Theoretical proposal for a unidirectional optical amplifier

The possibility of achieving a unidirectional optical amplifier is theoretically predicted with a model in the vacuum environment. The operation of this amplifier is based on the transfer of the kinetic energy of an electron beam to an optical one where both are propagating in the same direction. The optical beam propagates in a dielectric waveguide where it partly penetrates into the vacuum in the form of an evanescent wave. The electron beam is emitted from an electron gun and propagates along the surface of the dielectric waveguide, exciting the optical beam. The propagation speed of the optical beam is slowed down with the aid of the dielectric waveguide and is made to coincide with that of the electron beam. Quantum mechanical analysis of the interaction between the optical beam and the electron beam is given, based on the density matrix formalism. At the wavelength of 0.5 μm, the gain coefficient is calculated to be about 12 cm^-1 under the excitation voltage of 64 kV and the electron beam current of several microamperes     

A proposal of broad-bandwidth vertical-cavity laser amplifier

We propose a generic vertical-cavity amplifier (VCA) using a coupled-cavity design to broaden the bandwidth. Calculations are made for cavities with GaAs-AlAs and GaAs-Al_xO₂ distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR). We found that at reasonable pumping levels the VCA increased the bandwidth by 85% (GaAs-AlAs) to 500% (GaAs-Al_xO₂) as compared to a simple two-mirror structure similar to vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. In particular, the GaAs-AlAs VCA shows a bandwidth of 2 nm at 6-dB signal gain, while the GaAs-Al_xO₂ VCA demonstrates a 5-nm bandwidth at 6-dB signal gain with no ripple at required single-pass power gain of ~2-2.5%. Furthermore, as large as 30-nm bandwidth in a lossless bandpass filter can be obtained     

An all-optical amplifier for terahertz AM signals: A proposal

We propose an all-optical amplifier for AM signals which, in principle, is an integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer where both arms are pumped with light from the incoming signal, amplified in a semiconductor laser amplifier. Thus the pump is the time integrated phase and amplitude average of the signal. In one of the arms a part of the nonamplified signal is injected, which modulates the optical path length in that arm with the optical Kerr effect. After the final junction between the arms, the outgoing light is proved to carry a part of the amplitude of the pump and the modulation of the signal.     

Efficient optical amplifier using a low-concentration erbium-dopedfiber

A gain coefficient of 3.8 dB/mW was achieved for an erbium-doped fiber amplifier pumped by a 1.48 μm laser diode. The main reasons for the improvement are high NA (0.23) and low concentration (43 p.p.m.). Pump-to-signal energy conversion efficiency was 18% at 3 dB gain compression. A decrease in saturation power with increasing erbium concentration was also demonstrated. In high-concentration fiber, fluorescence at 0.98 μm due to cooperative upconversion was detected. These results indicate that several kilometers of distributed fiber amplifier with high gain and high output saturation power could be possible, because the absorption coefficient at 1.48 μm is still two orders higher than the background loss in the 43 p.p.m. fiber     

Analytical model of a semiconductor optical amplifier

The spatial dependence of the material gain is introduced in the model of a semiconductor optical amplifier. Analytical expressions of the profiles of the carrier density, spontaneous emission, and amplified fields are obtained for amplifiers with arbitrary facet reflectivities. The nonuniformity of the carrier density is demonstrated in the case of low facet reflectivities. The model predicts the output saturation power and gain ripple, with good agreement with experimental results in resonant and traveling-wave amplifiers. Very low-gain ripple measured in low facet reflectivities amplifiers is explained by the model. A comparison with the uniform gain model shows that important deviations can occur in the case of low facet reflectivities. It is also shown that with the currently achievable low facet reflectivities, the maximum available gain is limited by spontaneous emission     

SSFLC optical directional coupler switch with a short devicelength: a proposal

A novel vertical directional coupler waveguide switch composed of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) is proposed and analyzed. The surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal break (SSFLC) is used as an active separation layer between passive waveguides. To decrease the switching length, the waveguide switch is based on the power crossing the separation layer rather than coupling between waveguides. The calculated results relevant to the switch parameters such as the switching length, switching time, capacitance, and extinction ratio are presented. Because of the large birefringence of FLC, a very short switching length, less than 60 μm, is possible     

High-gain polarization-insensitive optical amplifier

A polarization-insensitive optical amplifier (PIOA) consisting of two serial semiconductor laser amplifiers (SLAs) is studied theoretically and experimentally. A polarization-insensitive isolator (PII) inserted between the two SLAs serves not only to eliminate the coupling cavity, but also to rotate any polarized forward light by 90°. Experimental results show a maximum fiber-to-fiber gain of 29 dB. PIOA gain deviation for the input polarization launch angle is just 0.6 dB compared to an original value of 5-6 dB in a single SLA. A theoretical analysis shows that it is necessary to achieve a PII rotation design error of less than 0.5° in order to suppress deviation below 0.1 dB. PIOA noise figure deviation, for the input signal polarization launch angle, was only 0.1 dB from both the experimental and theoretical results even though there was a rotation error of 2°     

Polarisation-independent configuration optical amplifier

A new polarisation independent semiconductor laser amplifier is presented. By using a regular semiconductor amplifier in a double pass configuration, polarisation independent gain is achieved. Experiments demonstrate a reduction in the gain difference between TE and TM waves from 4 dB to 0.2 dB     

Two-stage high-gain optical amplifier

A two-stage semiconductor optical amplifier is discussed. Net fiber-to-fiber gains as high as 36.5 dB have been achieved. When used in a fiber-optic transmission system, using a commercial 1.7 Gb/s regenerator, the fiber span between transmitter and regenerator is increased to 151 km and 1.3 μm wavelength. With a 1.55 μm two-stage amplifier, a transmission distance of 180 km at 3.4 Gb/s is demonstrated     

Coherent optical tapping using semiconductor optical amplifier

Semiconductor optical amplifiers are attractive not only as optical repeaters but also as functional devices, since carrier density modulation in amplifiers causes a nonlinear phenomenon. Utilizing the effect of the carrier density modulation on the semiconductor optical amplifier junction voltage, a coherent optical tapping is proposed for signal monitoring or control signal extraction. A 155 Mb/s FSK (frequency shift keying) signal tapping was realized with a simple configuration using heterodyne single-filter detection with -24.4 dBm sensitivity. Many applications for this coherent optical tapping are discussed, and basic characteristics for frequency-selective tapping from FDM (frequency division multiplexing) signals and optical amplifier gain control are examined     

Noise in an optical amplifier: formulation of a new semiclassicalmodel

After pointing out some questionable assumptions of the standard beating theory, we formulate a new semiclassical wave theory of the noise in optical amplifiers. The theory is simple yet rigorous and uses a few quantum statements in a classical signal framework. The amplifier is modeled as a 2×2 port device, and the amplified spontaneous emission and associated noise are shown to be just the amplified coherent state (or vacuum state) fluctuation of the field entering the idler input. The new theory can treat other closely related detection schemes as well, correctly supplying both mean signal and noise     

Performance predictions from a new optical amplifier model

We present results of a new model of semiconductor laser amplifiers which differs from previous analyses in that it includes the spectral dependence of material gain and spontaneous emission. The implications of low facet reflectivities are explored in some detail. For reflectivities below about 1 percent, the increased spontaneous emission imposes more stringent limits on current density than realized hitherto. If thermal runaway is to be avoided and gains in the range of 20-30 dB are to be achieved without excessive currents, then facet reflectivities on the order of 0.1-1 percent are probably optimal. Another consequence of including the spectral dependence is that wavelengths longer than that corresponding to the unsaturated gain peak are predicted to experience enhanced amplification at high input powers by comparison to shorter wavelengths.     

Intermodulation distortion in a multiple-quantum-well semiconductor optical amplifier

The measurement of intermodulation distortion (IMD) induced by carrier-density modulation in a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) semiconductor amplifier is reported. The results show that MQW amplifiers have 15 dB less IMD than conventional buried-heterostructure semiconductor amplifiers. The IMD is dependent on the output power of the amplifiers, which confirms that the carrier-density modulation is the dominant nonlinear mechanism in MQW amplifiers. In addition, the results show that, unlike conventional buried-heterostructure amplifiers, MQW amplifiers have at least two time constants (200-250 ps and <10 ps) for the gain recovery process.<>     

Facet reflectivity of a spot-size-converter integratedsemiconductor optical amplifier

Traveling-wave type semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) integrated with a spot-size-converter (SSC) are extensively studied for improvement of coupling efficiency with single-mode fibers and for cost reduction in packaging. In this paper, the structural dependence of the SSC on effective facet reflectivity R_eff is investigated theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that, not only sufficient mode-conversion in the SSC region, but also the introduction of angled facets, are essential for reducing R_eff. A small gain ripple (less than 0.1 dB) in an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectrum, fiber-to-fiber gain of 26 dB, and saturation output power of 7 dBm are observed for the fabricated SOA, which consists of a window length of 20 μm, facet angle of 7°, and anti-reflection coated facet of less than 1% reflectivity     

光放大器技术的比较

光放大器技术是新一代光纤通信系统中一项必不可少的关键技术。介绍了放大器技术的基本原理，并对现有主要几种放大器技术在工作原理、性能、应用和发展方向上进行了比较。     

飞秒染料激光放大器

本文用重复率为10Hz、调Q、Nd∶YAG激光器的二倍频输出泵浦四级染料放大器,把从对撞脉冲锁模(CPM)环形染料激光器中产生的43fs的光脉冲能量放大到100μJ,脉冲宽度为125fs,峰值功率为800MW,在用一组四棱镜系统对放大的光脉冲进行群速度色散补偿以后,得到了宽度为70fs的放大光脉冲输出,峰值功率达GW。     

High-output-power polarization-insensitive semiconductor optical amplifier

A high-output-power 1550 nm polarization-insensitive semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) was developed for use as a compact in-line optical amplifier. A very thin tensile-strained bulk structure was used for the active layer and active width-tapered spot-size converters (SSCs) were integrated on both input and output sides. The SOA module exhibited a high saturation output power of +17 dBm together with a low noise figure of 7 dB, large gain of 19 dB, and low polarization sensitivity of 0.2 dB for optical signals of 1550 nm wavelength. For the amplification of optical signals modulated at 10 Gb/s in the nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) format, a good eye pattern without waveform distortion due to the pattern effect was obtained at an average output power of up to +12 dBm. Additionally, good amplification characteristics were demonstrated for the signal wavelength range corresponding to the C-band.     

Theory of optical amplifier chains

An analytical theory of the dynamical behavior of erbium-doped amplifier (EDFA) chains is developed. A simple and detailed physical picture is presented, explaining the speeding up and the appearance of overshoots in the transient response. The speed of the transients is shown to be proportional to the number of the amplifiers in the chain     

Dispersion-compensator incorporated optical fiber amplifier

An optical fiber amplifier incorporating a dispersion compensator such as a dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) is proposed and examined theoretically and experimentally. The new amplifier requires only a single pump laser. In the experiment a 0.98-μm laser diode was used and the pump power was 50 mW. By utilizing remnant pump power, the amplifier can halve the loss effect of the compensator and double the apparent figure of merit of the DCF (ps/nm/dB). The noise figure of the new amplifier is not affected by inserting the DCP. A low-noise figure of 5 dB was obtained over a wide input-power range of -40 to -10 dBm     

High-speed multiple-quantum-well optical power amplifier

A multiple-quantum-well optical amplifier is used at 8 Gb/s with high input power such that the average gain is compressed by 2.6 dB. Under these conditions, the output signal level is 35 mW and there is negligible intersymbol interference (ISI) penalty at the receiver. This is possible because of a rapid (7 ps) gain recovery process in the amplifier. A conventional semiconductor amplifier operating at a similar level of gain compression shows 2 dB ISI penalty