Abstract
Applications of multiwavelength optics ranging from communications networks to optical packet switches require wavelength selective filters that can be tuned on nanosecond time scales among channels separated in wavelength by tenths of nanometers. Such filtering presents a severe challenge for conventional optics. Passive optical filters can provide the required resolution; however, nanosecond tuning times appear to be available only from coherent receivers and wavelength selective resonant amplifiers. Among the latter, injection current tuned distributed feedback (DFB) amplifiers are of particular interest, since recent experiments have shown them capable of 0.1-nm resolution1,2 and 1-ns tuning times.3 Some theoretical noise properties of these devices have been previously obtained4; we now show experimentally that the noise generated by a DFB amplifier exhibits the simple dependence on the signal and spontaneous emission powers emerging from it that are predicted by the theory.
© 1990 Optical Society of America
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