The Influence of Lateral Carrier Diffusion and Surface Recombination on the Behavior of Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA)-Based MMIs

The influence of lateral carrier diffusion and surface recombination on the self-imaging properties of semiconductoroptical-amplifier-based multimode interference couplers has been verified by simulations using a beam propagation method. It shows a significant degradation of the self-imaging properties of these devices. Buried heterostructures or deeply etched waveguide structures can decrease the impact when the degree of surface recombination is sufficiently low.