Performance tolerance analysis of birefringent fiber loop for semiconductor optical amplifier pattern effect suppression

In this paper, we analyze the performance of the birefringent fiber loop (BFL) when the settings of the components that construct this module are not perfect. The BFL is employed for suppressing the pattern effect on directly amplified data in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The analysis is conducted by describing the non-optimum BFL transmission response using Jones matrix method. This allows to formulate a comprehensive model, which is validated by comparing it to the experiment. Then we investigate and specify how sensitive the BFL is to imperfections of its building components by assessing its performance against the output amplitude modulation, power penalty, and crosstalk. For each critical operating parameter, we derive the tolerance range within which these performance metrics are acceptable. The obtained results suggest that the BFL can efficiently mitigate the SOA pattern effect even if it is built from non-ideal components. This can be achieved provided that these components are designed according to their extracted operating conditions, which are practically satisfiable.