Detailed dynamic model for semiconductor optical amplifiers and their crosstalk and intermodulation distortion

An advanced dynamic model for multisection semiconductor optical amplifiers is presented. It accounts for the carrier and field distributions in the longitudinal direction as well as for the facet reflectivities. The model can handle arbitrary time-varying input signals and current modulations. The model is used to assess intermodulation distortion and crosstalk. Cascaded amplifiers are considered, and the crosstalk and intermodulation distortion due to cascaded amplifiers are found to accumulate by adding together in amplitude; this may limit the number or cascaded amplifiers in multichannel systems. Carrier-induced nonlinearities depend strongly on facet reflectivities; for 25 dB of single-pass gain, a reflectivity of 5×10^-4 will result in 3 dB excess distortion. Reduction of intermodulation distortion by use of multisection amplifiers is found to be possible only for small channel separations (<300 MHz). Simulations of 11-channel amplification showed a reduction of 13 dB in intermodulation distortion when random-phase optical carriers are applied