Application of nonlinear effects in semiconductor-laser optical amplifiers

The authors report on two applications of nonlinear optical effects of semiconductor-laser amplifiers in optical communications and optical signal processing. They describe an all-optical frequency converter with a 4000 GHz conversion range and with a fibre to fibre efficiency of -10 dB, and an all-optical switch operating as logic AND gate up to frequencies of at least 100 MHz. An advantage of both devices is their internal gain.