Research On All-Optical Wavelength Conversion Based On V-Coupled-Cavity Laser And Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

All-optical wavelength conversion is the key technology for the next generation of optical networks and is promising to work as a significant part of optical switch and all-optical router. All-optical wavelength conversion can overcome electrical bottleneck which is unavoidable for conventional optical-to-electrical-to-optical (OEO) wavelength conversion. The technology can also be used to reduce the number of wavelengths in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system and increase the reliability of the optical communication system. Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and semiconductor tunable laser can be widely used to realize all-optical wavelength conversion due to their small volumes, low cost, low power consumption, high nonlinearities and the potential for integration with other semiconductor optoelectronic devices.Firstly, in order to optimize the well and barrier materials and the structure in the active region of quantum well (QW) semiconductor photonic devices to meet the demands of different applications, we have built a comprehensive quantum well numerical model based on the energy band engineering theory. We have calculated the Schrodinger equation using plane wave expansion method and finite difference method separately. Given the materials and widths of the wells and barriers in the active region of SOAs or semiconductor lasers, we can finally calculate out the polarization dependent gain spectra based on the calculation of the strain, the band offset ratio, the energy levels and wave functions in conduction band and valence band, the polarization dependent optical momentum matrix element and the quasi-fermi levels, which offers a theoretical foundation for the design for the active regions of semiconductor photonic devices.In this thesis, we study on the all-optical wavelength conversion based on SOAs. Steady and dynamic numerical models of the SOA have been built based on the carrier density rate equation and the power propagation equation. We have simulated the output performance of the wavelength converter when the SOA is injected with a continuous wave and a single pulse or the non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal. We can cascade the SOA with a shaping filter or use the turbo-switch structure to improve the quality of the converted optical signal due to the slow gain recovery time in SOAs. In addition, we have created a chip test platform to test the characteristics of the SO As.Finally, we present a quite simple and compact channel-to-channel all-optical wavelength converter using injection-induced wavelength switching in a widely tunable V-coupled-cavity laser. We investigate the steady and dynamic characteristics of the all-optical wavelength converter using time-domain travelling-wave (TDTW) method. The simulation results show that we can achieve wavelength conversion between any two channels of 21 channels spaced at 100GHz by varying the wavelength and optical power of the injection light and tuning the injection current on the channel selector electrode. A 2.5Gbit/s NRZ wavelength conversion is experimentally demonstrated. The chirp management technology is used to optimize the converted signal with an extinction ratio of over 4dB and a well-open eye diagram, which is promising for use in the future all-optical signal processing system.