Compact 40Gbit/s optical demultiplexer using a GaInAsP optical amplifier

A polarisation insensitive GaInAsP near travelling wave semiconductor laser amplifier is used as the nonlinear element in a nonlinear optical loop mirror. With this compact configuration, the authors demonstrate a continuously tunable switching window, and report, for the first time using semiconductor materials, error ratio measurements for a demultiplexing operation from 40 to 10 Gbit/s, with a receiver sensitivity of −23 dBm.