Abstract

Semiconductor optical amplifiers are receiving increasing attention for possible applications to broadband optical communiction and switching systems. Of particular interest are InGaAsP devices that can be tailored to the communication bands of 1.3 and 1.5 μm. Much is known about their linear and small signal characteristics, much less about their nonlinear and ultrafast dynamic properties. Studies of diode laser modulation characteristics,¹ wave mixing,^2,3 and picosecond pulse amplification^4,5 have provided information about population dynamics and gain compression.

© 1989 Optical Society of America