OPTICAL AMPLIFIER

(SOAs)
SUBMITTED BY:
ADITI
CHAUDHARY
ANSHU MATHUR
BHAVYADEEP
KAUR
SEEMA SHRIPAT
SUBMITTED TO:
Mr. SANJAY
SHARMA
Optical amplifier
#a device that amplifies
an optical signal directly
#no need to convert optical signal to electrical
signal
#used in OPTICAL COMMUNICATION and
LASER
Physics






Traditional Optical Communication
System
Loss compensation: Repeaters at every 20-50 km

Optically Amplified Systems
EDFA = Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier

Optical Amplification
Variety of optical amplifier types exist, including:
Semiconductor optical amplifiers
Optical fiber amplifiers (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers)
Distributed fiber amplifiers (Raman Amplifiers)
Optical fiber amplifiers are now the most common type
One of the most successful optical processing functions
Also used as a building block in DWDM systems

OFAs in the Network
Several attractive features for network use:
Relatively simple construction
Reliable, due to the number of passive
components
Allows easy connection to external fibers
Broadband operation > 20 nm
Bit rate transparent
Ideally suited to long span systems
Integral part of DWDM systems
Undersea applications for OFAs are now
common
Optical Amplifier Applications
Amplifier Applications
Preamplifiers
An optical preamplifier is placed immediately before a receiver to improve its sensitivity.
Since the input signal level is usually very low a low noise characteristic is essential.
However, only a moderate gain figure is needed since the signal is being fed directly into
a receiver.
Typically a preamplifier will not have feedback control as it can be run well below
saturation.
Power amplifiers
Most DFB lasers have an output of only around 2mW but a fibre can aggregate power
levels of up to 100 to 200mW before nonlinear effects start to occur. A power amplifier
may be employed to boost the signal immediately following the transmitter. Typical EDFA
power amplifiers have an output of around 100mW.
Line amplifiers
In this application the amplifier replaces a repeater within a long communication line. In
many situations there will be multiple amplifiers sited at way-points along a long link.
Both high gain at the input and high power output are needed while maintaining a very
low noise figure. This is really a preamplifier cascaded with a power amplifier.
Sophisticated line amplifiers today tend to be made just this way - as a multi-section
amplifier separated by an isolator.
Types of Optical Amplifiers :
LASER Amplifiers
*Doped Fiber Amplifiers
*Bulk Laser
# Stimulated emission in the amplifier's gain
medium causes amplification of incoming light.
#Commonly used to produce high power laser
systems.
#Almost any laser active gain medium can
be pumped to produce gain for light at the
wavelength of a laser made with the same
material as its gain medium.

LASER AMPLIFIER
Types of Optical Amplifiers :
OPTICAL PARAMETRIC Amplifiers

# Used in expanding the frequency tunability
of ultrafast solid-state lasers (e.g. Ti :
sapphire).
#allows the amplification of a weak Signal-
Impulse in a non-centrosymmetric nonlinear
medium (e.g. BBO).
# capable of extremely broad amplification
bandwidths.

Types of Optical Amplifiers :
RAMAN Amplifiers
# The signal is intensified by Raman
amplification
# Amplification uses Raman scattering of light
with phonons in the lattice of the gain
medium
#amplification effect is achieved by a nonlinear
interaction between the signal and a pump
laser within an optical fiber.
# Pump power requirement is high.
Types of Optical Amplifiers
RAMAN amplifier continued:
# TYPES
1) Distributed-
Transmission fiber is used as gain
medium
It may use 500mW of pump-power
2) Lumped
Utilizes a dedicated, shorter length
of fiber to provide amplification.
May use over 1W of optical power.


Types of Optical Amplifiers
RAMAN amplifier continued...
# Advantages-
1)able to provide distributed amplification
within the
transmission fiber
2)amplification can be provided over wider,
and
different regions.

SOA (Semiconductor Opt.
Amp.)
Primary candidates for all optical integrated
functional devices.
These are basically LASER diodes, modified
to remove lasing effect.
uses a semiconductor to provide the gain
medium.
have a similar structure to Fabry-Prot laser
diodes but with anti-reflection design elements
at the end-faces..
This creates a loss of power from the cavity
which is greater than the gain it prevents the
amplifier from acting as a laser.

SOA
typically made from group III-V compound
semiconductors such as GaAs/AlGaAs.
Often used in telecommunication systems in
the form of fiber-pigtailed components,
operating at signal wavelengths between
0.85 m and 1.6 m and generating gains of
up to 30 dB.
They are electrically pumped.


SOA
Types of SOA
1) Quantum Wave
(QW) amplifier
# the amplifier
gain will react
quickly to
changes in the
input power.

Types of SOA
2)Travelling
Wave(TW)
# the Fabry-Perot
cavity resonances is
suppressed
# for this the
reflectivity is reduced.
# Three approaches
are commonly used:
a)Anti-reflection
coating
b)Tilted Active Region
c)Use of transparent
window regions
Amplifier Bandwidths
Comparison of the bandwidths of Fabry
Perot and Traveling wave amplifiers

Saturation Power
Semiconductor
Optical amplifiers
saturate similarly
to a 2 level atom
The typical
saturation output
power for SOAs is
around 5-10mW

Types of SOAs continued..
Gain Clamped(GC) SOAs
#Gain is stabilized across signal
strengths but overall gain is lower than
a standard QW SOA
#Based on Distributed Bragg
Reflector(DBR)
technology
Quantum Dot(QD) SOAs
#Active region consists of a no. of low
dimensional
dot structures
#Gain of QD is small

Crosstalk in Semiconductor
Amplifiers
Rate equation for pump
current
If suddenly goes to
zero, as in 1-0
sequence

Time constant is

If suddenly turns on,
which is smaller



| | ) ( ) (
) (
0
t N t N
n
ac t N
qLWD
I
dt
dN
u
I
=
t
| |
t
t
/
1 ) (
t
e
qLWD
I
t N

=
t =
down
T
1
1

|
.
|

\
|
u I
+ =
n
ac
T
up
t
Parameters on previous slide
N=carrier density (cm
-3
)
I=pump current (amp= coul/s)
q=charge on electron (coul)
L, w, d=cavity dimensions (cm
3
)
t=recombination lifetime (s)
I=confinement factor (unit less)
u=photon density (cm
-3
)
a=gain coefficient (cm
-1
)
Crosstalk continued
If time constant for spontaneous decay
of excited state is shorter than the bit
duration, the population of the excited
state will vary sharply with the optical
power in the fiber, and gain will depend
on the fraction of 1s and 0s in the data
stream.
If time constant is long, then the
population in the excited state will be
constant, dependent upon the pump
power but not the signal power.

Undesired effects in an
SOA
Cross saturation can cause undesired
coupling between channels
This can be used for wave length
conversion and controlling light with
light
If used for multiple channels in a
switched network gain must be adjusted
as channels are added and dropped
Four wave mixing is also quite
pronounced in SOAs
Causes undesired coupling of light
between channels
Can however also be used to
advantage in wavelength converters.
High coupling loss
Polarization sensitive gain

Semiconductor amplifier
advantages
Can easily be integrated as preamplifiers at the
receiver end
Use same technology as diode lasers
Gain relatively independent of wavelength
Are pumped with current, not another laser
Low power consumption
Less expensive than EDFA
4 types of non-linear operations can be
performed(cross gain modulation, cross phase
modulation, wavelength conversion and four
wave mixing)
Semiconductor amplifier
disadvantages
Moderate Polarization dependence
Self-phase modulation leading to chirp
Cross-phase modulation
Four-wave mixing and crosstalk
Extremely short (ns) excited state lifetimes
Lower Gain



SOA Applications
Booster amplifiers
In-Live amplifiers
Pre-amplifiers
Wavelength conversion/selection/regeneration
Mid-Span Spectral Inversion
As Multiplexers
Optical Gates