Multiple pump parametric apparatus having no idler broadening

1. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that includes a bit sequence, formed into words;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by the modulation period equal to an integer multiple of the word length; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

2. The multiple pump phase modulation apparatus of claim 1 where the delay apparatus includes a predetermined length of optical fiber.

3. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that includes a bit sequence, formed into words;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by the modulation period approximately equal to an integer multiple of the word length;

a variable bit rate signal generator for generating the bit sequence where the bit rate is varied so that an integer multiple of word length is equal to the delay of the delay apparatus; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

4. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that includes a pseudo-random bit sequence, PRBS, formed into words;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by the modulation period equal to an integer multiple of the word length; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

5. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that includes a pseudo-random bit sequence, PRBS, formed into words;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by the modulation period approximately equal to an integer multiple of the word length;

a variable bit rate signal generator for generating the PRBS where the bit rate is varied so that an integer multiple of word length is equal to the delay of the delay apparatus; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

6. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that is a periodic analog function where the second half period is the complement of the first half period;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by a delay that is equal an integer multiple of the half period; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

7. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modurated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that is a periodic analog functions;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by a delay that is equal to an integer multiple of the period; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

8. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that is a periodic analog function where the second half period is the complement of the first half period;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by a delay that is approximately equal an integer multiple of the half period;

a periodic analog function generator for generating a periodic analog function where the period is varied so that an integer multiple of the half period is equal to the delay of the delay apparatus; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

9. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form chase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that is a periodic analog function;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by a delay that is approximately equal an integer multiple of the period;

a periodic analog function generator for generating a periodic analog function where the period is varied so that an integer multiple of the period is equal to the delay of the delay apparatus; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

10. A multi-pump phase modulation apparatus comprising

means for receiving multiple pump wavelength signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump wavelength signals to form multiple phase modulated pump wavelength signals using a modulation signal having a predetermined modulation period;

a dispersion compensation module, DCM, for receiving the multiple phase modulated pump wavelength signals and for compensating for chromatic dispersion and/or optical nonlinear effects in the received multiple pump wavelength signals.

11. The multi-pump phase modulation apparatus of claim 10 wherein the DCM comprises

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the modulated multiple pump wavelength signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus for delaying a first wavelength group by the predetermined modulation period relative to any other wavelength group;

wherein the DCM compensates for chromatic dispersion and/or optical nonlinear effects introduced into at least one of the wavelength groups; and

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump wavelength signal.

12. The multi-pump phase modulation apparatus of claim 10 further comprising

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the modulated multiple pump wavelength signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus for delaying a first wavelength group by the predetermined modulation period relative to other wavelength groups;

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump wavelength signal; and

wherein the DCM compensates for chromatic dispersion and/or optical nonlinear effects introduced to the combined modulated multiple pump wavelength signal.

13. A multi-pump parametric apparatus comprising:

means for receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

a single phase modulator for phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form phase modulated multiple pump signals wherein the phase modulator uses a modulation signal that includes a bit sequence, formed into words;

a wavelength selective signal splitter for separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

a delay apparatus that delays the first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by the modulation period equal to an integer multiple of the word length;

a combiner for combining the delayed first wavelength group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal; and

a parametric apparatus for receiving the combined modulated multiple pump signal and for amplifying an input signal S, and for outputting a signal selected from a group including an amplified input signal and one or more idlers generated by the parametric apparatus.

14. The multi-pump parametric apparatus of claim 13 arranged as an optical switch including

a pump amplitude control circuit for turning at least one of the multiple pump signals on and off.

15. The multi-pump parametric apparatus of claim 13 arranged as a sampler including

a bandsplitter coupler, C 2 , for receiving the combined amplified signal and idlers and for selecting at least one of the signal and idler bands to be used as the sample signal.

16. The multi-pump parametric apparatus of claim 13 arranged as a signal extractor for receiving the input signal S in the form of a binary signal and for extracting every n th bit of the binary signal, the signal extractor further including

a pump intensity modulator that modulates the intensity of at least one of the combined modulated multiple pump signal using a pump intensity modulation S signal to complete the entire combined multiple pump signal on every n th bit of the binary input signal, and

a bit sampler circuit for recovering the dock signal of the binary input signal and for generating the pump intensity modulation signal, and wherein

the parametric apparatus receives the binary input signal and the amplitude modulated-combined multiple pump signal and in response forms an output signal generated from every n th bit of the binary input signal.

17. The multi-pump parametric apparatus of claim 13 used as a regenerator, said regenerator further including an output filter, F, tuned to pass a regeneration signal selected from the output signal generated by the parametric apparatus.

18. A method of operating a multi-pump phase modulation apparatus, comprising the steps of:

receiving multiple optical wavelength pump signals;

phase modulating the multiple pump signals to form multiple phase modulated pump signals using a single phase modulator and a modulation signal that includes a bit sequence formed into words;

separating the phase modulated multiple pump signals into at least two wavelength groups;

delaying a first wavelength group relative to other wavelength groups by a modulation period equal to an integer multiple of the word length; and

combining the delayed first wavelength, group with the other wavelength groups to form a combined modulated multiple pump signal.

19. A method of operating a multi-pump parametric apparatus using the method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of:

generating a combined modulated multiple pump signal by operating the

multi-pump phase modulation apparatus;

receiving the combined modulated multiple pump signal and an input signal S at the parametric apparatus;

amplifying the input signal in the parametric apparatus, and

outputting a signal selected from a group including an amplified input signal and one or more idlers generated by the multi-pump parametric apparatus.