High performance 1.55 /spl mu/m polarisation-insensitive semiconductor optical amplifier based on low-tensile-strained bulk GaInAsP

High performance, polarisation-independent semiconductor optical amplifier based on low-tensile-strained separate confinement heterostructures and integrated with a double core taper have been realised. Fibre-to-fibre gain as large as 29 dB, with TE-TM polarisation sensitivity as low as 0.3 dB and an output saturation power of /spl sim/9 dBm are currently achieved.