Polarization-independent optical demultiplexing by conventional nonlinear optical loop mirror in a polarization-diversity loop configuration

Abstract

All-optical demultiplexing schemes based on cross-phase modulation in a conventional nonlinear optical fiber loop mirror (NOLM) switch generally suffer from a polarization dependence. In this letter, we propose a polarization-diversity loop configuration that allows polarization-independent all-optical demultiplexing by a conventional NOLM switch. We demonstrate polarization-independent all-optical demultiplexing of 40 Gbit/s signal pulses using the proposed scheme.