G.N. van den Hoven

Transmission of 8 DWDM channels at 20 Gb/s over 160 km of standard fiber using a cascade of semiconductor optical amplifiers

Eight DWDM channels in the wavelength region 1558-1570 nm, spaced at 200 GHz, are modulated at 20 Gb/s and transmitted over 160 km of SSMF (four 40-km spans) using four in-line SOAs. Transmitter booster-amplifiers and receiver preamplifiers are also SOAs, Q-factors better than 17 dB, corresponding to a BER of less than 3/spl middot/10/sup -13/, have been measured for all channels.

8 x 10 Gb/s DWDM transmission over 240 km of standard fiber using a cascade of semiconductor optical amplifiers

Eight 10-Gb/s DWDM channels spaced 200 GHz around 1565 nm are transmitted over six 40-km spans of standard SMF using five inline semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). SOAs are also used as booster and pre-amplifier in the transmitter and receiver, so that only SOAs are used in the experiment. For all channels, bit-error-rate penalties of 0.5-1.5 dB relative to baseline have been measured, with no evidence of error-rate floors.

Performance analysis of linear optical amplifiers in dynamic WDM systems

We demonstrate the performance of linear optical amplifiers (LOAs) in a dynamic and reconfigurable wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) system. Eight WDM channels, each channel running at 10 Gb/s, are transmitted through two cascaded LOAs. Power transient immune add-drop capability is demonstrated by switching four of the eight channels at rates of 10-100 kHz without affecting the bit-error-rate (BER) or eye pattern. The same WDM system trial using erbium-doped fiber amplifiers instead of LOAs shows identical BER performance for the eight-channel case, but deteriorated eye patterns and bit error penalties for the channel ADD-DROP configuration.

High-gain 1310 nm semiconductor optical amplifier modules with a built-in amplified signal monitor for optical gain control

A compact high-gain 1310-nm semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) module incorporating two photodiodes to detect radiation emitted from the two opposite facets of the amplifier chip is reported. By subtracting their signals, a measure of the amplified signal is obtained without the need for optical filtering, Using this, amplified signals can be stabilized within 0.5 dB over a 25-dB range of input signals.

Analog performance of 1310-nm gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers

We report on the analog performance of gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers (GC-SOAs) with a full 50-550 MHz 77-channel NTSC loading. The optical gain of such an amplifier is linear i.e., independent of input power, when operated under gain-clamped conditions. The amplifier has distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) at each end, which cause wavelength-selective feedback and hence, laser action at the DBR wavelength. This fixes the carrier concentration, effectively damping the optical gain of the device. The laser light serves as a reservoir of optical power and determines the maximum input power for which the device operates under linear conditions. Once the input level exceeds this limit the gain will no longer be clamped, and the device will exhibit the nonlinearities as observed for conventional SOAs. The gain-clamped amplifier developed for this study has a fiber-to-fiber gain of 21 dB at 1310 nm, and operates at input powers up to -12 dBm.

Static and dynamic switching performance of a metro WDM ring using linear optical amplifiers

The authors demonstrate the performance of a dynamic and reconfigurable metro-size wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) ring employing eight cascaded linear optical amplifiers. The ring has eight uncorrelated WDM channels, modulated at 10 Gb/s each. The measured Q-factors of all channels are between 17.6 and 18.7 dB, corresponding to a bit-error rate of less than 2/spl times/10/sup -14/. In an add/drop experiment, dynamic switching of channels does not affect transmission quality of the through channels.

4/spl times/10 Gbit/s NRZ transmission in the 1310 nm window over 80 km of standard single mode fibre using semiconductor optical amplifiers

Successful WDM transmission of four 10 Gbit/s channels ranging from 1310.5 nm to 1317.4 nm over 80 km was demonstrated. Based on these results and simulations using a time resolved SOA model, we expect to reach 4/spl times/10 Gbit/s transmission over at least 200 km.

1310-nm DBR-type MQW gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifiers with AM-CATV-grade linearity

A 1310-nm gain clamped semiconductor optical amplifier with amplitude modulation CATV-grade linearity at an output power of 8 mW is demonstrated for the first time. The InGaAsP multiquantum-well laser amplifier is equipped with distributed Bragg reflectors at each end to supply the feedback necessary for gain clamping. The TE optical gain of 21.3 dB is measured to be constant within 0.1 dB up to 25-mW signal output power. Electrical signal distortion experiments are presented to demonstrate the linearity of the device.

Applications of semiconductor optical amplifiers

An overview is given of applications of semiconductor optical amplifiers in optical communication systems. Feasibility is demonstrated for optical pre-amplifier and in-line applications. Experiments on WDM transmission are presented as well as the use of gain-clamping to achieve linear or analog-grade amplification.An overview is given of applications of semiconductor optical amplifiers in optical communication systems. Feasibility is demonstrated for optical pre-amplifier and in-line applications. Experiments on WDM transmission are presented as well as the use of gain-clamping to achieve linear or analog-grade amplification.

Silicon-on-insulator nanophotonic waveguide circuit for fiber-to-the-home transceivers

We present a SOI nanophotonic waveguide circuit for FTTH transceivers. A grating duplexer and planar concave grating are combined to couple and demultiplex the 1310, 1490 and 1550 nm communication channels.