Abstract

We have developped a research program aimed at the study of the ultrafast dynamical properties of Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs). This program is run in collaboration with the group of H. Melchior, and of H. Jaeckel in Zurich and the group of F. Devaux at Alcatel. Amongst the properties of these devices, we specifically study their possibilities in terms of switching and wavelength conversion. To this aim, we have developped a femtosecond setup which allows to probe the cross gain dynamics of the amplifiers. A cw beam is fed into the amplifier and is modified by a strong cross-polarized pump beam. The changes of the cw beam are then time resolved with 150 fs resolution in a non linear gate. Such a set-up corresponds to the configuration used for wavelength conversion, and has the great interest to provide at the same time the time resolution and the relative tunability of the two laser beams over a wide range.

© 1998 IEEE