Improvements Evaluation of High-Speed Electro-Optical Integrated Thin-Film Microwave Coupler SOA-based Space Switch

Abstract The speed and transient improvements due to a thin- film microwave coupler on a high-speed SOA-based space switch are analyzed. The switch performance is compared with another one using the same SOA device but in its commercial butterfly encapsulated form factor. Through an extensive experimental characterization and an automated algorithm analysis, the switching actions were evaluated in several SOA operational conditions (bias current, electrical pulse step amplitude, preimpulse amplitude, and switching technique) employing metrics related to the switching times and transient behavior intensity. The results showed that the thin-film coupler SOA switch mounting led to switching time improvements and quicker optical output pulse stabilization. In conjunction with the appropriated switching technique, the device could achieve switching speeds around 200 ps aiming its operation in high-speed optical networks.

摘要：针对基于半导体光放大器（Semiconductor Optical Amplifier, SOA）的高速空间光开关，本文分析了其搭载薄膜微波耦合器后在速率与瞬态特性上的性能提升。将该开关的性能与另一款采用同款SOA器件但采用商用蝶形封装外形的开关进行对比后，通过全面的实验表征与自动化算法分析，本文在偏置电流、电脉冲阶幅、预脉冲幅度及开关技术等多种SOA工作工况下，采用与开关时延及瞬态特性强度相关的性能指标对开关动作进行了评估。结果表明，搭载薄膜耦合器的SOA开关结构可缩短开关时延并加快光输出脉冲的稳定速度；配合合适的开关技术，该器件可实现约200皮秒（ps）的开关速率，以适配高速光网络的应用需求。