Recovery of clock pulses of wavelength division multiplexed optical signals
First Claim
1. Apparatus for recovering clock pulses of wavelength division multiplexed optical signals passed therethrough, the apparatus comprising:
- (i) an optically-pumped laser cavity formed between a plurality of reflectors to define a cavity length and comprising a nonlinear medium pumped at a wavelength selected to give efficient parametric amplification within said medium, said cavity length corresponding to an integer multiple of bit periods of at least one of the multiplexed optical signals, and said optical signals copropagating through said medium with said pump radiation; and
(ii) an optical path for recirculating a proportion of the output from said laser cavity back through said laser cavity;
whereby the interaction between the pump wavelength and at least one of said copropagating multiplexed optical signals within the nonlinear medium generates idler waves symmetrically about said pump wavelength by four wave mixing and said idler waves are recirculated through said laser cavity to be amplified by parametric amplification in order to recover wavelength division multiplexed clock pulses.
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Abstract
Apparatus for recovering clock pulses of wavelength division multiplexed optical signals passed therethrough. The apparatus comprises an optically-pumped laser cavity defining a cavity length and comprising a nonlinear medium pumped at a wavelength selected to give efficient parametric amplification within said medium. The cavity length corresponds to an integer multiple of bit periods of at least one of the multiplexed optical signals. The optical signals copropagate through the medium with the pump radiation. The apparatus further comprises an optical path for recirculating a proportion of the output from the laser cavity back through the laser cavity. In this way, idler waves are generated symmetrically about the pump wavelength by four wave mixing with the at least one of the multiplexed optical signals and recirculated through the laser cavity to be amplified by parametric amplification in order to recover wavelength division multiplexed clock pulses.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. Apparatus for recovering clock pulses of wavelength division multiplexed optical signals passed therethrough, the apparatus comprising:
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(i) an optically-pumped laser cavity formed between a plurality of reflectors to define a cavity length and comprising a nonlinear medium pumped at a wavelength selected to give efficient parametric amplification within said medium, said cavity length corresponding to an integer multiple of bit periods of at least one of the multiplexed optical signals, and said optical signals copropagating through said medium with said pump radiation; and
(ii) an optical path for recirculating a proportion of the output from said laser cavity back through said laser cavity;
whereby the interaction between the pump wavelength and at least one of said copropagating multiplexed optical signals within the nonlinear medium generates idler waves symmetrically about said pump wavelength by four wave mixing and said idler waves are recirculated through said laser cavity to be amplified by parametric amplification in order to recover wavelength division multiplexed clock pulses. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. Method for recovering clock pulses of wavelength division multiplexed optical signals, the method comprising the steps of:
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(i) providing a laser cavity formed between a plurality of reflectors to define a cavity length and comprising a nonlinear medium;
(ii) optically-pumping said cavity at a wavelength selected to give efficient parametric amplification within said medium;
(iii) copropagating said optical signals through said nonlinear medium with said pump radiation;
(iv) recirculating a proportion of the output from said laser cavity back through said laser cavity; and
(v) adjusting said cavity length to correspond to an integer multiple of bit periods of at least one of said multiplexed optical signals;
whereby the interaction between the pump radiation and at least one of said copropagating multiplexed optical signals within the nonlinear medium generates idler waves symmetrically about said pump wavelength by four wave mixing and said idler waves are recirculated through said cavity to be amplified by parametric amplification in order to recover wavelength division multiplexed clock pulses. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification