Method to improve the noise figure and saturation power in multi-contact semiconductor optical amplifiers: simulation and experiment
Carney, Kevin, Lennox, Robert, Maldonado-Basilio, Ramón, Philippe, Severine, Surre, Frederic, Bradley, Ann LouiseORCID: 0000-0002-9399-8628 and Landais, PascalORCID: 0000-0002-4807-0695
(2013)
Method to improve the noise figure and saturation power in multi-contact semiconductor optical amplifiers: simulation and experiment.
Optics Express, 21
(6).
pp. 7180-7195.
ISSN 1094-4087
The consequences of tailoring the longitudinal carrier density along the active layer of a multi-contact bulk semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) are investigated using a rate equation model. It is shown that both the noise figure and output power saturation can be optimized for a fixed total injected bias current. The simulation results are validated by comparison with experiment using a multi-contact SOA. The inter-contact resistance is increased using a focused ion beam in order to optimize the carrier density control. A chip noise figure of 3.8 dB and a saturation output power of 9 dBm are measured experimentally for a total bias current of 150 mA.