Abstract

All-optical 3R regeneration devices (devices with reamplification, reshaping and retiming functions) are of interest in future all-optical networks to restore degraded transmission signals. We predicted the existence of pitchfork bifurcation bistability through gain saturation of laser diodes, ^1,2 experimentally observed the pitchfork bifurcation bistability in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), ³ and reported a gigaherz all-optical flip-flop operation.⁴ Ultrafast polarization bistable switching with a 7 ps switchingtime in a VCSEL was also successfully demonstrated.⁵ All-optical demultiplexing⁶ with a signal-bit width conversion function, and all-optical format conversion between RZ and NRZ formats ^7,8 have been demonstrated.

© 2002 Optical Society of America