Comparison of Basic Notch Filters for Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Pattern Effect Mitigation

Abstract

Abstract:We conduct a thorough comparison of two basic notch filters employed to mitigate the pattern effect that manifests when semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) serve linear amplification purposes. The filters are implemented using as the building architecture the optical delay interferometer (ODI) and the microring resonator (MRR). We formulate and follow a rational procedure, which involves identifying and applying the appropriate conditions for the filters' spectral response slope related to the SOA pattern effect suppression mechanism. We thus extract the values of the free spectral range and detuning of each filter, which allow one to equivocally realize the pursued comparison. We define suitable performance metrics and obtain simulation results for each filter. The quantitative comparison reveals that most employed metrics are better with the MRR than with the ODI. Although the difference in performance is small, it is sufficient to justify considering also using the MRR for the intended purpose. Finally, we concisely discuss practical implementation issues of these notch filters and further make a qualitative comparison between them in terms of their inherent advantages and disadvantages. This discussion reveals that each scheme has distinct features that render it appropriate for supporting SOA direct signal amplification applications with a suppressed pattern effect.

Special Issue on Applications of Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

“…Zoiros, and A. Hatziefremidis present in Ref. [21] a theoretical analysis and benchmarking of two basic optical notch filters employed to compensate for the SOA pattern effect. The comparison reveals the performance merits of each filter which allow it to favorably compete against the other for efficiently addressing the pattern-dependent operation of SOAs and assisting the latter in serving linear amplification applications with improved performance.…”