Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers for passive optical networks

Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (RSOAs) offer a cost effective wavelength agnostic transmitter for applications within wavelength division multiplexed passive optical networks (WDM PONs) obviating the need for tuneable or fixed laser sources at customer premises. The RSOA, seeded with a single continuous wave source at the ONU (Optical Network Unit) can be shared among a number of users and can simultaneously amplify and modulate that seed to support a WDM overlay in a wavelength agnostic manner. A summary of the operational performance of RSOAs across several wavelength bands and conclusions on their potential in future PON evolutions is presented.