TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF A 1300-NM POLARIZATION-INSENSITIVE MULTIPLE-QUANTUM-WELL LASER-AMPLIFIER AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ULTIMATE CAPACITY OF CASCADED AMPLIFIER SYSTEMS

The temperature characteristics of a 1300 nm polarization-insensitive multiple quantum well laser amplifier are investigated at a constant l evel of the amplified spontaneous emission. Upon increasing the amplif ier temperature from 0-degrees-C to 40-degrees-C, a 20% increase in th e gain bandwidth and a twofold increase in the saturation output power , due to an increase in Auger recombination, are observed. The implica tions of these results on the ultimate capacity of cascaded amplifier systems is evaluated using the concept of the maximum length amplifier cascade. When operated at 40-degrees-C, this length extends to 6000 k m, which is of great relevance for the design of 1300 nm soliton syste ms, because these short pulses are considered to be able to traverse t hese large lengths of optical fiber without distortion.