How does a semiconductor optical amplifier work?

Overview. An SOA (Semiconductor Optical Amplifier) is a semiconductor element that amplifies light. Antireflective processing is applied on both facets of a semiconductor laser to eliminate the resonator structure. When light enters from outside the semiconductor, the light is amplified by stimulated emission.

What is FWM in semiconductor optical amplifier?

Four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is currently one of the most attractive and promising wavelength conversion techniques for the all-optical future, and offers numerous advantages to the system designer.

What is reflective semiconductor optical amplifier?

Reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOAs) are special type SOAs with an anti-reflective coating on the front facet and a high reflectivity coating on the rear end (Prat 2008).

What are three functional types of optical amplifier?

An optical amplifier amplifies light as it is without converting the optical signal to an electrical signal, and is an extremely important device that supports the long-distance optical communication networks of today. The major types of optical amplifiers include an EDFA, FRA, and SOA.

Which technique is used optical amplifiers?

“Linear optical amplifiers” using gain-clamping techniques have been developed. High optical nonlinearity makes semiconductor amplifiers attractive for all optical signal processing like all-optical switching and wavelength conversion.

Why is Erbium used in EDFA?

As we talked above, EDFA uses the erbium-doped fiber as an optical amplification medium. The 1550nm signal is amplified through interaction with the doping Erbium ions. This action amplifies a weak optical signal to a higher power, effecting a boost in the signal strength.

What is the difference between EDFA and fiber Raman amplifier FRA?

Its gain fiber is relatively short, generally within 10 km. The other one is distributed Raman amplifier. Its gain medium is common fiber, which is much longer, generally dozens of kilometers….EDFA vs Raman Optical Amplifier.