Abstract: According to at least one embodiment, a system comprises a Sagnac interferometric loop and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) located at an asymmetric position on that loop, wherein the Sagnac interferometric loop and the SOA are operable to perform signal conversion on an input signal.

Abstract: According to at least one embodiment, a system comprises a Sagnac interferometric loop and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) located at an asymmetric position on that loop, wherein the Sagnac interferometric loop and the SOA are operable to perform signal conversion on an input signal.

Abstract: A Terahertz Optical Asymmetric Demultiplexer (TOAD) having preferably two non-linear elements (NLES) in which the extinction ratio is enhanced by saturating both NLEs when closing a switching window. A data signal input on one port of the TOAD is split onto two optical paths, each including one NLE. The optical paths converge at an output port. To start a switching window, a first control signal is input on an optical path that includes only one of the two NLEs. To close a switching window, one or more control signals are input such that both NLEs receive a control signal at a predetermined time after the first control signal is received by one of the NLEs. Only data signals passing through the first NLE during the switching window are output on the output port. Since both NLEs receive a second control signal at the same time, they decay together and thus avoid creation of unintended switching windows.

Abstract: A Terahertz Optical Asymmetric Demultiplexer (TOAD) having preferably two non-linear elements (NLES) in which the extinction ratio is enhanced by saturating both NLEs when closing a switching window. A data signal input on one port of the TOAD is split onto two optical paths, each including one NLE. The optical paths converge at an output port. To start a switching window, a first control signal is input on an optical path that includes only one of the two NLEs. To close a switching window, one or more control signals are input such that both NLEs receive a control signal at a predetermined time after the first control signal is received by one of the NLEs. Only data signals passing through the first NLE during the switching window are output on the output port. Since both NLEs receive a second control signal at the same time, they decay together and thus avoid creation of unintended switching windows.

Abstract: An optical data format converter and method using a Terahertz Optical Asymmetric Demultiplexer (TOAD) to increase or decrease the duty cycle of an optical signal. To increase the duty cycle, such as converting RZ pulses to NRZ format, the optical data is injected at the clock input port of the TOAD and a continuous wave (CW) laser feeds the data input port. A stretched copy of the input signal will appear at the output port of the TOAD, with the output pulse width determined by the TOAD sampling window. To decrease the duty cycle, the optical data is injected at the data input port of the TOAD and a pulsed control signal is injected at the clock input port. The switching window is selected to be smaller than that period of the NRZ signal causing only the portion of the NRZ signal that overlaps the window to appear at the output of the TOAD.