All-optical clock extraction for self-clocked demultiplexing at 100 Gb/s

The polarization of polarization and wavelength independent clock and data separation of ultrafast optical time-division-multiplexed systems is demonstrated using an intensity-dependent all-optical switch. The clock and data separation is achieved by all-optical intensity switching based on the nonlinearity of the semiconductor optical amplifier asymmetrically placed in an unbalanced loop. With the proper power splitting ratio, clock pulse, and amplification, the signal can be extracted. The signals from the separator are directly used in the terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer.