A novel microcavity semiconductor optical amplifier (MCSOA) was proposed by incorporating top and bottom distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) into the waveguide structure of conventional traveling-wave semiconductor optical amplifiers(TW-SOAs). The incoming(outgoing) light beam incidented onto (escaped from) the waveguide structure at a oblique angle through two optical windows, where the top DBR was etched away, and anti-reflection coating was deposited. The light beams inside the optical cavity were reflected repeatedly between two DBRs and propagated along waveguide in a zigzag optical path. The performance of the MCSOA was systematically investigated by extensive numerical simulation based on a traveling-wave model by taking into account the comprehensive effects of DBRs on both the amplification of signals and the filtering of spontaneous emission(SE). Our results show that the MCSOA is capable of achieving a fiber-to-fiber gain as high as 40dB and a low noise figure is less than 3.5dB.%提出了一种新型微腔半导体光放大器结构,该半导体放大器在普通行波光放大器的波导结构上引入了上下布拉格反射镜,并在波导前后两侧的上端面上分别刻蚀出入射和出射光学窗口,其上蒸镀增透膜层.信号光以一定的倾角斜入射到波导中,以之字型路线沿波导传播.提出了一个完整的、考虑了微腔特性的稳态模型,系统模拟了微腔半导体光放大器的特性.结果表明该微腔半导体光放大器的光纤到光纤增益可达40dB,而噪声指数只有3.5dB.
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