Utilization of the SOA Deep Saturation and Power Averaging Effect to Counteract Intra-Channel Crosstalk in DWDM System

The Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) is a key component of cost-effective short/medium range transmission systems. However it can introduce signal distortions. In this paper the authors investigate the possibility to reduce the signal distortions in SOA operating with the multiple wavelength channels. Using numerical simulations the negative influence of the nonlinear effects, namely cross-gain modulation (XGM) and the patterning effect can be reduced in deep SOA saturation regime. The self-healing effect is pronounced for the 4 or more wavelength channels and the transmitted symbol length longer than double of the SOA recovery time.