Optimization of Modulation-Canceling Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier for Colorless WDM Transmitter Applications

Abstract

Self-seeded reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) has been drawing special attention as potentially low-cost colorless wavelength-division-multiplexed transmitter. In this paper, we present numerical and experimental analyses of RSOA to find the optimal condition to induce strong modulation canceling effect over wide temperature range. Three InGaAlAs/InP multiple-quantum-well RSOAs with different length are compared numerically and experimentally to reveal the existence of critical RSOA length to induce efficient modulation-cancelling effect. By using the optimal RSOA length of 1 mm, we experimentally demonstrate 2.5-Gb/s self-seeded transmission at 1550-nm wavelength over a 25-km standard single-mode fiber at both 25 and 50 °C. In addition, we demonstrate feasibility of higher-temperature (70 °C) as well as higher-bitrate (10 Gb/s) operation by employing the amplified self-seeded configuration with appropriately selected RSOAs.