Analysis and experiment of all-optical time-interleaved multi-channel regeneration based on higher-order four-wave mixing in a fiber

Simultaneous all-optical multi-channel regeneration based on second-order four-wave mixing (FWM) in a single highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) is studied. Interchannel crosstalk, especially cross gain saturation and generation of interchannel FWM, is avoided by properly time-interleaved channels. Preliminary experiment of 2 ch × 10 Gbit/s operation shows simultaneous noise reduction of the two channels and good agreement with numerical analysis. Numerical investigation on 2 ch × 40 Gbit/s operation using the same parameters as the experiment shows that the regeneration can improve qualities of both channels. For more number of channels and higher speed of operation, several parameters need to be adjusted to avoid interchannel crosstalks. Time synchronization techniques for the input channels are also discussed.