Travelling wave amplifier (TWA) for driving optical modulator

摘要

A travelling wave amplifier (TWA) with a widened frequency bandwidth is disclosed. The TWA include input transmission lines, amplifier units connected in parallel between the input terminal and the out terminal of the TWA. Each of the amplifier units configures an emitter follower in the front end thereof and an amplifying section. A feature of the TWA is that compensation units that compensates the high frequency performance of the TWA are implemented in the input transmission lines and/or integrated with the amplifier units.

主权项

1. A travelling wave amplifier (TWA), comprising:
an input terminal configured to externally receive an input signal; an output terminal configured to externally output an output signal; a number of input transmission lines connected in series to each other with an end connected to the input terminal, the input transmission lines being configured to transmit the input signal from the input terminal; a number of amplifier units including respective emitter followers, amplifier sections, input compensators and input ports, the emitter followers receiving the input signal through the input transmission lines, the amplifier sections outputting amplified signals; a number of output transmission lines connected in series to each other with an end connected to the output terminal, the output transmission lines being configured to transmit the amplified signals output from the respective amplifier units, the output signal being a sum of the amplified signals; and a number of compensation units provided in the respective input transmission lines, the compensation units being connected in parallel to the amplifier units and integrated within the amplifier units, the compensation units compensating for frequency responses of the emitter followers to which the compensation units are connected, wherein the input compensators in the amplifier units are put between the compensation units and the input ports, and wherein the input compensators include resistors connected in series to the compensation units, the emitter followers receiving the input signal divided by the respective resistors in the input compensators and the compensation units.