All-Optical Signal Processing using DFB Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

181 Pages·2006·1.32 MB·English

All-Optical Processing of
Optical-Network Signals using
Distributed Feedback Amplifiers
by
Drew N. Maywar
SubmittedinPartialFulfillment
ofthe
Requirements fortheDegree
DoctorofPhilosophy
Supervisedby
ProfessorGovindP. Agrawal
The InstituteofOptics
The College
SchoolofEngineeringandAppliedSciences
UniversityofRochester
Rochester, New York
2000
ii
To Rie
iii
Curriculum Vitae
The authorwasborninPortHuron,Michigan,onMarch 1st, 1970. He beganhis
undergraduatestudies in 1988 at the Universityof Rochester. During the summer of
1990,hestudiedtheJapaneselanguageattheEastAsianSummerLanguageInstitute
at IndianaUniversity. He then received a Take-Five Scholarshipfromthe University
ofRochestertostudytheJapaneselanguageandcultureatNanzanUniversity,Japan,
for the 1991–1992 academic year. He received the B.S. degree in optics with high
distinction and the B.A. degree in religion with honors and highest distinction in
1993.
The author received a FulbrightFellowship in 1993 for a year of study at Osaka
University,Japan. HisscientificresearchatInstituteofLaserEngineeringwasonthe
temperaturedependenceofgaininNd:glasslaseramplifiers,andhislanguagestudies
focusedon technicalJapanese, kanji,and theOsaka dialect.
Theauthorbeganhisgraduatestudiesin1994attheInstituteofOptics,University
ofRochester. Duringthe summer of1995 and the followingacademic year, he stud-
ied the fabrication of complex-coupled distributed feedback lasers in the laboratory
of Professor Thomas G. Brown. In the summer of 1996, he began his doctoral re-
CURRICULUM VITAE iv
search on distributed feedback semiconductor optical amplifiers under the direction
of Professor Govind P. Agrawal. The author received the M.S. degree in optics in
1997, with a concentration in laser engineering. For one year beginning in October
1998, he performed a portion of his doctoral research under the guidance of Pro-
fessor Yoshiaki Nakano at the University of Tokyo, as a recipient of a Dissertation
Enhancement AwardfromtheU.S. NationalScience Foundation.
Publications
G. P. Agrawal and D. N. Maywar, “Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers with
(cid:15)
Bragg Gratings,” (chapter 10) in Nonlinear Photonic Crystals,” B. Eggleton
andD. Slusher, Eds., Springer-Verlag,inpreparation.
D. N. Maywar,G. P. Agrawal,andY. Nakano,“All-OpticalHysteresis Control
(cid:15)
via Cross-Phase Modulation in SemiconductorOptical Amplifiers,”submitted
toJ. Opt. Soc. Am. B (2000).
D.N.Maywar,Y.Nakano,andG.P.Agrawal,“1.3-to-1.5 mWavelengthCon-
(cid:15)
versionbyOpticallyPumpingaDistributedFeedbackAm(cid:22)plifier,IEEEPhoton-
ics Tech. Lett. 12,858–860(2000).
D. N. Maywar, G. P. Agrawal, and Y. Nakano, “Robust Optical Control of an
(cid:15)
Optical-Amplifier-BasedFlip–Flop,”OpticsExpress 6,75–80(2000).
D. N. Maywar and G. P. Agrawal, “Low-Power All-Optical Switching in Ac-
(cid:15)
tive Semiconductor Chirped Periodic Structures,” Optics Express 3, 440–446
(1998).
D. N. Maywar and G. P. Agrawal, “Effect of Chirped Gratings on Reflective
(cid:15)
OpticalBistabilityinDFBSemiconductorLaserAmplifiers,”IEEEJ.Quantum
Electron., 34,2364–2370(1998).
D. N. Maywarand G. P. Agrawal, “Transfer-MatrixAnalysis ofOpticalBista-
(cid:15)
bility in DFB Semiconductor Laser Amplifiers with Nonuniform Gratings,”
IEEE J. QuantumElectron., 33,2029–2037(1997).
CURRICULUM VITAE v
Presentations
D. N. Maywar, G. P. Agrawal, and Y. Nakano, “Control of Nonlinear Index
(cid:15)
Change in Semiconductor Laser Amplifiers for Signal Processing,” OSA An-
nualMeeting, Rhode Island,October2000.
D. N. Maywar, Govind P. Agrawal, Y. Nakano, “Robust All-Optical Control
(cid:15)
ofaSemiconductorOpticalAmplifierFlip–Flop,”OpticalAmplifiersandtheir
Applications,Quebec, CA, July2000.
D.N. Maywar,GovindP.Agrawal,Y.Nakano, “SemiconductorOpticalMem-
(cid:15)
ory Based on a DFB Amplifier,” IEICE Conference, Osaka, Japan, November
1999.
D. N. Maywar,G. P. Agrawal,andY. Nakano, “WavelengthConversion Using
(cid:15)
anOptical Gain-Pump,”IEICEConference, Chitose, Japan, August 1999.
D. N. Maywar, Y. Nakano, and G. P. Agrawal, “All-OpticalSet and Reset of a
(cid:15)
Semiconductor-Optical-Amplifier-BasedFlip–Flop,”Post-DeadlinePaper,Op-
ticalAmplifiersandtheirApplications,Nara, Japan, June 1999.
D. N. Maywar, G. P. Agrawal, and Y. Nakano, “Optical Switching and Mem-
(cid:15)
ory in Chirped-Grating DFB Amplifiers,” IEICE Conference, Osaka, Japan,
January1999.
D. N. Maywar and G. P. Agrawal, “High-Contrast All-Optical Switching in
(cid:15)
Chirped-GratingDFBAmplifiers,”OSAAnnualMeeting,Baltimore,MD,Oc-
tober1998.
G. P. Agrawal and D. N. Maywar, “All-Optical Switching with Chirped
(cid:15)
Gratings in Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers,” Invited Talk, Workshop on
Novel Solitons and Nonlinear PeriodicStructures, Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada, March 1998.
D. N. Maywar and G. P. Agrawal, “Low-Threshold Optical Switching in /4-
(cid:15)
shifted DFB Amplifiers with Chirped Gratings,” OSA Annual Meeting, L(cid:21)ong
Beach, California,October1997.
Patents
D.N.Maywar,Y.Nakano,andG.P. Agrawal,“All-OpticalFlip–FlopDevice,”
(cid:15)
U.S. PatentApplicationNo. 2-11150-904,filedJune 2000,pending.
D. N. Maywar, Y. Nakano, and G. P. Agrawal, “All-Optical Flip–Flop Device
(cid:15)
Using a Resonant-Type Semiconductor Optical Amplifier,” Japanese Patent
ApplicationNo.11-351397,filedDecember1999, pending.
vi
Acknowledgments
IamdeeplygratefultoProfessorGovindAgrawalforamulti-facetedandreward-
ing doctoralexperience. He shared a tremendousamountof timewithme — Ivalue
our conversations on physics, mathematics, modeling, time budgeting, and on the
process and techniques of writing technical papers. I am indebted to the flexibility
andencouragementheprovidedtoexploremanyaspectsofresearch,includingpaper
writing,conferencepresentations, patents, andoverseas research.
I am privileged to have spent a year with Professor Yoshiaki Nakano at the Uni-
versity of Tokyo. I am thankful to him for the great deal of time he spent with me,
and for supporting and believing in me whole heartedly; flip–flopexperiments were
successful because ofhis enthusiasticsupportthroughoutthe year.
I thank Fouad El-Diasty for his technical assistance and for sharing with me his
joyofexperimentsandapproachtoresearch.
I amgratefulto ProfessorThomas Brownforintroducingme to distributedfeed-
backand tosemiconductorlasers.
I greatly appreciate the help that the staff at the Institute of Optics has provided
during my graduate studies. In particular, I would like to thank Brian Mcintyre and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
Don Schertler for their Macintosh help and humor. Also, I am very grateful to Joan
Christian for helping me prepare this thesis and for relaying the NSF funds to me
whileIwasinTokyo, whichinvolvedmonthlypaperworkandtripstomyRochester
bank.
I acknowledge financial support from the Institute of Optics, the Rochester The-
oryCenter(RTC),theU.S.DepartmentofEducation,andtheNationalScienceFoun-
dation (NSF), which funded the year in Tokyo. I am grateful to Professor Agrawal
andtheRTCforcoveringjournalpublicationcharges,andtoProfessorAgrawal,Pro-
fessorNakanoandtheUniversityofTokyo,andNewFocusforprovidingtravelfunds
forconferences.
I thank John Marciante, Rene-Jean Essiambre, Stojan Radic, and Guido van
Tartwijk for their friendship, support, and lively group meetings duringmy first two
yearsofdoctoralresearch. StojanandGuido,inparticular,wereinstrumentalinstart-
ingmyeducationonbistabilityandsemiconductorphysics,respectively. Ialsothank
Zhi Liaoand Taras Lakobafortheirgoodhumorduringthefinalyear.
I am gratefulforthe friendshipsmade with my classmates at the Institute of Op-
tics. I especially thank Luis de Araujo, whose companionshipgreatly eased the pain
of the first year, and was a treasure throughout the whole graduate program. I also
thank David Aronstein, a great friend and inspiration to me. He has a wonderful
grasponmathandphysics, matchedbyanabilitytoexplainthem. Iamverygrateful
forhishelp inpreparationforand duringmyyearin Tokyo, and inproofreadingand
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii
formattingthis thesis. I enjoyedhis good cheer, perspective, and sense ofhumor, all
ofwhichIwillmiss verymuch.
I am gratefulto the members of Professor Nakano’s research group for welcom-
ing me. In particular, I thank Daisuke Inoue, Masaki Kato, and Gernot Schlo¨gl for
theirtechnicalassistance. IamindebtedtoM.Funabashi,T.Yamaguchi,K.Shimizu,
Y.Katagiri,andByongjinMaforvitalexperimentalequipment,andthankM.Tsuru-
sawa for his encouragement of the flip–flopexperiment. I also thank Takuro Tajima
forhiscompanionship,andthankGernotforjoiningmeinrenovatingRoom302and
forhelpingme wrapup.
IthankRickRobbins—hisphonecallsandvisitstoRochesterandTokyobrought
a freshperspectiveandmuch-neededenergy.
Ithankthearchitects ofWhippleParkforcreatingsucha beautifuland nurturing
environment.
I am deeply grateful to my mom and dad for encouraging me to pursue my edu-
cation, for teaching me the value of experiences, and for their love. Phone calls and
holiday gatherings with my mom, dad, my brother Eric, and my sister Donna have
meanta lottome.
I am blessed to have become fatherto Ian James duringgraduateschool. Ithank
himforhis company, laughter,andlove.
Most of all, I thank my wife, Rie. She has graced my life with her support,
understanding, and love. I thank her for her sacrifice as I pursued my goals and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
dreams in graduate school. Rie, I love you very much, and hope to return such
generositytoyouin ournew lifetogether.
x
Abstract
We studythe nonlinearresponse andsignal-processing capabilitiesofdistributed
feedback semiconductor optical amplifiers, and seek to advance their application to
opticalcommunicationnetworks.
BistabilityoccurringforopticalsignalstunednearaBraggresonanceisusefulfor
switching and memory applications, but traditionally exhibits a limited wavelength
range. We relax this constraint by varying the grating pitch along the length of the
distributed feedback amplifier. A transfer-matrix method is developed for simulat-
ing this improvement, and for studying changes in the shape of the hysteresis curve
throughoutthiswavelengthrange. Wepredictanewhysteresis-curveshapeonreflec-
tion,and showhowthegrating-pitchvariationcansuppress orenhance thisshape.
Optical memory based on bistability is useful for sequential signal-processing
applications, but previous control techniques operate with wavelengths only in the
vicinityofthebistable-signalwavelength. Wepropose, model,anddemonstratecon-
troltechniquesviaauxiliaryopticalsignalsthatexhibitaverywidewavelengthrange.
Setandresetsignals varytherefractiveindexinoppositewaysand shiftthe upward-
anddownward-switchingthresholds,respectively,ofthehysteresiscurvethroughthe