Slow light using semiconductor optical amplifiers: Model and noise characteristics

We developed an improved model in order to predict the RF behavior of the SOA valid for any experimental conditions. It takes into account the dynamic saturation of the SOA, which can be fully characterized by a simple measurement, and only relies on material fitting parameters, independent of the optical intensity and bias current. We used this new model to analyze and model the additive noise of the SOA in order to fully characterize the influence of the slow light effect on the microwave photonics link properties.