Amplified spontaneous emission in semiconductor optical amplifiers: modelling and experiments

Abstract

We present a model for the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in travelling-wave (TW) semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). The model presented accounts for the propagation of the whole ASE spectrum and also accounts for the saturation effects induced by the signal and the ASE. Using parameters fitted to measurements the model can reproduce with good accuracy the experiments on a real device. The model can simulate the ASE spectrum of the SOA in the linear and saturation regimes. The model is also used to simulate the different shapes of the ASE spectrum at the two facets when the SOA is saturated, with results very close to the measurements.