40-Gb/s transmission using RZ-pulse source based on fiber optical parametric amplification

We quantify the transmission properties of a high-power return-to-zero pulse source based on a fiber optical parametric amplifier. Both the amplified signal and the wavelength-translated idler are evaluated, and the differences in performance in a transmission link are shown. The pulse source emits short pulses with high extinction ratio and the quality is high enough for optical time-division multiplexing from 10 to 40 Gb/s, which is verified with bit-error-rate (BER) measurements after optical demultiplexing. We also show how the pulse source performs in a 40-Gb/s electrical time-division-multiplexed system, where the BER is measured with an electrical 40-Gb/s BER test equipment.