Experimental verification of the existence of optically induced carrier pulsations in SOAs

Experimental investigation of the role of interband effects in four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is reported. Carrier density pulsations (CDP) in SOAs, caused by optical wave beating, are measured in the RF domain. This gives strong experimental confirmation of the link between CDP and wave mixing, as usually assumed in theory of FWM in SOAs. The dependence of CDP amplitude on bias current and optical power is also established.     

Ultra-short optical pulse shaping using semiconductor optical amplifier

Optical ultra-short pulse compression and amplification using semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is presented. Using pump-probe pulse configuration, we present an SOA model which includes the nonlinear effects such as, spectral hole burning (SHB), carrier heating (CH), two-photon absorption (TPA) and group velocity dispersion (GVD) taking into account gain spectrum effect. Then by adjusting time delay between the pump pulse and probe pulse we use the model for simultaneous compression and amplification of probe pulse. We also analyze the four wave mixing (FWM) signal during pulse compression process. It is shown that dispersive effect of GVD on output probe pulse becomes more important for larger cavity length and probe-pump pulses relative time delays.     

Slow and fast light in quantum-well and quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiersInvited Paper

Slow and fast light in quantum-well (QW) and quantum-dot (QD) semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) using nonlinear quantum optical effects are presented. We demonstrate electrical and optical controls of fast light using the coherent population oscillation (CPO) and four wave mixing (FWM) in the gain regime of QW SOAs. We then consider the dependence on the wavelength and modal gain of the pump in QW SOAs. To enhance the tunable photonic delay of a single QW SOA, we explore a serial cascade of multiple amplifiers. A model for the number of QW SOAs in series with variable optical attenuation is developed and matched to the experimental data. We demonstrate the scaling law and the bandwidth control by using the serial cascade of multiple QW SOAs. Experimentally, we achieve a phase change of 160° and a scaling factor of four at 1 GHz using the cascade of four QW SOAs. Finally, we investigate CPO and FWM slow and fast light of QD SOAs. The experiment shows that the bandwidth of the time delay as a function of the modulation frequency changes in the absorption and gain regimes due to the carrier-lifetime variation. The tunable phase shift in QD SOA is compared between the ground- and first excited-state transitions with different modal gains.     

Nonlinear properties of quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers at 1.3 μm Invited Paper

The dynamics of nonlinear processes in quantum dot (QD) semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) are investigated. Using small-signal measurements, the suitabilities of cross-gain and cross-phase modulation as well as four wave mixing (FWM) for wavelength conversion are examined. The cross-gain modulation is found to be suitable for wavelength conversion up to a frequency of 40 GHz.     

Ultra-high repetition rate InAs/InP quantum dot mode-locked lasers

We have designed, grown and fabricated InAs/InP quantum dot (QD) waveguides as the gain materials of mode-locked lasers (MLLs). Passive InAs/InP QD MLLs based on single-section Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavities with repetition rates from 10 GHz to 100 GHz have been demonstrated in the C- and L-band. Femtosecond (fs) pulses with pulse duration of 295 fs have been achieved. The average output power is up to 50 mW at the room temperature of 18 °C. By using the external fiber mixed cavities fs pulse train with a repetition rate of 437 GHz has been generated. We have also discussed the working principles of the developed QD MLLs.     

Investigation of gain recovery for InAs/GaAs quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers by rate equation simulation

The gain recoveries in quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (QD SOAs) are numerically studied by rate equation simulation. Similar to the optical pump-probe experiment, the injection of double 150 fs optical pulses is used to simulate the gain recovery of a weak continuous signal under different injection levels, inhomogeneous broadenings, detuning wavelengths, and pulse signal energies for the QD SOAs. The obtained gain recoveries are then fitted by a response function with multiple exponential terms to determine the response times. The gain recovery can be described by three exponential terms with the time constants, which can be explained as carrier relaxation from the excited state to the ground state, carrier captured by the excited state from the wetting layer, and the supply of the wetting layer carriers. The fitted lifetimes decrease with the increase of the injection currents under gain unsaturation, slightly decrease with the decrease of inhomogeneous broadening of QDs, and increase with the increase of detuning wavelength between continuous signal and pulse signal and the increase of the pulse energy.     

Characteristics of wavelength conversion of short optical pulses in quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers

The characteristics of short optical pulse four-wave mixing (FWM) and amplification in quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (QD-SOAs) are investigated taken into account the effect of the multi-discrete QD energy levels. Different saturation and recovery response for the electron and hole states are observed, which is attributed to different energy spacing between the energy states. We found that the 3 dB saturation energy of QD-SOA depends on the pulse width for short input pulses. Also, the optimum time delay between the probe and pump pulses in QD-SOAs, which provides maximum FWM efficiency in QD-SOAs, is smaller than the optimum delay in quantum well SOA.     

Quantum dot photonic devices for lightwave communication

For InAs-GaAs based quantum dot lasers emitting at 1300 nm digital modulation showing an open eye pattern up to 12 Gb/s at room temperature is demonstrated, at 10 Gb/s the bit error rate is below 10^-12 at -2 dBm receiver power. Cut-off frequencies up to 20 GHz are realised for lasers emitting at 1.1 m. Passively mode-locked QD lasers generate optical pulses with repetition frequencies between 5 and 50 GHz, with a minimum Fourier limited pulse length of 3 ps. The uncorrelated jitter is below 1 ps. We use here deeply etched narrow ridge waveguide structures which show excellent performance similar to shallow mesa structures, but a circular far field at a ridge width of 1 m, improving coupling efficiency into fibers. No beam filamentation of the fundamental mode, low -factors and strongly reduced sensitivity to optical feedback is observed. QD lasers are thus superior to QW lasers for any system or network.Quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (QD SOAs) demonstrate gain recovery times of 120–140 fs, 4–7 times faster than bulk/QW SOAs, and a net gain larger than 0.4 dB/(mm*QD layer) providing us with novel types of booster amplifiers and Mach–Zehnder interferometers.These breakthroughs became possible due to systematic development of self-organized growth technologies. PACS 81.07.Ta; 81.16.Dn; 42.55.Px; 42.60.-v     

强超短脉冲抽运下半导体光放大器中的非线性过程

建立了包含载流子浓度脉动(CDP)、自由载流子吸收(FCA)、受激辐射(SE)、双光子吸收(TPA)、光谱烧孔(SHB)和超快非线性折射(UNR)过程的半导体光放大器(SOA)理论模型,通过与已报道的实验结果的比较对模型进行了验证,实现了对已有 SOA模型的修正,并对UNR,FCA和TPA效应对强超短光脉冲传输特性的影响进行了分析.当脉宽为几个皮秒的强光脉冲注入工作于透明电流下的SOA时,其强度特性主要受FCA和TPA效应的影响.由于加入了FCA效应,使模型对200fs脉冲强度传输特性的仿真结果与实验结果 关键词： 非线性过程 强超短光脉冲 SOA理论模型 增益透明     

Analysis of non-linear refractive index influences on four-wave mixing conversion efficiency in semiconductor optical amplifiers

In this paper, we have analyzed the influences of non-linear refractive index on the four-wave mixing (FWM) characteristics in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). It has been shown that the generated FWM signal characteristics can be modified due to the variation of non-linear refractive index of the SOA's medium. The wave propagation in the SOA has been modeled using the nonlinear propagation equation taking into account gain spectrum dynamics, gain saturation, which depends on carrier depletion, carrier heating, spectral hole-burning, group velocity dispersion, self-phase modulation and two photon absorption. Simulation of optical wave evolution in the SOA has been carried out using the finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM) both in time and spectral domains. Our simulation results confirm that higher FWM conversion efficiency and lower time bandwidth product are achieved for higher absolute values of non-linear refractive index. Moreover, non-linear refractive index is more efficacious for high power propagated waves in SOAs. Finally, we have studied the modification of waveguide refractive index due to the propagation of optical pulses. We have also shown that when |n₂|=1 cm²/TW, refractive index variation is in the order of 10^?4 to 10^?7 for high and low power input pulses, respectively.     

Investigation of switching-window in a gain-transparent UNI configuration

Switching-window in an interferometric configuration of a gain-transparent ultrafast nonlinear interferometer (gt-UNI) is investigated numerically. The phase change is observed in detail. To assess the performance of switching window, the integrated contrast ratio (ICR) is introduced. For the data pulse with the bit width of 6.25 ps and with the energy of 60 pJ, respectively, the ICRs in different situations are simulated using modified nonlinear Schr(o)dinger equation (MNLSE) considering of the carrier depletion pulsation (CDP), carrier heating (CH), and spectral-hole burning (SHB). The results show that the maximum ICR is located at the optimum position of the semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) that is determined by the width and energy of the control pulse.     

THz optical pulses from a coupled-cavity quantum-dot laser

Optical pulses are generated from a coupled-cavity quantum-dot (QD) laser consisting of a short QD-waveguide Fabry–Perot (F–P) cavity and three long external fiber Bragg grating (FBG) cavities. When the laser is biased at low operation current, the feedback from the external cavities dominates and laser pulses have a 1.01 THz repetition rate, determined by the equal frequency difference of the three FBGs. We are thus able to decouple the repetition rate of a mode-locked laser from the cavity length. With much higher bias current, the QD F–P cavity dominates and the repetition rate is switched to 43.8 GHz, defined by the length of the F–P cavity.     

Slow and fast light in quantum dot based semiconductor optical amplifiers

Recent progress in the field of quantum dot/dash based semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) for slow and fast light is discussed. Room temperature fast light has been obtained in InAs/InP QDash based SOAs by means of coherent population oscillation and four wave mixing (FWM) effects. Typical optical delays amount to 55 ps at 2 GHz. Growth optimization of the QDashes allowed us to achieve high modal gain, leading to very similar performances, e.g. gain and FWM efficiency, to those of a bulk SOA. A novel approach based on linear spectrograms is also introduced to measure the phase shift induced by wave mixing in an SOA.     

Ultrashort optical pulse monitoring using asynchronous optical sampling technique in highly nonlinear fiber

An asynchronous optical sampling scheme based on four-wave mixing （FWM） in highly nonlinear fiber （HNLF） is experimentally demonstrated. Based on this scheme, 10-GHz input pulse train with 1.8-ps pulse width is successfully sampled in 100-m HNLF. A single pulse at 10 GHz with 2.3-ps pulse width is rebuilt by using a 50-MHz frequency tunable free-running fiber laser as the sampling pulse source （SPS）. 40-GHz pulse train is used as the input signal. The rebuilt waveforms, together with the low-jitter eye diagram, are also presented.     

Analysis of format conversion from optical 16QAM to QPSK based on cascaded four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifier

A scheme of format conversion from optical 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) to quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signal based on cascaded four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is proposed. Theoretical analysis and simulations of the format conversion scheme are conducted to validate the feasibility of the proposal. In this proposal, the phase conjugated of 16QAM signal is generated after the first FWM process in an SOA, and then the QPSK signal is converted due to the second non-degenerate FWM (ND-FWM) process in another SOA. The performance and the optimal design of the 10 Gbit/s format conversion system under various key parameters of SOAs are evaluated and discussed. Simulation results present useful to enable interconnection between backbone network and access network.     

InGaAs diode laser system generating pulses of 580 fs duration and 366 W peak power

This paper reports the generation of fs light pulses by a passively mode-locked InGaAs master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system. The laser system generates chirped pulses with 6.2 ps duration, a center wavelength of 922 nm and 4 GHz repetition rate. Pulse compression by an external grating compressor reduces the pulse duration to 580 fs. The average power of the compressed pulses of 851 mW corresponds to a peak power of 366 W.     

亚皮秒级时间分辨率的光取样示波器实验样机

利用自行开发的高稳定、低抖动和重复频率可调的“σ”型被动锁模光纤激光器作为高性能光学取样源,与待测的80 Gb/s光脉冲信号同时输入到100 m高非线性光纤中,通过四波混频效应实现了对被测光信号的全光采样。然后利用自行开发的数字信号处理与计算机图形显示软件,精确地重现了被测试的基于RZ码型的80 Gb/s光脉冲信号波形图。同时,还利用该光学取样示波器实验样机系统对重复频率为10 GHz、脉宽为1.8 ps的商用半导体主动锁模激光器的输出波形进行测量,所显示的脉冲宽度值为2.0 ps。这表明开发出的实验样机系统的时间分辨率优于900 fs。     

利用微扰法分析两个相互耦合的参量四波混频过程

利用微扰法在旋转波近似下分析了铷原子中两个独立的参量四波混频过程和一个耦合的参量四波混频过程.当用超短激光脉冲相干激发这两个参量四波混频过程时,两个过程就会同时出现并且存在相互耦合作用.微扰分析表明,耦合的参量四波混频信号中可以观察到量子拍,量子拍幅度的大小不仅取决于超短脉冲的特性,而且依赖于两个耦合的参量四波混频过程中的相位匹配.     

相干原子系统的失谐对脉冲调制的影响

研究了一对非共振脉冲在相干介质中的时空传播,着重考究了失谐对相干脉冲相位调制的影响。计算结果表明当脉冲在介质中稳定传播时,脉冲的最终振幅与双光子脉冲共振的情况下相同,只由介质的初始状态决定,与失谐无关。而失谐仅仅只对脉冲的相位进行调制。     

Photonic generation of ultrawideband signals by exploiting gain saturation of dark pump pulse with double undershoots in a highly nonlinear fiber

We have proposed and theoretically demonstrated an alternative photonic scheme to generate ultrawideband (UWB) doublet pulses based on gain saturation effect in one piece of highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). A flexible format swap between UWB doublet and monocycle pulses can be successfully realized by properly tuning the optical tunable delay line (ODL). Moreover, the key parameters for UWB pulse, including the center frequency (Fc), 10 dB bandwidth (BW_10dB), and fractional bandwidth (FBW), are also investigated with Fc being Einstein shift when the doublet pulse transforms into the monocycle pulse. Finally, our proposed scheme exhibits good performance that the obtained UWB pulse can have a FBW of > 100% at the Fc of ~ 7 GHz and UWB-over-fiber technology is also implemented without dispersion management.