• SOA is a Laser diode without end mirrors and with antireflection coating coupled to both fiber ends. Light coming in either fiber is amplified by a single pass through the laser SOA is an alternative to EDFA.
  • Active medium consists of alloy semiconductor (P, Ga, In, As).
  • SOA works in both low atte4nuation windows i.e. 1300nm and
  • The 3dB bandwidth is about 70nm because of very broad gain
  • SOA consumes less power and has fewer
  • Two major types of SOA are –
  1. Fabry - perot amplifier (FPA)
  2. Travelling wave amplifier (TWA)

SOA has rapid gain response 1 ps to 0.1 ns