Amplification of gain-switched pulses in semiconductor optical amplifier

Masataka Kobayashi; Ryo Tamaki; Hidekazu Nakamae; Changsu Kim; Takashi Ito; Shaoqiang Chen; Yohei Kobayashi; Jun Takeda; Ikufumi Katayama; Hidefumi Akiyama

doi:10.35848/1882-0786/ae416a

Amplification of gain-switched pulses in semiconductor optical amplifier

Masataka Kobayashi^*
, Ryo Tamaki
, Hidekazu Nakamae
, Changsu Kim
, Takashi Ito
, Shaoqiang Chen
, Yohei Kobayashi
, Jun Takeda
, Ikufumi Katayama
, Hidefumi Akiyama

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Communication and Electronic Engineering

The University of Tokyo
Graduate School of Engineering Science
Yokohama National University
Keio University
Ltd.
SIT Research Laboratories
Shibaura Institute of Technology
Semiconductor and Quantum Integrated Electronics Research Center

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

Abstract

We investigated the amplification of picosecond gain-switched laser diode (ps-GSLD) pulses using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Amplified pulses were characterized using a conventional sampling oscilloscope and an up-conversion time microscope. While sampling measurements showed apparent pulse broadening with increasing SOA current, the time-microscope measurement resolved sub-picosecond main and sub-pulses and revealed their intrinsic gain and saturation behavior. These results demonstrate that the observed pulse broadening originates from measurement limitations rather than intrinsic temporal distortion, and that SOAs can amplify ps-GSLD pulses without distortion when operated in the linear regime.

Original language	English
Article number	021006
Journal	Applied Physics Express
Volume	19
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.35848/1882-0786/ae416a
State	Published - Feb 2026

Keywords

gain-switching
semiconductor laser
semiconductor optical amplifier
up-conversion time-microscope

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10.35848/1882-0786/ae416a

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title = "Amplification of gain-switched pulses in semiconductor optical amplifier",

abstract = "We investigated the amplification of picosecond gain-switched laser diode (ps-GSLD) pulses using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Amplified pulses were characterized using a conventional sampling oscilloscope and an up-conversion time microscope. While sampling measurements showed apparent pulse broadening with increasing SOA current, the time-microscope measurement resolved sub-picosecond main and sub-pulses and revealed their intrinsic gain and saturation behavior. These results demonstrate that the observed pulse broadening originates from measurement limitations rather than intrinsic temporal distortion, and that SOAs can amplify ps-GSLD pulses without distortion when operated in the linear regime.",

keywords = "gain-switching, semiconductor laser, semiconductor optical amplifier, up-conversion time-microscope",

author = "Masataka Kobayashi and Ryo Tamaki and Hidekazu Nakamae and Changsu Kim and Takashi Ito and Shaoqiang Chen and Yohei Kobayashi and Jun Takeda and Ikufumi Katayama and Hidefumi Akiyama",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Japan Society of Applied Physics by IOP Publishing Ltd. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

doi = "10.35848/1882-0786/ae416a",

language = "英语",

volume = "19",

journal = "Applied Physics Express",

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publisher = "Japan Society of Applied Physics",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Amplification of gain-switched pulses in semiconductor optical amplifier

AU - Kobayashi, Masataka

AU - Tamaki, Ryo

AU - Nakamae, Hidekazu

AU - Kim, Changsu

AU - Ito, Takashi

AU - Chen, Shaoqiang

AU - Kobayashi, Yohei

AU - Takeda, Jun

AU - Katayama, Ikufumi

AU - Akiyama, Hidefumi

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Japan Society of Applied Physics by IOP Publishing Ltd. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

PY - 2026/2

Y1 - 2026/2

N2 - We investigated the amplification of picosecond gain-switched laser diode (ps-GSLD) pulses using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Amplified pulses were characterized using a conventional sampling oscilloscope and an up-conversion time microscope. While sampling measurements showed apparent pulse broadening with increasing SOA current, the time-microscope measurement resolved sub-picosecond main and sub-pulses and revealed their intrinsic gain and saturation behavior. These results demonstrate that the observed pulse broadening originates from measurement limitations rather than intrinsic temporal distortion, and that SOAs can amplify ps-GSLD pulses without distortion when operated in the linear regime.

AB - We investigated the amplification of picosecond gain-switched laser diode (ps-GSLD) pulses using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Amplified pulses were characterized using a conventional sampling oscilloscope and an up-conversion time microscope. While sampling measurements showed apparent pulse broadening with increasing SOA current, the time-microscope measurement resolved sub-picosecond main and sub-pulses and revealed their intrinsic gain and saturation behavior. These results demonstrate that the observed pulse broadening originates from measurement limitations rather than intrinsic temporal distortion, and that SOAs can amplify ps-GSLD pulses without distortion when operated in the linear regime.

KW - gain-switching

KW - semiconductor laser

KW - semiconductor optical amplifier

KW - up-conversion time-microscope

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105051796095

U2 - 10.35848/1882-0786/ae416a

DO - 10.35848/1882-0786/ae416a

M3 - 快报

AN - SCOPUS:105051796095

SN - 1882-0778

VL - 19

JO - Applied Physics Express

JF - Applied Physics Express

IS - 2

M1 - 021006

ER -

Amplification of gain-switched pulses in semiconductor optical amplifier

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Keywords

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