Cascadability and reshaping properties of a saturable absorber inserted inside a RZ transmission line for future 160-Gbit/s all-optical 2R-regenerators

In this prospective work, we analyze the behavior of a quantum-well microcavity saturable absorber component cascaded into a 100-km SMF RZ transmission line in order to annihilate the ghost-pulse phenomenon in the following simplified “…010101…” 160-Gbit/s 2-bit pattern at 1555 nm. Recirculating-loop experiments show a maximal ghost-pulse extinction up to 11.6 dB as well as an intensity extinction ratio enhancement higher than 6 dB over at least 800 km of propagation.