40Gb/s all-optical format conversion from NRZ to PolSK using a single SOA assisted by optical bandpass filter

A novel scheme for 40Gb/s all-optical nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) to polarization-shift-keying (PolSK) format conversion, based on transient cross-phase modulation (T-XPM), is proposed and experimentally demonstrated using a single semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) assisted by optical bandpass filter (BPF). This proposed NRZ-PolSK format conversion is robust in terms of simple structure and high bit rate operation. In addition, it can be realized without wavelength change.