Frequency-domain model of multiwave mixing in bulk semiconductor optical amplifiers

We present a new steady-state frequency-domain model of highly nondegenerat e four-wave mixing in bulk semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA's), The mo del can handle a large number of interacting optical fields and situations in which the nonlinear interactions are complex, It accounts for the longit udinal dependence of the population inversion in the SOA and the spectral d ependence of the gain. Carrier population pulsations, spectral-hole burning , and carrier heating, which dominate the nonlinear response over bandwidth s into the terahertz range, are included. The model also includes output am plified spontaneous emission noise and allows important system parameters s uch as signal-to-noise ratio and noise figure to be estimated. A number of applications of the model are presented in which good agreement between the oretical and experimental results is demonstrated.