All-optical time-division-multiplexing of 100-Gbit/s signal based on four-wave mixing in a semiconductor laser amplifier

Ultrahigh-speed modulation of optical pulses is one of the key technologies in time-division multiplexed (TDM) optical transmission at 100 Gbit/s region. Especially, all-optical modulation combined with ultrahigh-speed optical clock source will realize an all-optical transmitter over 100 Gbit/s. We have proposed all-optical modulation using four-wave mixing (FWM) in fiber and confirmed its basic operation at 100 Gbit/s. In this report, we present successful experimental results of all-optical modulation using FWM in semiconductor laser amplifier (SLA). A 100-GHz optical clock was all-optically modulated by two independently modulated 10-Gbit/s signals to produce a TDM signal with 10-ps time interval as a FWM component. Error-free operation was confirmed for both channels.