Abstract

Today’s high capacity optical communication networks require highly sensitive, low cost receivers running at very high bit rates. An attractive way to achieve high sensitivity at high bit rates is by optical preamplification. This has been demonstrated using both erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs)¹ and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs).² However, EDFAs are limited to operation around 1.55 µm and conventional in-plane SOAs are typically sensitive to the polarization of the signal light. An alternative approach is vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifiers (VCSOAs). The vertical-cavity geometry supports a circular-symmetrical mode, which results in high coupling efficiency to optical fiber as well as insensitivity to the polarization of the signal light. Good coupling efficiency is beneficial for obtaining a low noise figure. Furthermore, the vertical-cavity structure is compatible with low-cost manufacturing and testing techniques as well as integration in high-density 2-dimensional array architectures.

© 2002 Optical Society of America