Patent ID: 7072589

Claim:
An optical signal regenerator, comprising: a variable optical amplifier, wherein said variable optical amplifier is operable to accept an optical data stream, having an input carrier frequency, from a transmission medium and further operable to amplify said optical data stream; a nonlinear medium (NLM) having an NLM inlet operable to accept said amplified optical data stream, said NLM utilizing the effect of self-phase modulation (SPM) to induce a signal spectral bandwidth broadening in said amplified optical data stream; a bandpass filter (BPF) coupled to said NLM and having a center frequency and a bandwidth, wherein said bandwidth passes frequencies other than said input carrier frequency; and a control filter coupled to said NLM, wherein said control filter has a bandwidth that passes frequencies including said input carrier frequency, wherein said control filter comprises an outlet coupled to said variable optical amplifier to adjust the amplification of said variable optical amplifier.