Characteristics of distributed Bragg reflector active optical filters

The transfer function characteristics of distributed-Bragg-reflector (DBR)-based active optical filters are described. Small and large signal characteristics are presented, and a variety of nonlinear effects obtained in the large signal regime such as gain saturation, frequency pulling, and wavelength domain bistability are demonstrated. While these nonlinear effects may be detrimental to conventional filter applications, they may possibly be explored for new approaches in wavelength domain logic, switching, and routing. The filter can also be used in a reversed configuration. Compared to the characteristics described, the small signal transmission transfer function remains unchanged but the input power at which the nonlinear effects take place is increased by 20-30 dB. This is due to the much reduced reflected power inside the filter cavity. At the same time, however, the noise power added to the amplified signal is also significantly increased.<>     

Efficient erbium-doped fiber amplifiers incorporating an opticalisolator

A composite-EDFA configuration which incorporates an optical isolator has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. The isolator prevents the build-up of the backward-ASE and results in an amplifier with high gain and near-quantum-limited noise figure (NF). The optimum position of the isolator has been calculated as a function of the pump power so that minimum NF and maximum gain are achieved simultaneously. It is shown that under practical pump powers, the optimized composite EDFA exhibits a gain improvement of about 5 dB and a NF reduction in excess of 1.5 dB when compared with an optimized conventional EDFA. It is also shown that with further optimization the composite EDFA can be employed in a practical fiber link as a pre-amplifier without the use of an input isolator. Finally, a high-gain composite EDFA has been experimentally demonstrated which exhibits a gain of 51 dB (54 dB) and NF of 3.1 dB for only 435 mW (93 mW) of pump power     

High-speed signal wavelength conversion using aunidirectional-output wavelength conversion device withasymmetric-κ DBR structure

The wavelength conversion device whose frequency response is evaluated analytically and experimentally in this work has a saturable absorber region, which acts as an optical gate, within the active region. The 3-dB bandwidth of this device was measured to be 800 MHz and found to be limited by the frequency response of the saturable absorber region. To speed up this device, the electrodes of the saturable absorber and the gain regions were connected electrically so that the device would act as a unidirectional-output distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser. When the active region (saturable absorber and the gain regions) of this DBR laser were biased above threshold condition, the 3-dB bandwidth was more than 10 GHz, and clear eye patterns were observed when the input TM-polarized light intensity was modulated by a 10-Gbit/s pseudo-random NRZ signal. These results show that high-speed wavelength conversion can be achieved when the device is operated as a laser diode     

Noise performance of negative-resistance compensated microwavebandpass filters. Theory and experiments

This paper examines both theoretically and experimentally the dependency of in-band noise performance upon circuit and device parameters of microwave filters employing negative-resistance compensation. By neglecting the influence of the induced gate noise source, a general expression for evaluating the noise figure of a second-order active filter is derived as a function of design parameters such as the transistor's noise figure, inductor's quality factor, and filter's bandwidth. In addition, factors affecting the optimization of the overall noise figure of these filters are discussed. For verification, the measured performance of two 900-MHz experimental MESFET filters are included     

Analysis of the frequency noise of tunable multisection DBR lasers

A theoretical analysis is performed of the frequency noise in tunable two- and three-section distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser diodes (LDs), taking into account the nonlinear gain compression effect. For a two-section DBR LD the frequency noise is shown to depend significantly on the tuning current, particularly at low frequencies (below the gigahertz range) and for low and moderate values of the grating coupling coefficient. For high values of this coefficient the tuning dependence is generally negligible when the tuning is performed only through the DBR section, but it becomes significant when using the phase control current in a three-section device. It is shown that the enhancement factor for the spontaneous emission rate due to the longitudinal field dependence increases significantly with tuning for low values of the grating coupling coefficient     

Passive microwave fiber-optic links with gain and a very low noise figure

It is shown experimentally and theoretically that it is possible to construct a passive microwave fiber-optic link (defined as one without active electrical or optical amplification) exhibiting an RF throughput gain of up to 50 dB and a noise figure approaching 0 dB. The key ingredients are quantum well gain-lever laser transmitters and proper impedance matching. Disregarding the optical transmission aspect of the link, it can be regarded as an RF low-noise preamplifier with performances competitive with conventional microwave amplifiers.<>     

Steep and adjustable transfer functions of monolithic SOA-EA 2R regenerators

Measurements and numerical modeling of a reamplification and reshaping (2R) regenerator demonstrate a steep power transfer function with adjustable threshold. The threshold can be adjusted more than 6 dB by simple control of the reverse bias voltage of the absorber section. The device consists of a semiconductor waveguide with alternating amplifier and absorber sections using quantum-well active material. The steep nonlinearity of the transfer function is achieved by concatenating several sections. We identify the saturation properties of the absorbing media, as dictated by the band-filling and field screening, as important for the observed transfer functions. The relation of the saturation powers of the gain and absorption sections is important for design optimization.     

High performance W-band InAlAs-InGaAs-InP HEMTs

0.15 mu m T-gate lattice-matched In/sub 0.52/Al/sub 0.48/As-In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As-InP HEMTs with a device minimum noise figure of 1.7 dB with 7.7 dB associated gain at 93 GHz have been fabricated. A single-ended active mixer was fabricated using these devices, and a conversion gain of 2.4 dB was measured with 7.3 dB single-sideband noise figure at 94 GHz. This is the first reported active mixer conversion gain at W-band.<>     

Noise analysis of conventional and gain-clamped semiconductoroptical amplifiers

We present a numerical study of the noise of conventional and gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), using a detailed device model. The model makes use of a density-matrix gain calculation, and takes into account the forward and backward amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectra and the spatial carrier hole-burning. The device is longitudinally divided into M sections and a rate equation for averaged photon and carrier densities is used for each section. We demonstrate that the accuracy on the calculated noise figure strictly depends on the number of sections M. We obtain a good tradeoff between the results accuracy and the computational complexity with M=8. The model is then applied to study the noise in a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)-type gain-clamped SOA for varying signal power, pump current, and lasing wavelength. We show that changes in the spatial carrier profile caused by the input signal significantly affect the noise figure, even when the gain is constant. A slight dependence of the noise figure on lasing wavelength is also foreseen, while the dependence on the pump current is negligible. A new method for gain-clamped SOA noise figure reduction is proposed, based on unbalanced Bragg reflectors. An improvement of noise figure (NF) as large as 2 dB is devised     

The effect of strong inline filtering on the amplitude jitter in long optical systems

The accumulation of amplitude jitter in ultralong-haul (ULH) systems deploying strong optical filters is studied. It is shown that in such systems that operate with nonsoliton waveforms, the selective inclusion of filters may lead to the enhancement or suppression of amplitude noise accumulation, depending on the filter's positioning. This paper explains the improvement in performance that was demonstrated experimentally in a 60-span 12.5-Gb/s system with 12 periodically positioned bandlimited dynamic gain equalizers (DGE) (Optical Fiber Communication Conf., 2005). It is also shown that the same noise suppression as in (Optical Fiber Communication Conf., 2005) achieved by such a system can be achieved with as few as two strong filters if their positioning is properly optimized.     

利用传输矩阵法分析取样光栅DBR半导体激光器

取样光栅DBR(SGDBR)激光器是目前光通讯中最有应用前景的可调谐激光器之一。利用传输矩阵法模拟了取样光栅DBR半导体激光器的光谱特性。计算中,把取样光栅DBR半导体激光器的增益区、位相区和取样光栅DBR看成基本单元。而每一个基本单元都可以看作一个普通的双端口器件。其传输特性用一个2×2复矩阵表示。在阈值以下,对于有源区和取样光栅DBR的不同注入电流,发射光谱显示不同的输出特征。当有源区的注入电流为9.5 mA时,主模开始在1.553μm附近形成。当取样光栅DBR有注入电流时,主模形成的位置发生了变化,表现出可调谐的性质。同时,明显出现主模的有源区的注入电流发生变化。这种方法也反映了激光器的阈值条件。阈值电流为10 mA。     

A 1.1 GHz Fifth Order Active-LC Butterworth Type Equalizing Filter

This paper describes architectural and design considerations for low power, GHz range wideband low-pass active filters. A series LC resonator based biquad is proposed and its power efficiency is shown to be over 7 times better than an equivalent Gm-C biquad. Reduced number of active elements and readily available bandpass and low-pass signals make this topology particularly suitable for efficient realization of equalizing functions. Also demonstrated is a common-mode feedback scheme that allows for a stable, high accuracy common-mode control with loop bandwidth which can exceed twice the filter's bandwidth. A fifth order active-LC Butterworth filter prototype is fabricated in a standard 0.18 CMOS technology. It provides a bandwidth of 1.1 GHz and features equalization gain programmable over a 0-23 dB range. It is experimentally verified to achieve 47 dB SNR and 48 dB IM3 with 250 mVpp swing while consuming 72 mW of power.     

X- and Ku-band amplifiers with GaAs Schottky-barriers field-effect transistors

During recent years significant progress has been made in GaAs technology and the GaAs Schottky-barrier field-effect transistor now shows outstanding microwave gain and noise properties. Two experimental microwave amplifiers demonstrate that the device is very well suited for broad-band applications and that large bandwidth in the X- and Ku-band can be obtained with simple circuits. The first of the two three-stage amplifiers realized was optimized with respect to noise and a noise figure of 3.8 dB was obtained at 8 GHz; the maximum gain is 17.5 dB at 8.3 GHz and the 3-dB bandwidth is 1.3 GHz. The second amplifier has a maximum gain of 11.5 dB at 11.5 GHz. The gain is greater than 8.5 dB in the range 9.5-14.3 GHz.     

Harmonic gain and noise in a frequency-doubling gyro-amplifier

Nonlinear gain in a 34-GHz three-stage frequency-doubling gyro-traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT) has been experimentally studied. The device consists of a thermionic electron gun, TE/sub 01//spl rarr/TE/sub 02/ fundamental gyro-TWT input section, second harmonic TE/sub 03/ intermediate buncher section, and a second harmonic TE/sub 02//spl rarr/TE/sub 04/ complex output circuit. Nonlinear bunching in the electron orbital phase generates harmonics of the input signal in the beam current, which excite the subsequent circuits at the second harmonic frequency. Since the gain is nonlinear, noise or applied sideband signals intermodulate with the carrier generating high-order products in the output. Therefore, it has been suggested that the noise figure of these devices may be unreasonably high. In this study, the complex harmonic transfer characteristics were experimentally measured and compared with calculations based on the assumption that the gyro-amplifier gain can be described, in the narrowband sense, as a classical frequency-doubling circuit. The results show that narrowband intermodulation gain is 6 dB higher than the carrier as predicted in the small signal limit, but as the device reaches saturation the nonlinear products become suppressed with respect to the carrier. Tests on the broadband gain characteristics show that output noise consists of second harmonic shot noise spontaneously excited in the output circuits along with the products of the intermodulation between external noise and the carrier. Good agreement between the experimental results and the calculations is demonstrated.     

A unidirectional output optical frequency conversion device with anasymmetric-κ DBR structure

A novel optical frequency conversion device that successfully demonstrates optical frequency conversion and unidirectional transmission of optical signals has been designed and fabricated. The device is composed of a gain region and saturable absorber region with monolithically integrated distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors with different coupling coefficients. The device structure is optimized to achieve three functions: 1) unidirectional light output, 2) converted-light wavelength tuning, and 3) optically triggered optical frequency conversion. The output power of converted light from the light input-end facet of the device is 30 dB smaller than that from the output-end facet, and the converted light wavelength can be scanned over 4 nm without a bias current to the input-end DBR region, and it is widened to 7.8 nm by injecting current to that region. The device emits converted light only when light input is injected and optical signals are unidirectionally transmitted, and its response frequency is estimated to be 0.8 GHz     

Long-wavelength resonant vertical-cavity LED/photodetector with a 75-nm tuning range

A design for a highly tunable long-wavelength LED/photodetector has been investigated. The device consists of a GaAs-based distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) that is wafer-bonded to InP-based active layers, with a surface-micromachined tunable top DBR mirror to produce the wavelength shift. A 1.5-/spl mu/m device has been fabricated with a continuous tuning range of 75 nm. An extinction ratio of greater than 20 dB existed across the entire tuning range.     

Millimeter Wave MMIC Low Noise Amplifiers Using a 0.15 µm Commercial pHEMT Process

This paper presents millimeter wave monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) low noise amplifiers using a 0.15 µm commercial pHEMT process. After carefully investigating design considerations for millimeter-wave applications, with emphasis on the active device model and electomagnetic (EM) simulation, we designed two singleended low noise amplifiers, one for Q-band and one for V-band. The Q-band two stage amplifier showed an average noise figure of 2.2 dB with an 18.3 dB average gain at 44 GHz. The V-band two stage amplifier showed an average noise figure of 2.9 dB with a 14.7 dB average gain at 65 GHz. Our design technique and model demonstrates good agreement between measured and predicted results. Compared with the published data, this work also presents state-of-the-art performance in terms of the gain and noise figure.     

High gain millimetric negative resistance low noise amplifiers

The limited gain available from GaAs FETs and HEMTs at millimetric frequencies can be overcome by using the devices in a negative resistance amplifier configuration. The advantage of the solid-state negative resistance amplifier over the transmission amplifier is that the gain available is not limited by the active device used. It has been shown that, over a narrow bandwidth, significantly higher gain can be obtained from a negative resistance amplifier, when compared to a transmission amplifier using the same device, while maintaining the same overall noise performance. This has been demonstrated experimentally using a 0.25 mu m HEMT device.<>     

（英）D波段InP基高增益、低噪声放大芯片的设计与实现

利用90-nm InAlAs/InGaAs/InP HEMT工艺设计实现了两款D波段（110~170 GHz）单片微波集成电路放大器。两款放大器均采用共源结构,布线选取微带线。基于器件A设计的三级放大器A在片测试结果表明：最大小信号增益为11.2 dB@140 GHz,3 dB带宽为16 GHz,芯片面积2.6×1.2 mm2。基于器件B设计的两级放大器B在片测试结果表明：最大小信号增益为15.8 dB@139 GHz,3dB带宽12 GHz,在130~150 GHz频带范围内增益大于10 dB,芯片面积1.7×0.8 mm2,带内最小噪声为4.4 dB、相关增益15 dB@141 GHz,平均噪声系数约为5.2 dB。放大器B具有高的单级增益、相对高的增益面积比以及较好的噪声系数。该放大器芯片的设计实现对于构建D波段接收前端具有借鉴意义。