Reflective semiconductor optical amplifier submitted to strong optical feedback and coupled to long external cavity

Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) metropolitan networks are currently being extensively deployed with distances ranging from a couple of ten’s kilometers to several hundred kilometers. 40 DWDM channels are commonly used; each of them is carrying today Ethernet or Fiber Channel traffics ranging from 1 to 10 Gb/s. This type of network requires achromatic components, for which the provider can fix the operating wavelength in order to have the same type of components in the consumer’s home. The DWDM sources could be based on a tunable laser source or on a selfseeded- reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) as recently proposed. In this last case, the RSOA is coupled to a mirror, located at a few kilometers in a central office. A frequency filter fixes the wavelength. The RSOA is then directly modulated at a few GHz. However even if a 100 GHz-wide filter is used, a much narrower slot of wavelengths is selected on the “red” side of the transmission window of the filter. This communication gives from a Green function approach the modal structure of an RSOA coupled to a long cavity with strong optical feedback and explains how such coupled structure is operating.