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Quantum-Dot Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers, Basic Principles, Design Methods, and Optical Characterizations

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Nanostructure Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

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Abstract

The development of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) happened soon after the invention of the semiconductor laser. A SOA is very similar to a semiconductor laser without (or with negligible) optical facet feedback. An incoming signal injected into the SOA propagates along its optical waveguide and is amplified by stimulated emission. The optical gain is achieved by inverting the carrier population in the active region via electrical pumping. During the 1990s due to the development of the erbium doped optical amplifier (EDFA) the popularity of the SOA as a linear amplifier declined as the EDFAs provided higher gain without the detrimental nonlinearities associated with an SOA.

During the development of SOAs, there were three main challenges related to SOAs performance making them acceptable for practical applications: polarisation sensitivity reduction, optical feedback reduction, and decreasing the noise level of SOAs. However, attentions turned to SOAs in the late 1990s as SOA design techniques developed, and thus its possibilities for integration and cost effectiveness led the SOA to become a competitive component in comparison to the EDFA. The design of SOAs developed in two directions: as a linear amplifier, it is needed to reduce optical nonlinearities of SOA and as a nonlinear medium; the nonlinear effects should be exploited for use in variety of applications such as all-optical signal processing. The advantages of SOAs are their versatility and possibility of monolithic integration with other optical components like passive waveguides and couplers to perform more complex functions. They are compact, electrically pumped and have a large optical bandwidth. Moreover, they allow a wide flexibility in the choice of the gain peak wavelength. In linear operation such as a power booster, as an inline amplifier and as a preamplifier EDFAs are the dominant amplifiers specially in long-haul systems as they have lower noise levels and much better crosstalk properties for multi-channel amplification in comparison to SOAs. However, the SOA offers a cost competitive alternative to the EDFA when used as an inline amplifier in metro networks, as a power booster and as a preamplifier. Also, in nonlinear operation they can perform all-optical signal processing due to their strong nonlinearities and their fast dynamics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanophotonics, School of Engineering-Emerging Technologies, University of Tabriz, Bolv. 29 Bahman, Tabriz, 51666, Iran

    Ali Rostami

  2. Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Bolv. 29 Bahman, Tabriz, 51666, Iran

    Reza Maram

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  1. Ali Rostami
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Rostami, A., Maram, R. (2011). Quantum-Dot Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers, Basic Principles, Design Methods, and Optical Characterizations. In: Nanostructure Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers. Engineering Materials. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14925-2_1

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