Calculation of multicarrier intermodulation distortion in semiconductor optical amplifiers

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Abstract
We calculate the level of intermodulation distortion (IMD) produced by an arbitrary number of constant-amplitude carriers passing through an optical amplifier and also present an analytic upper bound on this distortion. For a total output intensity that is 0.1 times the amplifier saturation intensity, the composite IMD can be severe (7–20 dBc) unless a large channel separation (>1 GHz) is maintained.