Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Pulse Propagation Model

Abstract

Abstract-A simple time-domain model for optical pulse propagation in a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) is described. The RSOA saturation energy, effective carrier lifetime and spectral hole-burning parameters used in the model are determined using experimental measurements of the input and output pulse temporal profiles to the RSOA and least mean-square fitting. The model accurately predicts the propagation of 39.6 ps pulsewidth variable energy pulses in the RSOA. The model is used to predict the RSOA gain dynamics, spatial dependence of the pulse shape and dynamic chirp.Index Terms-reflective semiconductor optical amplifier, pulse propagation modeling.

Improved reduced models for single-pass and reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers

“…In general, the output power characteristics of reflective amplifiers differ from single pass amplifiers in that a maximum output power is reached at a certain input power [11], and this was shown experimentally and numerically for RSOAs [10], [12]. Simplified travelling wave models for RSOAs have appeared [3], [4], with the model in [3] introducing a lumped RSOA model that shows nice agreement with the full travelling wave model in [4]. We show how the losses could be implemented in a reduced RSOA model using the techniques outlined in section II and we assume sub-unity reflectivity values for the reflective facet, as they are preferred to avoid lasing [13].…”

“…The results from the improved reduced model are compared with the full travelling wave model (TWM) [4], showing excellent agreement with discrepancies < 1 dB over a 40 dB dynamic range of input powers combined with a 20 dB dynamic range of reflectivity values. In addition, we also show how the losses are incorporated in accounting for the intraband contributions to the nonlinear gain.…”

“…ODELLING SEMICONDUCTOR optical amplifiers (SOA) has been a topic for over two decades [1]- [4]. Very recently, models of reflective SOAs (RSOA) have emerged, [3] [4], mainly driven by RSOA exploitation within passive optical networks (PON) [5], [6].…”

“…Very recently, models of reflective SOAs (RSOA) have emerged, [3] [4], mainly driven by RSOA exploitation within passive optical networks (PON) [5], [6]. Reduced (or lumped) SOA models, [1]- [3], allow for solving the gain and refractive index dynamics without having to solve computationally intensive propagation equations as was done in [4].…”

“…Very recently, models of reflective SOAs (RSOA) have emerged, [3] [4], mainly driven by RSOA exploitation within passive optical networks (PON) [5], [6]. Reduced (or lumped) SOA models, [1]- [3], allow for solving the gain and refractive index dynamics without having to solve computationally intensive propagation equations as was done in [4]. In all the reduced SOA models presented, the inclusion of internal scattering losses in the lumped SOA models have proven to be elusive due to the fact that no analytical solution arises when the internal scattering losses are non-zero [1], [7].…”