All-optical tunable delay with CSRZ-OOK to RZ-OOK pulse format conversion

Tunable optical delay line has attracted much research interest as a key component in communications. The delay find applications in optical buffering and in time synchronization for optical processing in the network. A simple implementation of all-optical tunable delay is by wavelength conversion together with chromatic dispersion of the signals [1,2]. In this work, we demonstrate a tunable delay scheme with simultaneous carrier-suppressed return-to-zero (CSRZ) to return-to-zero (RZ) pulse format conversion [3]. The conversion between different types of pulse formats is desirable in optimizing the system performance for a given fiber dispersion and nonlinearity. It also provides a photonic gateway for networks employing data pulses at different formats.