Semiconductor optical amplifiers in WDM star networks

The placement of optical amplifiers in WDM star fibre-optic networks has been considered. Both postamplifier and preamplifier configurations have been investigated. The number of users supported by the topology has been obtained when reflection noise and amplifier gain saturation (cross-saturation) are present. The effect of extinction ratio has also been considered. In general the analysis shows that the preamplifier arrangement is better than that of the postamplifier.