Wavelength-dependent output properties of quantum well optical amplifiers

Summary form only given.The semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is a candidate for high-speed optical signal manipulation. The dynamic response of SOAs to short optical pulses has been studied theoretically by taking into account carrier heating and spectral hole burning. These studies do not consider the frequency dependence of the electrical susceptibility of the active medium. However, the performance of SOAs for different wavelengths of the input pulse is very important, in particular for WDM applications. We numerically analyse the amplification of pulses longer than some picoseconds in quantum well semiconductor optical amplifiers. The interaction of the optical field with the carriers injected into the QW is described by the electrical susceptibility.