Diez, S.S.DiezHilliger, E.E.HilligerKorh, M.M.KorhSchmidt, C.C.SchmidtSchubert, C.C.SchubertWeber, H.G.H.G.WeberOcchi, L.L.OcchiSchares, L.L.ScharesGuekos, G.G.GuekosOxenlowew, L.K.L.K.Oxenlowew2022-03-032022-03-032001https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/20045810.1016/S0030-4018(01)01009-4We investigate the performance of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) based Sagnac-interferometer switch in its application as time division demultiplexer. By performing dynamic switching window measurements with a time resolution of about 1 ps, the temporal width and the contrast of the switching windows are investigated for SOA lengths of 500, 1000 and 1500 mu m. Operating the switch with a control pulse rate of 10 GHz (corresponding to all-optical demultiplexing to 10 Gb/s) the shortest switching windows, still retaining high contrast, are achieved with short SOAs. By increasing the control pulse rate to 40 GHz, the case of an SOA-based all-optical demultiplexer with a base rate of 40 Gb/s is investigated. Though the switching contrast deteriorates for the 40 GHz control pulse rate, the obtainable contrast is still up to 19 dB. This finding encourages the feasibility of SOA-based interferometric demultiplexers with base rates of 40 Gb/s. In particular, this feature is crucial to future all-optical demultiplexers as the base rate of electronic signal processing is currently evolving to 40 Gb/s.endemultiplexingdemultiplexing equipmentlight interferometersoptical switchesoptimisationsemiconductor optical amplifierstime division multiplexingsoa-based sagnac-interferometer switchessagnac-interferometer switchesperformancesemiconductor optical amplifiersagnac-interferometer switchtime division demultiplexerdynamic switching window measurementstime resolutiontemporal widthcontrastswitching windowsswitch operationcontrol pulse rateall-optical demultiplexingbase rateswitching contrastsoa-based interferometric demultiplexersbase ratesall-optical demultiplexerselectronic signal processing10 GHz1 ps500 mum100 mum1500 mum10 Gbit/s40 Gbit/s40 GHz621535journal article