Polarization-insensitive optical amplifiers in AlInGaAs

Author

Koonath, Prakash ; Kim, Sangin ; Cho, Woon-Jo ; Gopinath, Anand

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Comput. Eng., Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis, MN, USA

Volume

13

Issue

8

fYear

2001

Firstpage

779

Lastpage

781

Abstract

We report the theoretical modeling and the fabrication of polarization-insensitive optical amplifiers at 1300 nm in AlInGaAs-InP material system. Gain calculations, using the k.p method, show that the introduction of 0.33% tensile strain into a three-quantum-well structure can achieve gain-matching over a wide energy spectrum. The amplifiers, fabricated and tested, show excellent polarization insensitivity (less than 0.3 dB) at 1280 nm with a gain of 11 dB at 150 mA. Gain-bandwidth needs to be improved by employing antireflection coatings to suppress the facet reflectivity.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; antireflection coatings; gallium arsenide; indium compounds; k.p calculations; laser theory; light polarisation; optical fabrication; quantum well lasers; reflectivity; semiconductor device models; semiconductor optical amplifiers; 11 dB; 1280 nm; 150 mA; AlInGaAs; AlInGaAs-InP; antireflection coatings; facet reflectivity; gain calculations; gain-bandwidth; gain-matching; k.p method; optical fabrication; polarization insensitivity; polarization-insensitive optical amplifiers; tensile strain; theoretical modeling; three-quantum-well structure; wide energy spectrum; Coatings; Gain; Optical amplifiers; Optical device fabrication; Optical materials; Optical polarization; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Stimulated emission; Tensile strain; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.935801

Filename

935801