Direct measurement of a high-speed (>100Gbit/s) OTDM data signal utilising two-photon absorption in a semiconductor microcavity

Real-time TPA optical sampling is experimentally performed. Results demonstrate that the TPA efficiency is enhanced using the microcavity to a level that allows the successful real-time direct detection of a 100 Gbit/s data stream. The system sensitivity is calculated to be 0.35 mW/sup 2/, with a signal peak power of 5.6 mW, and temporal resolution less than 500 fs. This higher temporal resolution, combined with the low sampling rate, allows the direct monitoring of high data rates (100 Gbit/s) without the need for high-speed electronics.