TABLE OF CONTENTS In Part I of this book, the performance characteristics of semiconductor laser amplifiers (SLAs) were studied both theoretically and experimentally. As discussed in the introductory Chapter 1, these laser amplifiers can be used in optical fibre communication systems as in-line repeaters or can be integrated with the optical receiver chip as an optical pre-amplifier. The basic principles of optical amplification were explored in Chapter 2 by considering the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with a two-level quantum mechanical system. This was shown to give a qualitatively accurate picture of the principles and performance characteristics of all types of optical amplifier, including both SLAs and fibre amplifiers. The discussion was narrowed down to SLAs in Chapter 3 by considering in further detail how semiconductor lasers have been used as optical amplifiers, both by examining their physical principle of operation as well as reviewing the historical development of using semiconductor lasers as optical amplifiers. In this discussion, SLAs were classified by their structural differences (i.e. the difference between Fabry-Perot amplifiers (FPAs) and travelling-wave amplifiers (TWAs)) and the subsequent differences in their performance characteristics were examined. Typical applications of SLAs as in-line repeaters, pre-amplifiers, and simple routing switches were also explored.
A systematic theoretical study of the performance characteristics of SLAs was the major objective in Chapters 4 to 6. The SLAs were treated as an active dielectric optical waveguide in Chapter 4, in which the propagation characteristics of optical signals were analysed using electromagnetic...
