Self-seeding of semiconductor lasers for next-generation WDM Passive Optical Networks

Self-seeding of Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (R-SOAs) and Fabry-Peròt lasers have been identified among the most promising candidates sources for WDM-PONs: indeed, self-seeding provides for self-tuneability and very low-cost. However, self-seeding is intrinsically a polarization dependent process so that its application in real WDM-PONs is not trivial. In this paper we review novel approaches to solve the polarization issues when using R-SOAs or uncooled FP lasers. 1.25 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s operations are experimentally demonstrated across the whole C-band, showing that this technique is mature for applications in next-generation WDM-PONs.