Towards Cryophotonics: Experimental Characterization of SOA at Cryogenic Temperatures

• Published in: IEEE photonics journal Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10
• Main Authors: Franco, Maeva, Morel, Pascal, Gardelein, Arnaud, Sharaiha, Ammar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.02.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Subjects: Ambient temperature; Amplification efficiency; Couplings; Cryogenic effects; Cryogenic temperature; cryogenic temperatures; Engineering Sciences; Gain; noise figure; Noise levels; Optical attenuators; Optical polarization; Optical saturation; Optical switches; Optics; output saturation power; Photonic; semiconductor optical amplifier; Semiconductor optical amplifiers
• ISSN: 1943-0655; 1943-0647
• DOI: 10.1109/JPHOT.2022.3231651

We present an experimental system study of the influence of cryogenic temperatures on the performance of a commercial Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) over the range 240 K - 70 K. Significant performance improvements were observed when the SOA is in cryogenic conditions. At 70 K and 100 mA we were able to measure a gain as high as 52 dB. At 240 K, only 50 mA of input current are necessary to reach a gain of 37 dB, and a noise figure of 3.8 dB, close to the theoretical limit. The SOA efficiency at power saturation, rises from 2.2% at ambient temperature up to 41% at 100 mA and 120 K.