1.3 µm Traveling-Wave GaInNAs Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

Abstract

We fabricated a GaInNAs semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) by applying a facet coating to a buried-ridge-stripe GaInNAs laser. Due to a low reflectivity (<0.1%) and a wide bandwidth (70 nm) coating, Fabry–Perot (FP) modes of the GaInNAs laser were suppressed sufficiently, and thus a 1.3 µm traveling-wave GaInNAs SOA was realized for the first time. Peak chip gains of more than 9.6 dB and a 3-dB-gain bandwidth above 49 nm (9 THz) were obtained simultaneously with a cavity length between 600 µm and 900 µm. In addition, on/off ratios between 20 and 30 dB were obtained by switching the current on and off, which seems sufficient for the SOA to work as a switching device. With the temperature characteristics, we found that the ASE intensity and the gain coefficient of the GaInNAs SOA were much less dependent on temperature than those of conventional InP-based SOAs. These results demonstrate the superior temperature characteristics of the GaInNAs SOA compared with conventional InP-based SOAs.

Electroabsorption Effect of GaInNAs in Waveguiding Structure

“…Then, laser chips were made by cleavage, and both facets of the laser chips were anti-reflection (AR)-coated by ionassisted deposition. 10) In this coating, a sufficiently low facet reflectivity (<0:1%) can be obtained, so that the bad influence of Fabry-Perot (FP) resonance on the measurements can be avoided, leading to a precise evaluation of the device characteristics. After the facet coating, the device was mounted on a Cu-W heatsink with epi-side-up configuration.…”

Optical gain in 1.3-μm electrically driven dilute nitride VCSOAs

“…An extensive set of different devices based on this alloy has been fabricated and demonstrated [3]. Examples of these devices are vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) [4-6], vertical external cavity surface-emitting lasers [7,8], solar cells [8,9], edge-emitting lasers [10], photodetectors [11], semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) [12], and vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifiers (VCSOAs) [13,14]. …”

1.3 /spl mu/m GaInNAs bandgap difference confinement (BDC) optical amplifier

“…Recently we fabricated a traveling-wave GaInNAs-SOA for the first time, and obtained much improved gain characteristics with temperature compared with conventional InP-based SOA [2][3][4]. In addition, we clarified its good dynamic response to the high speed (-40 Gbps) and short (about 7 ps pulse width) optical pulse signals [4,5].…”