Low-Complexity TOAD-Based All-Optical Sampling Gate With Ultralow Switching Energy and High Linearity

Abstract

We present experimentally a low-complexity ultralow switching energy and high-linearity all-optical sampling gate based on a terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer, constructed by placing a polarization-insensitive multiple-quantum-well semiconductor optical amplifier (PI-MQW-SOA) asymmetrically within a fiber loop mirror. Using a picosecond pulse train as the trigger clock, we analyze, in detail, the influence of the sampling pulse power and the offset of the PI-MQW-SOA from the loop midpoint on the shape, width, and amplitude of the sampling window, respectively. Furthermore, the switching energy and linearity of this sampling gate under different widths of sampling windows are specifically investigated. Results demonstrate that our sampling gate possesses a switching energy as low as 25 fJ and a high linearity above 0.99.

Keywords

• All-optical sampling
• semiconductor optical amplifier
• optical signal processing