Hybrid III-V/Silicon SOA in Optical Network Based on Advanced Modulation Formats

A hybrid III-V/silicon semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is presented, which shows a maximum fiber-to-fiber gain of 10 dB and a maximum internal gain around 28 +/- 2 dB. The device was fabricated from III-V material wafer-bonded onto a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The optical mode transfers between silicon and III-V waveguides by means of waveguide tapers. Vertical grating couplers are used to connect the SOA to optical fibers. The device was packaged and tested in a transmission experiment. In a loop configuration containing 25 km of single-mode fiber, the SOA amplifies data signals of various modulation formats. Transmission with a bit error rate below the forward error correction limit is demonstrated for up to ten loops using QPSK, six loop using 8QAM, and four loops using 16QAM.