Analysis of the Dynamic Responses of SOA Wavelength Converters Using Linear Frequency Resolved Gating Technique

This letter demonstrates the applicability of the linear frequency resolved optical gating technique for the complete characterization of the fast dynamic response of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) when operating as wavelength converters. We have investigated both the cross-gain modulation and cross-phase modulation responses to short pump signals, using an SOA Mach-Zehnder interferometer in a pump-probe configuration. A blind deconvolution algorithm has then been used to retrieve the electric field profiles of both the signal and the gate function.