Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Based on a Quantum Dot-in-a-Well (QDWELL) Structure Under Optical Pumping

We investigated theoretically dynamics of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) based on the quantum dot-in-a-well (QDWELL) structure. We modified the QDWELL laser rate equations for the case of SOA and solved the modified equation system numerically. We have shown that a strong pumping optical wave in the QDWELL SOA synchronizes the QD carrier dynamics, which results in the enhancement of the QDWELL SOA bandwidth and repetition frequency, fast gain recovery, cross-gain modulation, and chirp decrease.