JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS

ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 05, 2020

Utilization of FWM as a Wavelength Converter for all

Optical networks
1 2
S.Sugumaran Durga Naga Lakshmi, 3Jabeena A
1Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Vishnu Institute of
Technology,AP, India
Mail ID: sugudeep@gmail.com
2 Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Vishnu Institute of
Technology, AP, India
Mail ID: durgalakshmi.n@vishnu.edu.in
3 Professor, SENSE, VIT, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Mail ID: @gmail.com

Received: 28 February 2020 Revised and Accepted: 06 March 2020

Abstract-Four Wave Mixing (FWM) in Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) is one of the methods
available for wavelength conversion. This wavelength converter has many applications especially for the purpose of
all-optical frequency conversion. FWM takes place not only in the SOA but also in the Optical Fibre and the
efficiencies of FWM signals are not the same in both cases. The effect of FWM also varies based on many
parameters such as 1) channel spacing 2) number of channels 3) bit rate 4) duty cycle and 5) modulation techniques.
These parameters along with the differences in FWM in SOA have been analysed for the all-optical frequency
conversion technique.
Keywords-Wavelength converter, FWM in SOA, All-optical Frequency conversion, parametric analysis.

I. INTRODUCTION
A wavelength converter is an optical device which converts the given message signal of one wavelength to
another desired wavelength. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) systems are limited by factors such as the
number of channels and wavelength conversion levels. A wavelength converter can be used to overcome these kinds
of network/system limitations.
Wavelength converters can be implemented by using techniques such as Cross Gain Modulation (XGM)
and Cross-Phase Modulation (XPM) as well. But, FWM provides transparency to modulation techniques and bit
rate. This preserves the amplitude and phase of the information. The disadvantages of using FWM technique are that
FWM is polarization sensitive. This means that the polarization state of the pump and probe need to match for
proper FWM to take place. The other disadvantage observed is that as the detuning frequency (frequency difference
between pump and probe signal) increases, the conversion efficiency of the converter decreases.
When two co-polarized optical waves are coupled into a saturated SOA, the two waves undergo carrier
density modulation in the active region of the SOA and gives rise to index grating off which the optical signals are
generated at new wavelengths. When two optical signals are coupled into the SOA, we obtain four signals at
different wavelengths at the output of the SOA. This is calculated by using the formula,
M=n(n2-1)/2
Here ‘M’ is the number of output signals of FWM and ‘n’ represents the number of signals given to the
SOA.

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Of the four signals obtained at the output of the SOA, two signals are constant at the input wavelengths (i.e
the input signal wavelengths). Along with these there are two more signals generated at different wavelengths. One
of these is the signal obtained at the expected wavelength and the other is at a different wavelength. These are called
as the converted signal and satellite signal respectively.
The frequency difference between the pump signal (ῶpump) and the probe signal (ῶprobe) is called the
Detuning Frequency (∆ῶ). The wavelength of the converted signal can be given by the equation,
ῶcs=ῶpump+∆ῶ
Both the satellite signal and the converted signal are generated at a frequency difference of ∆ῶ from the
probe signal frequency and the pump signal frequency respectively.

Broadband wireless media services need wireless communication systems that provide large channel
capacity. Radio Over Fiber (ROF) is a technology that involves high frequency RF (Radio Frequency) signals in
order to transmit information over an optical fiber. Broadband wireless multimedia services include High-Definition
Television (HDTV), Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) and Three-Dimensional Television (3DTV).
All-optical (or photonic) frequency up-conversion is an important ROF technique where a bunch of optical
Intermediate Frequency signals are up-converted using an Optical Local Oscillator (LO) signal. The signal is usually
fixed and acts as a pump signal that only helps in conversion but does not transmit any information. A Local
oscillator is an electronic oscillator that generates a signal to convert another signal to a different frequency. Cost-
effective wireless systems can be implemented using photonic frequency conversion scheme for WDM ROF
systems.
II. MODELLING AND SIMULATION
For the implementation of the wavelength converter, the pump signal was kept at a constant wavelength of
1550nm and the probe was changed based on the up-conversion or down-conversion. The power levels of the pump
and the probe signal are kept at 5dBm and 3dBm respectively and the bit rate at 2.5Gbps. Polarization controllers
were used to co-polarize both the pump and the probe signals before sending them into the SOA.

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Fig. 2, Schematic for the wavelength converter

A Mach-Zender modulator was used to modulate the electrical data signal with the optical signal. An
EDFA was used before the travelling wave SOA as it helps to increase the combined signal power in order to
saturate the SOA. FWM efficiency is maximum when the SOA is operated in deep saturation state.
For the all-optical frequency up-conversion technique, 8-channels which carry data were chosen and were
up-converted to the required frequency by using a pump signal which only generates a wavelength but does not
consist of any data. The pump signal responsible to convert the 8 data signals is called as the Local Oscillator signal
and was kept constant at 1541nm. The channel spacing for the 8 IF signals was kept at 0.5nm starting at 1543nm for
the first channel. The following Fig 3a shows the transmitter and the remote node part of the all-optical frequency
up-converter schematic. The power levels of the LO was kept at 10dBm and the IF block were kept at 3dBm with a
bit rate of 2.5Gbps.

Fig. 3a, Schematic for the transmitter and Remote node of all-optical frequency converter.

The following Fig 3b shows the other half of the Schematic which consists of the Receiver having the
WDM De-multiplexer, the photo-detector and the Optical Spectrum Analyzer.

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Fig. 3b, Schematic for the Receiver block of the all-optical frequency converter.

The following Fig 4. Shows the schematic which was used to analyze FWM in only SOA, only optical fiber
and both optical fiber and SOA. The output of the transmitter block form Fig 3a was given to the schematic shown
in Fig 4 as input. The output of each of the cases was analyzed using an optical spectrum analyzer.

Fig 4, Schematic for the FWM analysis in SOA, OF and OF with SOA.

A power splitter was used in order to split the LO and IF combined signal into three signals so that we can
analyze the three cases of FWM with only SOA, FWM with only Optical Fiber and FWM with Optical Fiber and
SOA.

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III. Results
Considering the Schematic shown in Fig 2, the probe signal was kept at a wavelength of 1552nm and the
converted and satellite signals were obtained at 1554nm and 1548nm. The following Fig 5 shows the output for the
above mentioned criteria.

Fig 5. Output Showing Wavelength down Conversion.

When the pump signal is constant at 1550nm and the probe signal is kept at 1552nm, up-conversion takes
place. The following Fig 6 shows the wavelength up-conversion.

Fig. 6, Output of the wavelength converter showing wavelength up-conversion

When the detuning frequency was increased to 5nm, the wavelength conversion didn’t take place. The
following Fig 7 shows the output for wavelength conversion with Detuning frequency of 5nm. Pump =1550nm and
probe=1555nm

Fig 7. Output for the Detuning frequency of 5nm.

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Coming to the results for the all-optical frequency up-conversion schematic shown in Fig 3, the following
Fig 8 shows the given input signals of the LO block and the IF block. Fig 9 shows the obtained RF converted output
signals.

Fig. 8a, LO block input signal

Fig..8b, IF block input signal

Fig. 9, RF converted output signals.

The parametric analysis for the all-optical frequency converted was done for 1) channel spacing, 2) no of
channels, 3) bit rate, 4) Duty cycle and 5) Modulation Techniques.

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A. Channel Spacing
As the channel spacing increases, the wavelength conversion is not precise anymore because of the
increasing detuning frequency. It results in inefficient FWM signals in the output. The following Fig 10 shows the
comparison of FWM at 0.5nm channel spacing and 5nm channel spacing.

Fig. 10a, 0.5nm channel spacing

Fig. 10b, 5nm Channel spacing

B. Number of channels
As the number of channels increases, the FWM effect also increases. For better wavelength conversion, it
is always preferred to have less number of channels for constant channel spacing. The following Fig 11 shows the
comparison of FWM and wavelength conversion for 4channels and 8- channels.

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Fig. 11a, wavelength conversion and FWM for 4 channel

Fig. 11b, wavelength conversion and FWM for 8 channel

C. Bit rate
As the bit rate increases, the effect of FWM increases and along with this, the output power of wavelength
converted signal also increases. The following Fig 12 shows the wavelength conversion and FWM with their power
levels for 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps bit rate.

Fig. 12a, FWM at 2.5Gbps bit rate

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Fig. 12b, FWM at 10Gbps bit rate.

D. Duty Cycle
As the duty cycle increases, there is a very slight increase in the output power of the wavelength converted
signals. The following Fig 13 shows the comparison of the outputs at a duty cycle of 25% and 50%.

Fig 13a Duty Cycle of 25%

Fig 13b. Duty cycle of 50%

E. Modulation Techniques
The effect of FWM and wavelength conversion was observed for RZ and NRZ modulation techniques. It
was observed that the output power of the wavelength converted signal for NRZ was greater than that of RZ. The
following Fig 14 shows the comparison of the FWM and wavelength conversion technique for both NRZ and RZ
techniques.

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Fig. 14a, RZ modulation technique

Fig. 14b, NRZ modulation Technique

The differences in FWM and Wavelength conversion due to FWM in only SOA, only Optical
Fiber and Optical Fiber with SOA was analyzed. The schematic shown in Fig 4 was used to analyze the differences.
The results and conclusions of this Schematic are as shown below. The following Fig 15 shows the FWM in the
three cases.

Fig. 15a, FWM in only SOA

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Fig. 15b, FWM in only Optical Fiber

Fig. 15c, FWM in Optical Fiber with SOA.

From the above shown figures in Fig 15, one can conclude that the FWM in only SOA or the FWM in
Optical Fiber with an SOA gives more output power to the wavelength converted signal. There is a difference of
about 50dBm.
IV. Conclusion
In this paper, we have analysed the performance of FWM in SOA for an all-optical up conversion
technique. The results have been essentially analysed with respect to different parameters which affect its utilization.
The different parameters analysed are channel spacing, number of channels, bit rate, duty cycle and modulation
formats. In the present day scenario, FWM in SOA is one of the most promising wavelength conversion techniques
due to the advantages it offers over normal FWM in optical fibers. The major advantages of FWM in SOA are
transparency to bit rates and modulation formats. The concept of FWM in SOA has been extended to the application
in RoF fibers in this paper. The analysis was done separately for three cases, exclusively in optical fibers,
predominantly in SOA and the third case included SOA followed by optical fibers. The gain and efficiency was
found to be maximum in the second and the third case.

V. References
[1] Jameel Ahmed, “Parametric Analysis of FWM in DWDM systems”, Elsevier, 2013
[2] B.K Mishra, Analysis of FWM in WDM communication system for different channel spacing, IEEE,
2013.
[3] Anupjeet Kaur, “Performance of SOA based FWM converter”, International journal of engineering
research and application, 2013.
[4] S. Singh, “Wide band optical wavelength converter based on four wave mixing using optimised semi
conductor optical amplifier”, J.Fiber Integr. Optics 25, 2007.

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[5] Gauri Deshmukh, “Four Wave Mixing in DWDM Optical Systems, International Journal Of
Computational Engineering”, 2013.
[6] Yoshitaka Ito, “Influence of Modulation Formats on FWM noises in FDM optical fiber transmission
systems”, Elsevier, 2007.
[7] A. K Jaiswal, “Performance of SOA based Wavelength Conversion at 10Gbps by dual pump four wave
mixing over a 50 nm”, International Journal of advanced research in computer and communication
Engineering, 2013.
[8] Takasi Simoyama, “High-Efficiency wavelength conversion using FWM in an SOA integrated DFB
Laser”, IEEE photonics technology Letters, 2000.
[9] Y. Said, “Performance evaluation of a wavelength conversion using a wideband SOA at 40 Gbps”, The
open optics journal, 2010.
[10] Biyananda Patnaik, “Optimization of FWM effect inRadio-Over-Fiber for a 32 channel 40-Gbps
DWDM system”, International Symposium on Electronics System Design, 2010.

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