Device for regenerating optical signs
AssigneeAlcatel
InventorsPatrick Brindel, Christopher Janz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a device for regenerating optical signals by intensity modulation and phase modulation of the optical signals, said device including: a mode locking laser for recovering a clock signal representing the clock of the bits of the optical signals to be regenerated, and a modulation interferometer structure having a first interferometer arm and a second interferometer arm, enabling amplitude modulation and phase modulation of optical signals by said clock signal, and including a semiconductor amplifier in the first interferometer arm. The mode locking laser is coupled to said first interferometer arm so that said amplifier of the first interferometer arm is a common component of the mode locking laser and said interferometer structure.
Claims23
A device for regenerating optical signals by intensity modulation and phase modulation of the optical signals, said device including:
- a mode locking laser for recovering a clock signal representing the clock of the bits of the optical signals to be regenerated, and
- a modulation interferometer structure having a first interferometer arm and a second interferometer arm, enabling amplitude modulation and phase modulation of optical signals by said clock signal, and including a semiconductor amplifier in the first interferometer arm,
- wherein the mode locking laser is coupled to said first interferometer arm so that said amplifier of the first interferometer arm is a common component of the mode locking laser and said interferometer structure, and
- wherein said amplifier of the first arm is chosen so that the modulation of its gain caused by the effects of saturation by the optical signals to be regenerated triggers mode locking of said mode locking laser at a wavelength inside the emission band of the amplifier of the first interferometer arm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.