80-Gb/s OTDM System Analysis of a Vertical Microcavity-Based Saturable Absorber for the Enhancement of Pulse Pedestal Suppression

• Published in: IEEE photonics technology letters Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 321 - 323
• Main Authors: Clarke, A.M., Anandarajah, P.M., Bramerie, L., Guignard, C., Maher, R., Massoubre, D., Shen, A., Oudar, J.L., Barry, L.P., Simon, J.C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.03.2007; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Engineering Sciences; Erbium; High speed; High speed optical techniques; Microcavities; Optical fiber devices; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulse shaping; Optical pulses; optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM); Optical transmitters; Optics; Performance enhancement; Photonic; Photonics; Physics; Pulse generation; saturable absorber (SA); Semiconductor optical amplifiers; System performance; Systems analysis
• ISSN: 1041-1135; 1941-0174
• DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2007.891594

In future high-speed optical time-division-multiplexed (OTDM) systems, an important factor that needs to be considered for optical pulse generation schemes is the impact of pulse pedestals on the overall system performance. The results presented in this letter are two-fold; first, the impact due to the height of pulse pedestals in an 80-Gb/s OTDM system are established. Second, a solution is provided to overcome these high pedestal levels through the use of a vertical microcavity saturable absorber, which can significantly reduce the pulse pedestal level and give enhanced system performance