All-Optical Nonlinear Switch Using SOA-assisted Sagnac Interferometer by Regarding Interaction of Counter Propagating Pulses

In this study, a Sagnac interference structure based on the interaction of ultra short counter propagating pulses in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is analyzed. To pulse propagation in SOA a validated comprehensive model is used to solve modifiednonlinear Schrödinger equation (MNLSE) by taking into account all nonlinear phenomena such as: group velocity dispersion (GVD), nonlinear changes of the gain and refractive index, spectral hole burning (SHB), carrier heating (CH) and two-photon absorption (TPA). Using desired model, the switching rate in the switch output port is reached to the rate of 167 Gb/s through the data bit rate of 667 Gb/s. The effects of small-signal (unsaturated) amplifier gain, control pulse width and power on switch operation is investigated.