Investigation of amplitude and phase evolution of a short-pulse propagating through a gain saturated semiconductor optical amplifier

[摘要] We have experimentally investigated the amplitude and phase evolution of a short-pulse propagating through a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), by using a spectral retrieving technique. A short-pulse with 20-ps pulse width, which had comb-shaped spectrum, was input to the SOA with gain saturated condition. The amplitude and phase of the output signals were observed by synthesizing the fragments of sliced spectrum which were individually observed by a coherent optical receiver. The phase rotation in time and frequency domain were successfully observed, as well as the amplitude evolution. The gain saturation and nonlinear effect in the SOA induced strong amplitude and phase evolution of spectral comb components as well as generating new frequency components. The experimental results characterized the amplitude and phase evolution of a short-pulse propagating through the SOA.

[学科分类] 电子、光学、磁材料

[关键词] semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA);optical nonlinear effect;optical comb;optical signal processing