Experimental demonstration of an all-optical 2R regenerator with adjustable decision threshold and "true" regeneration characteristics

Experimental 2R regeneration characteristics of an optical decision circuit based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with gain clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers in both arms are reported for the first time. The decision circuit gives a true regeneration, i.e., a digital characteristic on a linear instead of a logarithmic (or dB) scale for the input and/or output power.