SOA characterization for AND logic operation on SOA based NOLM

We present a characterization of Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) in nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). An SOA-NOLM has been modeled and simulated in OptiSystem environment. In this simulation, optical data pulse and optical control pulse are generated by using two difference CW laser sources at wavelength 1542 nm and 1555 nm wavelength respectively. SOA gain can be increased to 42dB for 500mA in SOA current gain simulation. By varying the SOA input wavelength the output gain is just slightly changed from 41.2dB to 41.6dB for the wavelength range simulated. The characterized SOA also show the gain will be saturated at 10dBm. The recovery time for this type of SOA reached 100pS when the SOA injected with 500mA input current. All this SOA's characterization is performed in order to suit an analysis of various parameters that affect the performance of AND logic operation based on SOA-NOLM.