Patent ID: 7203427
Filing Date: 2007-04-10
Classification: G02F,H04B

Abstract:
1. A multipath all optical regenerator and reshaper, comprising: N semiconductor optical amplifiers (“SOA”s); M multimode interferometers (“MMI”s); a plurality of waveguides interconnecting the SOAs and MMIs; a plurality of possible inputs for a dirty optical signal at a first wavelength; a plurality of possible inputs for a continuous wavelength signal at a second wavelength; and a plurality of possible outputs for a clean signal at the second wavelength; two of said SOAs in different signal paths being disposed for inductive interaction, a first thereof being operated in a saturation mode so as to induce phase modulation upon receiving a signal, a second thereof being operated as an amplifier which is biased to have a 180° phase shift relative to the first SOA, so that signals passing through said two SOAs in a forward direction interfere destructively, the first SOA being connected to receive a reverse direction signal which causes it to have a 180° phase shift, whereby signals traveling through the first and second SOAs are brought into phase and interfere constructively; wherein the regenerator and reshaper comprise at least two disjoint configurations, each of which can implement the regeneration and reshaping functionality notwithstanding the failure of one or more SOAs, MMIs or waveguides in the other configurations.