Low noise optical amplifiers with watt-class optical power are a critical component for a variety of applications such as free space optical communications, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), high-performance microwave photonics (MWP) and so on. Traditionally, such applications have utilized erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Although capable of generating high powers and the required low-noise characteristics, EDFAs are limited by their size and weight which can be relatively large. Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), on the other hand, provide an integrated approach with smaller size and weight which can drastically benefit a number of these application but have historically been limited in output power and noise performance. ULL Technologies is proposing an advanced SOA design relative to previous waveguide SOAs for low SWAP applications.
