10 Gbit/s all-optical non-return to zero-return-to-zero data format conversion based on a backward dark-optical-comb injected semiconductor optical amplifier.

By using a semiconductor optical amplifier backward injected by a dark-optical-comb pulse train at 10 GHz, we demonstrate a 10 Gbit/s all-optical nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) to return-to-zero (RZ) format conversion of an incoming optical pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) data stream. Both the polarity and the wavelength of data are conserved during format conversion. Without any pre-amplification, the extinction ratio of degraded optical NRZ PRBS data is greatly improved from 7.13 to 13.6 dB after NRZ-to-RZ conversion. An ultralow bit-error rate of 10(-12) at a data rate as high as 10 Gbits/s is obtained with a received optical power of -18.3 dBm. The converted RZ PRBS data exhibit a negative power penalty of >3.7 dB compared with the NRZ PRBS data at a bit-error rate of 10(-12).