Semiconductor laser optical amplifiers for use in future fibersystems

The application of semiconductor laser amplifiers to long-wavelength optical fiber systems is discussed. The basic equations defining laser amplifier characteristics are presented together with experimental results. Linear and nonlinear modes of operation are considered; the former includes use as an optical gain block, a linear repeater, and a preamplifier, while the latter includes use as a bistable element, an electrically controlled optical switch, and an injection-locked amplifier     

Sea trial of submarine optical amplifier repeater system using travelling-wave semiconductor laser amplifier

An optical amplifier repeater system consisting of semiconductor laser amplifiers was evaluated in 3000 m deep sea at 820 Mbit/s in the 1.5 mu m wavelength region using 23.5 km of optical submarine cable. The repeater output power was stabilised by an APC system monitoring amplified optical signal power. The authors confirmed stable digital signal transmission and the reduction of variation in the repeater output power for changes in the polarisation of the input signal.<>     

Lightwave systems with optical amplifiers

Fiber-optic communication systems using semiconductor laser amplifiers are investigated theoretically and experimentally. The noise and bit-error-rate characteristics of lightwave systems with optical amplifiers are calculated and the dependence of system performance on amplifier characteristics such as optical bandwidth, noise figure, gain, etc., is shown. Experimental results for both a 4-Gb/s optical preamplifier as well as coherent and direct detection systems with four inline amplifiers are presented     

S/N and error rate performance in AlGaAs semiconductor laser preamplifier and linear repeater systems

The applications of AlGaAs semiconductor laser preamplifier and linear repeaters in single mode optical fiber transmission systems were studied through the baseband signal-to-noise ratio and bit error rate performance measurement. Experiments were carried out with the Fabry-Perot cavity laser amplifiers whose characteristics are improved by reducing the input mirror reflectivity to 6 percent. The use of a preamplifier improves the minimum detectable power by 7.4 dB over the Si-APD direct detection level when the received signal is amplified by 30 dB before photodetection. The use of two linear repeaters increases the regenerative repeater gain by 37 dB. These experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on the photon statistic master equation analysis.     

S/N and Error Rate Performance in AlGaAs Semiconductor Laser Preamplifier and Linear Repeater Systems

The applications of AlGaAs semiconductor laser preamplifier and linear repeaters in single mode optical fiber transmission systems were studied through the baseband signal-to-noise ratio and bit error rate performance measurement. Experiments were carried out with the Fabry-Perot cavity laser amplifiers whose characteristics are improved by reducing the input mirror reflectivity to 6 percent. The use of a preamplifier improves the minimum detectable power by 7.4 dB over the Si-APD direct detection level when the received signal is amplified by 30 dB before photodetection. The use of two linear repeaters increases the regenerative repeater gain by 37 dB. These experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on the photon statistic master equation analysis.     

Novel coherent heterodyne optical time domain reflectometry forfault localization of optical amplifier submarine cable systems

A coherent, heterodyne-detection, optical time-domain reflectometry technique suitable for an all-optical repeater system is proposed. Rayleigh backscatter measurement through a 309-km bidirectional optical transmission line with six cascaded in-line semiconductor laser amplifiers is demonstrated using this technique. The possibility of fault localization on an optical amplifier system with optical isolators is shown     

Characteristics of AlGaAs Fabry-Perot cavity type laser amplifiers

Signal gain, saturation power, and noise bandwidth, which are important parameters determining preamplifier and linear repeater system performance [1], were measured for an AlGaAs Fabry-Perot cavity type laser amplifier. The unsaturated signal gain increases with the pumping level and a maximum signal gain as high as 27 dB is obtained near oscillation threshold. The saturation output power, at which the signal gain is decreased from the unsaturated value by 3 dB, is -6 to -8 dBm. The beat noise powers between signal and spontaneous emission components were measured. The error rate characteristics of an AlGaAs laser preamplifier and Si photodiode scheme were studied at a data rate of 100 Mbits/s. The experimental results on noise powers and error rate performance are in reasonable agreement with the theoretical analysis given in an accompanying paper [1].     

Monolithic integrated amplifiers for 400 Mbit/s optical repeater

Introduction of monolithic integrated circuit technology to high bit rate optical repeater is studied. Monolithic integrated amplifiers are realised for a 400 Mbit/s optical repeater such as a preamplifier, AGC amplifier and postamplifier, using advanced silicon bipolar process technology. An equalising amplifier with four monolithic amplifiers got 66 dB maximum gain, 35 dB variable gain and 350 MHz band-width with 550 mW power consumption.     

Theory of signal degradation in semiconductor laser amplifiers indirect detection systems

Theoretical studies are carried out on long haul direct detection optical fiber communication systems, with inline optical semiconductor amplifier repeaters. Calculations are made of the noise, eye diagrams, and bit-error-rate characteristics of lightwave systems with optical amplifiers. Indications are given of the effect of amplifier characteristics such as spontaneous noise and signal distortion due to gain saturation on the system performance. The nonlinear process within semiconductor laser amplifiers leads generally to pulse amplitude-temporal distortions due to gain saturation. This theoretical study demonstrates that the system penalty caused by these nonlinear effects appears progressively as the optical input power at each amplifier is increased. For example, nonregenerated fiber transmission using traveling wave semiconductor laser amplifiers was simulated, and results obtained at 0.5 and 2.5 Gb/s are presented. In order to improve the system performance, the influence of structure and bulk dimensions of the amplifier cavity is also considered     

Power penalty due to optical back reflection in semiconductoroptical amplifier repeater systems

The effect of optical back-reflection on the bit-error-rate performance of a semiconductor laser amplifier repeater system is evaluated at 565 Mb/s. It is found that the degradation of the back-reflection is mainly caused by multiple reflection in the amplifier and depends on the internal gain of the optical amplifier and the reflectivity of the reflection points. It is concluded that in optical amplifier repeater systems with large gain, an optical isolator should be used to reduce the back-reflection penalty     

546 km, 140 Mbit/s FSK coherent transmission experiment through 10 cascaded semiconductor laser amplifiers

The effect of the spontaneous emission noise on coherent systems in a multistage semiconductor laser amplifier repeater system is experimentally examined. By appropriate adjustment of the input power level to each amplifier, 546 km FSK transmission of 140 Mbit/s using 10 cascaded amplifiers is demonstrated without power penalty.<>     

Optical System with two packaged 1.5 ?m semiconductor laser amplifier repeaters

The first demonstration of two packaged 1.5 ?m semiconductor laser amplifiers in an optical system is reported. Total coupling losses for the fibre-tailed packages were 10dB and 13 dB, respectively. In a 140 Mbit/s intensity-modulated system experiment, using the amplifiers as linear repeaters, a total repeater again of 26 dB was achieved.     

S/N performance of an AlGaAs laser preamplifier and a linear repeater system

Baseband signal-to-noise-ratio characteristics in an AlGaAs laser preamplifier and a linear repeater system were studied theoretically and experimentally. The AlGaAs laser preamplifier improved the minimum detectable power by 1.6 dB over the level achieved by direct detection with an Si APD. 37 dB regenerative repeater gain was experimentally obtained in the system with two optical repeaters at 100 Mbit/s data rate.     

Long-haul high-speed optical communication systems using asemiconductor laser amplifier

High-speed long-haul systems using semiconductor laser amplifiers, which eliminate the need for high-speed electronics in repeaters and are transparent to the transmission speed are considered for application in undersea high-speed transmission systems. The potential of laser-amplifier-repeated transmission systems has been explored by transmission experiments, showing that a high-speed system above 2 Gb is possible by filtering out the spontaneous emission power of the laser amplifier. A theoretical estimation of SNR degradation due to noise accumulation of chained laser amplifiers shows that systems are possible, using 30 to 40 laser amplifier repeaters, if narrow-bandwidth optical filters are used     

Semiconductor laser optical amplifiers for multichannel coherentoptical transmission

The application of semiconductor laser optical amplifiers in multichannel coherent optical transmission systems is investigated. The amplifiers considered (λ=1.3 μm) exhibit a gain of 24 dB at a grain ripple <2 dB and a 3-dB bandwidth of about 4000 GHz. The characteristics of these amplifiers and transmission experiments with these amplifiers are described. The investigations concern noise accumulation in an amplifier chain, generation of echoes due to backward gain in cascaded amplifiers, crosstalk in multichannel transmission, and the effect of gain saturation due to spontaneous emission. A good fit is shown between the advantages of multichannel coherent optical transmission systems and the properties of semiconductor laser optical amplifiers, which are very promising for future long-haul optical transmission systems     

Theory of signal degradation in semiconductor laser amplifiers withfinite facet reflectivities

An analytic expression is derived for the output signal spectrum from a semiconductor laser amplifier (SCLA) using an approach analogous to the Langevin equations of laser noise analysis. The authors present an analysis of the line broadening effects of SCLAs taking into account the effect of facet reflectivities. The signal linewidth is shown to increase with input linewidth and amplifier gain. There is an optimum facet reflectivity which gives the smallest linewidth increase. The results have significant implications in weakly coherent systems utilizing cascades of optical amplifiers     

Design of a high-gain laser diode-array pumped Nd:YAG alternatingprecessive slab amplifier (APS amplifier)

In the design of space-qualifiable laser systems for ranging and altimetry, such as NASA's geodynamic laser ranging system (GLRS), the transmitter must be kept small, powerful yet efficient, and must consist of as few components as possible. The author reports on a unique preamplifier design which satisfies these requirements, and is suitable as the first amplifier stage following a laser, with an output of 1 mJ per pulse. It requires no external beam-steering optics, yielding a compact component with simple alignment procedures. The gains achieved are comparable to multipass zigzag amplifiers using two or more sets of external optics for extra passes through the amplifying medium     

Optical repeater using PFM at 1 GHz

We report the first realization of PFM optical communication with a repeater station, using double heterostructure GaAs/GaAlAs semiconductor lasers. The system uses the property of semiconductor lasers for which the optical pulse rate can be locked by an external modulation of the injection current in the vicinity of the resonance frequency of the laser. This modulation scheme has the advantages of a high information rate capability by using the "spiking" resonance of the laser and, more importantly, of a simple repeater station in which another pulsing laser acts as a regenerative pulse amplifier.     

Coherent-state optical amplifier: a proposal

A new kind of phase-insensitive optical amplifier is proposed whose output is in the coherent state (ideal laser light) if the input is in the coherent state. In-phase and quadrature modulations are preserved in absolute values. Both modulations can be tapped off. The amplifier employs conventional optical amplifiers, electrical feedback, and all-pass filters. Remarkably, these properties hold when either linear or nonlinear optical amplifiers are employed.<>     

Long-haul coherent optical fiber communication systems usingoptical amplifiers

Studies on long-haul coherent optical fiber communication systems with in-line optical amplifier repeaters are made theoretically and experimentally. By theoretical calculation it was found that coherent systems can achieve wider dynamic range for an amplifier input power as compared with the intensity-modulation direct-detection (IM-DD) systems. The feasibility of such systems using traveling-wave semiconductor laser amplifiers (TWSLAs) and erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) was investigated, and 546 km, 140 Mb/s CPFSK transmission using TWSLAs and 1028-km, 560-Mb/s CPFSK transmission using EDFAs were successfully demonstrated