NOISE-FIGURE OF SATURATED 1310-NM POLARIZATION-INSENSITIVE MULTIPLE-QUANTUM-WELL OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS

The noise figure degradation due to saturation by amplified spontaneou semission of high-gain 1310-nm polarization insensitive multiple-quant um-well optical amplifiers has been investigated systematically by stu dying amplifiers of different lengths. It is found that the intrinsic noise figure of 4 dB of a device with 20-dB single-pass gain is degrad ed to about 5 dB for a device having 36-dB single-pass gain. This degr adation in noise figure is very modest, compared to results reported e arlier for semiconductor optical amplifiers with bulk-gain media, illu strating the benefits of using a quantum-well gain medium in semicondu ctor optical amplifiers.