Features

• High Saturation Power, Large Gain, Low Noise
• Center Wavelength: 1300, 1500, 1550,
  1590, or 1625 nm
• FC/APC Input and Output Connections
• Analog Modulation Input (0 to 5 V)
• Polarization Insensitive and Sensitive Versions
• TEC Temperature Stabilized
• Easy-to-Use Benchtop Units
• USB 2.0 Interface

While many optical amplifiers are available in butterfly packages, Thorlabs has integrated amplifiers into easy-to-use benchtop units. To use, simply connect fiber optic cables with FC/APC connectors to the input and output connectors and set the driver current and temperature with the dial on the front overlay. The drive current can be modulated via an analog input located on the rear panel of the unit. An internal microcontroller ensures that the amplifier is not overdriven from the modulation current. The unit's LCD displays the drive current and measured temperature of the amplifier, as well as the center wavelength of the unit and the amplifier type (SOA or BOA).

BOA vs. SOA

There are two types of optical amplifiers offered. The first is a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). SOAs are polarization insensitive, thus the light will be amplified regardless of its input polarization. The second type of amplifier is a booster optical amplifier (BOA). Unlike SOAs, these are polarization sensitive devices that only amplify light that is aligned to the device. Our BOAs are pigtailed with PM fiber and will amplify light aligned to the slow axis of the input fiber connector. For more information on amplifiers, see the Optical Amplifiers tab above.

Please see the Specs tab and the Drawings & Documents tab above for more information on these benchtop optical amplifiers. For butterfly packaged BOAs and SOAs, please see our 1050 nm, O-Band, C-Band, and L-Band offering.

Controller Specifications

Polarization Insensitive Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

Polarization Sensitive Booster Optical Amplifiers (BOAs)

Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs and BOAs) are similar in design to Fabry-Perot Laser Diodes. The difference being that Fabry-Perot laser diodes have reflective coatings on both end faces of the semiconductor chip. The optical feedback from the end faces establishes a cavity in which lasing can occur. SOAs and BOAs have an anti-reflection (AR) coating on both end faces of the semiconductor chip. The AR coatings limit the optical feedback into the chip so that lasing does not occur.

As is typical for all amplifiers, SOA/BOAs operate in two regimes: a linear, flat, constant gain regime and a non-linear, saturated output regime. When used to amplify a modulated signal, the linear regime is typically used to eliminate pattern-dependent distortion, multi-channel cross-talk and transient response issues common to EDFAs. The non-linear regime is used to take advantage of the highly non-linear attributes of the semiconductor gain medium (cross-gain modulation, cross phase modulation) to perform wavelength conversion, optical 3R regeneration, header recognition, and other high-speed optical signal processing functions.

For a CW input signal, the amount of power that can be produced by the amplifier is determined by the saturation output power (P_sat) parameter. P_sat is defined as the output power at which the small-signal gain has been compressed by 3 dB. The maximum amount of CW power that can be extracted is approximately 3 dB higher than the saturation power.

Interlock

Pins must be shorted in order for device to be in the "ON" state.