Optical component based on semiconductor optical amplifiers comprising a reduced number of independent electrodes

摘要

Amplifier has electrode areas of varying resistivity determined by overlying contact layer. The semiconductor optical amplifier comprises a number of different regions offering the same vertical structure. An active waveguide (20) is embedded between upper and lower buffer regions. These buffer regions each have upper and lower electrodes (10, E2, E4) in order to inject into this region equal or different current density values. At least one (10) of the electrodes covers several regions and offers a distributed resistivity which is adjusted according to the region in question. The upper electrodes (10, E2, E4) are formed from a contact layer (24) on which a metrication layer is deposited. The transverse resistivity of the electrode which is common to several regions is adjusted by locally interrupting the contact layer.