Noriaki ONODERA, Kenichiro TSUJI, Masaki OIWA, Syunsuke MINAMI, and Masatoshi SARUWATARI

Department of Communications Engineering, National Defense Academy, 1-10-20 Hashirimizu, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 239-8686, Japan

(Received September 1, 2008; Accepted October 22, 2008)

Less than 100 ps, polarization-independent switching operation of an active birefringent optical fiber loop filter using 1.3 μm control optical pulses as well as a 1.3 μm semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) has been demonstrated. In the proposed SOA-based active birefringent filter operating at 1.55 μm wavelength, 1.3 μm SOA is employed to control the polarization-mode dispersion in the loop part. By injecting 1.3 μm ps gain-switched optical control pulses into the SOA, 1.5 μm input signals can be switched from the transmission port to the reflection port with less than 100 ps rise time.

Key words: WDM, fiber loop filter, birefringent filter, SOA, optical switching, active switching