Performance comparison of spectrum-slicing techniques employing SOA-based noise suppression at the transmitter or receiver

We compare three semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based noise suppression approaches employed in incoherent light spectrum-sliced systems. Although the SOA at the transmitter provides the best absolute noise suppression, it is susceptible to performance degradation in the presence of optical filtering and dispersion. Using the SOA at the receiver can provide good performance while avoiding these limitations, and may provide better value in last-mile access applications.