Optical amplitude modulation extinction by a deep saturated ultra-long semiconductor optical amplifier

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Optical Communications
• Semiconductor Devices

Background:

• Amplitude modulation (AM) is a common technique in optical communications.
• Recovering the optical carrier is crucial for certain signal processing applications.
• Ultra-long semiconductor optical amplifiers (UL-SOAs) offer unique properties for optical signal manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a method for optical carrier recovery by deleting amplitude modulation.
• To investigate the performance of a deeply saturated UL-SOA for this application.
• To analyze the influence of various operational parameters on the recovery process.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a deeply saturated ultra-long semiconductor optical amplifier (UL-SOA).
• Experimentally testing the system at input signal bit rates up to 12.5 Gbps.
• Analyzing parameters including UL-SOA bias current, optical bandwidth, input power, modulation depth, and bit rate.

Main Results:

• Successful recovery of the optical carrier with amplitude modulation deletion.
• Achieved high extinction ratios, up to 13.9 dB.
• Investigated carrier spectral broadening effects due to self-phase modulation.

Conclusions:

• Deeply saturated UL-SOAs are effective for optical carrier recovery.
• The method enables high extinction ratio performance at significant bit rates.
• Parameter analysis provides insights into optimizing the carrier recovery process and understanding spectral broadening.