
Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) are electrically pumped semiconductor devices that provide optical gain in a travelling‑wave configuration. They operate similarly to laser diodes but use antireflection (AR) coatings and angled or curved waveguides to suppress cavity feedback. Light is amplified in the singlemode waveguide with strong overlap between the guided mode and the carrier‑injected active region.
Typical telecom SOAs operate at O-band (around 1310nm) and C-Band (around 1550nm) and can provide up to ~30 dB gain, limited by ASE and strong gain saturation. Saturation and carrier‑induced refractive index changes also enable nonlinear functions such as wavelength conversion.
Ultra-High Power SOAs
SemiNex’ Ultra-High Power O-band SOA technology is built on their advanced and proprietary epi and optical waveguide structures which allow maximum output powers in excess of 30dBm (1 Watt) saturation output power whilst maintaining greater than 25% Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) at 50°C.
This exciting technology is the foundation for high speed and high data throughput co-packaged optics (CPO); Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits (Si PICs); and External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable (ELSFP) high density photonic engines in next-generation AI data centre infrastructure and high-performance computing.
The power levels available are also ideal for Frequency Modulation Continuous Wave (FMCW) LiDAR applications, increasing range to >250m in all weather and lighting conditions.
We offer SOAs from SemiNex with 80nm gain bandwidth centred on 1310nm:-
For more information on SemiNex' 1310nm SOAs and their full range of SOA and RSOA solutions please Contact Us to discuss your application and learn about the latest developments.





