Patent ID: 7184189

Claim:
An apparatus for simultaneous demultiplexing and optical pulse generation, compnsing: a traveling-wave electroabsorption modulator (TW-EAM) including a first port, a second port for producing a photocurrent, a third port, and a fourth port, the TW-EAM receiving optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) data of a first bit rate with a first wavelength and a continuous wave optical signal with a second wavelength; and a phase-locked loop (PLL) including an input and an output, the input being connected to the second port of the TW-EAM, the output being connected to the fourth port, wherein the photocurrent includes a tone of a fundamental frequency determined by the first bit rate that is applied to the PLL to recover an electrical clock with a first frequency, the first frequency being determined by dividing the fundamental frequency by N, where N is a natural number larger than 1, and wherein the recovered electrical clock is supplied to the fourth port of the TW-EAM to modulate the TW-EAM and to generate demultiplexed data of a second bit rate with the first wavelength and an optical pulse with the first frequency and the second wavelength.