Delay limit of slow light in semiconductor optical amplifiers

In contrast to absorbers, where the delay time via wave mixing saturates to its maximum with increasing device length due to decay of pump power along the device, in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) the delay time increases with the device length and is limited by the corresponding growth of the SOA gain, which can lead to unacceptable amplified stimulated emission in the SOA. The number of pulses which can be stored in an SOA, defined by the gain and group velocity dispersion, also is given ultimately by this SOA gain limitation, and is estimated between one and two.