Experimental characterization of dual-wavelength injection-locking of a Fabry–Perot laser diode

Abstract Injection-locking of a Fabry–Perot laser diode by two different wavelengths has potential application for all-optical wavelength conversion in wavelength-division-multiplexed communication systems. We describe new measurements of the dynamic response and wavelength locking range obtainable by dual-wavelength injection-locking of a commercial Fabry–Perot laser diode. We show that a digitally modulated input signal at one wavelength can modulate, with over 10 dB extinction ratio, an arbitrarily selectable mode within the 38 nm gain bandwidth of the Fabry–Perot laser used in the experiment. We measure, for the first time, the impulse response of the all-optical modulation and observe a full-width half-maximum impulse response of 48 ps. Bit error rate measurements showed that the wavelength conversion had a negative power penalty (i.e., bit error rate improvement) when the input signal was chirped.

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