Temporal and spectral properties of contra-propagating picosecond optical pulses in SOA

A useful analysis of contra-propagating optical pulses in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is presented. Pulse temporal and spectral evolutions are investigated by resolving coupled equations describing pulse field propagation and SOA gain dynamics. With reference to the case of single pulse propagation, collision between pulses tends to maintain a good time-bandwidth product of amplified pulse and could provide a temporal compression by about 10% compared to pulse’s initial width.