Longitudinal spatial hole burning and associated nonlinear gain in gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers

Author

Pleumeekers, J.L. ; Dupertuis, M.A. ; Hessler, T. ; Selbmann, P.E. ; Haacke, S. ; Deveaud, B.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Fed. Inst. of Technol., Lausanne, Switzerland

Volume

34

Issue

5

fYear

1998

fDate

5/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

879

Lastpage

886

Abstract

The longitudinal spatial hole burning (LSHB) in gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers (GCSOAs) is investigated by means of a numerical model, which is based on position-dependent rate equations for the carrier density and the propagation equations for the optical power. The simulation results show that the carrier densities are nonuniformly distributed within the active layer of GCSOAs. The nonuniformity can be large, especially for high currents and optical signal powers near the saturation. It is found that the LSHB induces a gain nonlinearity, which causes interchannel cross talk when GCSOAs are used in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) applications. In order to reduce this gain nonlinearity, two methods are analyzed: the use of low resistivity devices and the use of unbalanced Bragg mirror reflectivities

Keywords

carrier density; laser mirrors; laser theory; optical hole burning; optical transmitters; reflectivity; semiconductor device models; semiconductor lasers; wavelength division multiplexing; WDM; active layer; carrier densities; carrier density; gain nonlinearity; gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers; high currents; interchannel cross talk; longitudinal spatial hole burning; low resistivity devices; near saturation; nonlinear gain; nonuniformly distributed; numerical model; optical power; optical signal powers; optical transmitters; position-dependent rate equations; propagation equations; unbalanced Bragg mirror reflectivities; wavelength division multiplexing; Charge carrier density; Conductivity; Nonlinear equations; Nonlinear optics; Numerical models; Optical propagation; Optical saturation; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Stimulated emission; Wavelength division multiplexing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.668776

Filename

668776