Experimental demonstration of 42.6 Gbit/s asynchronous digital optical regenerators

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a 42.6 Gbit/s asynchronous digital optical regenerator (ADORE) in a dual-window quad-gate configuration using an EAM loop and a dual-gate configuration using a single MZM. These ADORE configurations regenerate, re-shape, and re-time incoming asynchronous bursts of data to a local clock with a desired wavelength without the need for any clock recovery. The dual-window quad-gate and dual-gate ADOREs were used to regenerate and retime a 42.6 Gbit/s RZ-ASK data signal to a local generated clock with a maximum receiver penalty of only ~4.5 dB and ~2 dB, respectively, for any arbitrary data input phase delay.