Accurate determination of the noise figure of polarization-dependent optical amplifiers: theory and experiment

The authors compare both theoretically and experimentally an optical and an electrical method for determining the noise factor (NF) of optical amplifiers. The influence of polarization dependence on the optical method is discussed in detail. The resulting noise measurement method is then used to characterize a novel multiple quantum well (MQW) amplifier, and an electrical noise figure of 6 dB is demonstrated for the first time.