الفهرس 
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Abstract
The promised design of purely optical communication network has prompted a keen interest in the study of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), which nowadays play a critical role in the telecommunication revolution. This thesis is devoted to the development of a steady state numerical model that is capable of foretelling the performance of the SOA. Using this model, an investigation of different semiconductor materials suitable for acting as active regions in SOAs is carried out and, based on the obtained results; recommendations are made for the optimum selection of such a material. The performance characteristics that have been tested covered a wide range of parameters that included: the material gain coefficient, the spatial distribution of the carrier density, the signal and the spontaneous photon rates, the fiber-to-fiber gain, the transmitted signal and the total amplified spontaneous emission ASE output power dependence on the input power, the saturation output power, the SOA output spectrum and the effect of the bias current on the total ASE output power and the fiber-to-fiber gain. Firstly, this work presents a new approach to solve the differential equations that manage the spatial dependence of the input signal and the spontaneous emission along the whole amplifier, and a precise equation to normalize the noise photons. Then, a published flow-chart, with some modifications, is used to maintain the steady state operation of the SOA. Finally, a complete investigation of four different active regions that may operate in either the second or the third telecommunication window has been covered. Recommendations of the selection or rejection of any of the tested material is based on the figures of merit deduced from the variety of working plots that constitute the main part of our numerical model’s output.