Wavelength chirping in wavelength conversion of 10 Gb/s signal with semiconductor laser converter

The chirping effects of wavelength converted 10 Gb/s signals in semiconductor wavelength converter on the waveform degradation after optical fiber transmission are investigated. The 10 Gb/s converted signal can be transmitted over 100 km with less than 2 dB power penalty in the converted wavelength region of 1.524 to 1.564 μm when a broadly tunable SSG-DBR laser wavelength converter and a dispersion shifted fiber are used. It is also discussed how waveform degradation can be reduced when linewidth enhancement factor (/spl alpha/-parameter) of semiconductor laser wavelength converter is reduced by using modulation-doped strained MQW DFB lasers.