DocumentCode :
1166094
Title :
Analysis of gain and saturation characteristics of a semiconductor laser optical amplifier using transfer matrices
Author :
Chu, C.Y.J. ; Ghafouri-Shiraz, H.
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Birmingham Univ., UK
Volume :
12
Issue :
8
fYear :
1994
fDate :
8/1/1994 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
1378
Lastpage :
1386
Abstract :
The transfer matrix method (TMM) has been applied to analyze the gain and saturation characteristics of semiconductor laser optical amplifiers. This method approximates the amplifier cavity by dividing it into M discrete subsections, and TMM has been applied to analyze the stepwise longitudinal field distribution at each subsection along the amplifier cavity. By incorporating also the carrier rate equations into the analysis, it has been shown that the approximation can accurately describe the carrier density and longitudinal field distribution along the amplifier cavity if M is sufficiently large (i.e., the size of each subsection is about an order of magnitude of one wavelength of the input signal). By assuming that the amplifier is biased below oscillation threshold such that the contribution of spontaneous emissions to the gain characteristics can be neglected, we have shown that our proposed method yields a fast and efficient algorithm in analyzing the gain and saturation characteristics of laser amplifiers. We have compared the results produced by our method to those analyzed using the average photon density (AVPD) approximation technique, as well as to experimental results on a 1.5-μm buried heterostructure semiconductor laser amplifier
Keywords :
carrier density; laser cavity resonators; laser theory; matrix algebra; optical saturation; semiconductor lasers; 1.5 mum; amplifier cavity; average photon density approximation technique; buried heterostructure semiconductor laser amplifier; carrier density; carrier rate equations; input signal; laser gain analysis; longitudinal field distribution; oscillation threshold; saturation characteristics; semiconductor laser optical amplifier; spontaneous emissions; stepwise longitudinal field distribution; transfer matrices; transfer matrix method; Charge carrier density; Distributed amplifiers; Equations; Optical amplifiers; Optical saturation; Semiconductor lasers; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Signal analysis; Spontaneous emission; Stimulated emission;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Lightwave Technology, Journal of
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0733-8724
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/50.317525
Filename :
317525
Link To Document :
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