is large. Finally, the transition behavior of state switching is investigated.

DOI
10.1109/lpt.2008.2003411

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By exploiting three coupled semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) fiber ring lasers, a compact, integratable, and polarization-independent three-state all-optical memory is demonstrated, with 40-dB extinction ratio for each state. Dynamic flip-flop operation between states is also demonstrated with switching pulse energy of 13.6 nJ. Due to the broad bandwidth of SOA gain spectrum, the wavelength range of set pulses is large. Finally, the transition behavior of state switching is investigated.
We present an experimental demonstration of an all optical memory consisting of a single semiconductor optical amplifier as the active medium based on wave mixing. The circuit is a fiber ring consisting of a semiconductor amplifier, a bi-directional 2x2 fiber coupler, an isolator, a polarization controller, and a Faraday mirror. The output is observed on the spectrum analyzer, which consists of the peak wavelength of the SOA plus an additional signal generated through wave mixing, which is tunable within the band gap of the SOA. We shall demonstrate two modes of operation of the device, which will consist of a flip flop switch between three states, as well as a single data storage memory. The stable states consist of two modes, where the mode amplitude represents the state. Mode 1 corresponds to 1500 nanometers and mode 2 corresponds to 1530 nanometers. A contrast ratio between an “on” and “off” state is measured for each mode and the mode of operation is based on the polarization. We shall present the states for the circuit, the effect of drive current on the system, the effect of the SOA structure, wave mixing effects, and how to operate the device for both logic operation and data storage.
An all-optical flip-flop, the memory of which is based on dispersive bistability in a single vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifier, is demonstrated experimentally. Flip-flop control is achieved using two mechanisms: cross-phase modulation to set the flip-flop and cross-gain modulation of the holding beam within a remote SOA to reset it. Optical control signals are sub-milliwatt in power and derived from a single 5 ns, 1539 nm initial pulse. Flip-flop operation at 1542 nm is polarisation insensitive to control signals and achieved with an on-off contrast greater than 3 dB.
The use of fibre-loop memories is being experimented for solving routing contention of data cells in photonic high bit rate ATM switching fabrics.1 The simplest fiber-loop memory looks like a ring laser consisting of a semiconductor laser amplifier (SOA), a span of fibre introducing a delay of the order of an ATM cell duration (10–6-sec) and a 50/50 directional coupler (Fig. 1). To compensate for the power tapping at the directional coupler while avoiding the onset of laser oscillations, the SOA is biased above the ring laser threshold only for a limited number of round trips, then the bias current is switched off. The memory is thus driven through the transition from a state ruled by spontaneous emission toward a state above lasing threshold, in which stimulated emission is predominant. Far enough from the beginning of the transition the intensity fluctuations display a maximum.2,3 The transition is completed after a time depending on the final state intensity.2 These features significantly affect the maximum storage time and noise behavior of the memory.
A novel optical inverted bistable switch based on a nonlinear fiber ring resonator (FRR), which contains a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) in the loop, have been analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The optical bistability phenomenon is obtained due to the combined nonlinear effects of the transmission characteristics of the resonator and the SOA's gain property. A complete theoretical analysis and supporting simulations are presented. A working prototype is build using commercial optical components. Experimental results show switching speed in tens of MHz with rising and falling times lower than 10 ns. Limitations in switching speed are caused by the length of the fiber loop. Therefore, improvements in operating frequencies can be increased up to GHz range if the length of the loop is reduced to the order of centimeters.