A broad-band MQW semiconductor optical amplifier with high saturation output power and low noise figure

A broad-band semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) that achieves both a high chip saturation output power and a low chip noise figure (NF) was developed by using a thin multiquantum well with low internal loss. The SOA exhibited a high chip saturation output power of >+19.6 dBm and a low chip NF of <4.5 dB over a 3-dB gain bandwidth of 120 nm (1450-1570 nm). For the amplification of optical signals modulated at 40-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero format, a penalty-free amplification was confirmed up to an average chip output power of +18.1 dBm.