提出用线性增益和增益斜率分别表征多电平全光幅度再生器的放大和整形特性。利用多电平全光幅度再生器的增益斜率曲线, 可确定再生器的整形范围、最佳工作点以及可再生电平数目。重点分析了基于马赫-曾德尔干涉仪(MZI)的多电平全光幅度再生器整形特点, 其增益斜率曲线是一个余弦振荡函数, 信号振幅越小, 可再生电平数就越多。结果表明, 脉冲幅度调制信号经过MZI多电平全光幅度再生器后, 幅度噪声可得到有效抑制, 但相位抖动增加。

Linear gain and gain slope are proposed to describe the amplification and reshaping characteristics of multilevel all-optical amplitude regenerators. The reshaping range, the optimal operating point, and the number of regenerative levels can be determined based on the gain slope curve of the multilevel all-optical amplitude regenerators. We focus on Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI)-based multilevel all-optical amplitude regenerator with a gain slope curve of cosine oscillation. The smaller the signal oscillating amplitude is, the more the regenerative level numbers are. The results show that the amplitude noise of pulse-amplitude-modulating signal which is through MZI multilevel all-optical amplitude regenerator can be suppressed greatly, while the phase jitter is increasing.