Characterization of an InGaAsP semiconductor laser amplifier as a multifunctional device

Multifunctional properties of an InGaAsP semiconductor laser amplifier have been evaluated. A bit error rate of 10/sup -9/ at 100 Mb/s was obtained using the amplifier as a detector at a received optical power of -27 dBm with simultaneous cavity gain of 16 dB. The bandwidth of the amplifier detector was 300 MHz and the maximum responsivity was 30 V/W. The amplifier had a maximum gain of 29 dB and a very large optical on/off ratio of 50 dB. When the amplifier was used as a switch the cavity gain was 19 dB and the extinction ratio was 22 dB.<
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