An analytical solution for stationary distribution of photon density in traveling-wave and reflective SOAs

In this paper, we analyze two semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) structures, traveling-wave and reflective, with the active region made of the bulk material. The model is based on the stationary traveling-wave equations for forward and backward propagating photon densities of the signal and the amplified spontaneous emission, along with the stationary carrier rate equation. We start by introducing linear approximation of the carrier density spatial distribution, which enables us to find solutions for the photon densities in a closed analytical form. An analytical approach ensures a low computational resource occupation and an easy analysis of the parameters influencing the SOA’s response. The comparison of the analytical and numerical results shows high agreement for a wide range of the input optical powers and bias currents.