All-optical regeneration technologies in optical switching nodes

Several schemes on all-optical signal regeneration in optical switching nodes are compared. The clock extraction experiments using fiber optical parametric oscillator (FOPO) and magneto-optical four-wave mixing (MO-FWM) 2R regeneration are analyzed. The principle of the idler-power-based feedback control technique to effectively enhance the stability of the FOPO for clock extraction is illustrated in terms of the experimental data. The power transfer characteristics of four FWM-based regeneration schemes are simulated and the MO-FWM-based regeneration experiment is implemented by using clock pump and idler filtering. It is shown that, the receiver sensitivity is further improved by 2 dB when the direct current (DC) magnetic field of 180 Gs is applied along the high nonlinear fiber. It is also pointed out that all-optical regeneration technologies trend to the evolution of multi-channel and integration from a long-term point of view.