Optical bistability in a traveling-wave SOA connected to a DFB laser diode: theory and experiment

Author

D´Oosterlinck, Wouter ; Morthier, Geert ; Baets, Roel ; Erneux, Thomas

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Technol., Ghent Univ.

Volume

42

Issue

8

fYear

2006

Firstpage

739

Lastpage

746

Abstract

We investigate the bistable response of a traveling-wave semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) connected bidirectionally to a distributed feedback (DFB) laser diode. By contrast to dispersive DFB amplifiers, bistability is possible for a broad wavelength range of the injected optical signal. A theoretical analysis clarifies the origin of the phenomenon and the conditions under which it occurs. Numerical simulations and experimental results confirm the theoretical analysis. Experimentally obtained step heights up to 25 dB and widths of the bistability domain of 1-4 dB have been found

Keywords

distributed feedback lasers; optical bistability; semiconductor optical amplifiers; DFB laser; distributed feedback laser diode; optical bistability; semiconductor optical amplifier; traveling-wave SOA; Diode lasers; Dispersion; Flip-flops; Nonlinear optics; Optical amplifiers; Optical bistability; Optical feedback; Optical pumping; Optical signal processing; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Optical bistability; optical signal processing; semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2006.877295

Filename

1652864