Optical sampling measurement with all-optical clock recovery using mode-locked diode lasers

Optical sampling measurement of 160-Gbps signals incorporating all-optical clock recovery has been demonstrated. External-cavity mode-locked semiconductor laser modules, which directly generate coherent 2-ps optical pulses, were used for optical clock recovery and as an optical sampling pulse source. We accomplished the real-time observation of waveform distortion in 160-Gbps optical data signals due to nonlinear optical effect in the transmission fiber.