A new scheme of all-optical clock division for optical time division multiplexing networks

We have demonstrated a new technique for optical clock repetition-frequency division. The technique is based on period doubling in a semiconductor laser. With this technique, we have realized a repetition-frequency halved optical clock from a 12.4 GHz input optical clock. We have also showed that the generated clock signal exhibits low phase noise over a large input frequency range. This clock frequency divider is expected to have application to producing local optical clock needed for data extraction demultiplexing in an OTDM network.