Long-term storage of a bit stream of pulses by stimulated Raman scattering

The possibility of providing long-term storage of a binary sequence of pulses circulating in a fiber loop is discussed. The regeneration of the sequence is achieved by a fiber logic gate based on stimulated Raman scattering. Estimations show that a possible pulse repetition rate of 10(10) Hz for the stimulated-Raman-scattering gate operation can be expected for an average pump power of 1 W. The circulation of the binary-sequence of 100-ps pulses was observed during 10 min in a loop 870 m long. It corresponds to more than 10(6) round trips around the loop. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.