Length dependence of the saturation characteristics in 1.5- mu m multiple quantum well optical amplifiers

The dependence on amplifier length of gain and gain saturation characteristics in 1.5- mu m multiple-quantum-well optical amplifiers is reported. Gain measurements are presented for amplifiers with lengths of 200 mu m to 1 mm, and a simple model is introduced which relates gain and saturation characteristics to the amplifier length. The 1-mm-long device has superb properties, with a gain of 25.2 dB and a saturation output power of 40 mW.>