Modeling of Seeded Reflective Modulators for DWDM Systems

We propose a theoretical model of reflective modulators for a seeded dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) system based on amplified spontaneous emission light. A travelling-wave amplifier model is modified to take into account the finite front-facet reflectivity. The net gain and phase shift are updated at every round trip of the cavity to have complex gain for the injected field. With the proposed model, we calculate side-mode suppression ratio, gain, relative intensity noise suppression as a function of injection power, and wavelength detuning for antireflection-coated Fabry-Perot laser diodes. We also investigate the performance of the seeded DWDM system by using the model. The simulation results match well with the experimental results.