The parameters of an encapsulated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) are obtained by a proper extraction algorithm using a technique based both on measurements and modeling. The theoretical model is based on rate equations and the experiments use continuous wave optical gain curves measured for different injected currents and optical input powers. The algorithm analyses the derivatives of the gain curves in relation to the longitudinal SOA dimension. After the parameters extraction procedure, a good accuracy is achieved for the SOA operating as a high frequency carrier modulated optical amplifier. © Springer-Verlag 2004.3124 717726Sun, Y., Srivastava, A.K., Banerjee, S., Sulhoff, J.W., Pan, R., Kantor, K., Jopson, R.M., Chraplyvy, A.R., Error-free transmission of 32 × 2.5Gbit/s DWDM channels over 125km using cascaded in-line semiconductor optical amplifiers (1999) Electron. Lett., 35, pp. 1863-1865Van Thourhout, D., Bemasconi, P., Miller, B., Yang, W., Zhang, L., Sauer, N., Stulz, L., Cabot, S., Novel Geometry for an Integrated Channel Selector (2002) IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron., 8, pp. 1211-1214Takesue, H., Sugie, T., Wavelength Channel Data Rewrite Using Saturated SOA Modulator for WDM Networks with Centralized Light Sources (2003) J. Lightwave Technol., 21, pp. 2546-2556Morikuni, J.J., Kang, S.-M., (1997) Computer-Aided Design of Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits and Systems, , SPIE Optical Engineering PressAgrawal, G.P., Olsson, N.A., Self-Phase Modulation and Spectral Broadening of Optical Pulses in Semiconductor Laser Amplifiers (1989) J. Quantum Electr., 25, pp. 2297-2306Agrawal, G.P., Dutta, N.K., (1993) Semiconductor Lasers, , Van Nostrand ReinholdCartledge, J.C., Srinivasan, R.C., Extraction of DFB Laser Rate Equation Parameters for System Simulation Purposes (1997) J. Lightwave Technol., 15, pp. 852-860Gallep, C.M., Conforti, E., Custodio, J.B.P., Bordonalli, A.C., Ho, S.H., Kang, S.-M., SOASim: A Simulator for Semiconductor Optical Amplifier with Feed Gain Control (1999) Proceedings Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference, 1999, pp. 386-390. , SBMO/IEEE MTT-S, APS and LEOS - IMOC '99, 9-12 AugConforti, E., Gallep, C.M., Bordonalli, A.C., Kang, S.-M., Optical Regeneration Using Feed-Forward Semiconductor Optical Amplifier with Chirp Controlled Filtering (2001) Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, 30, pp. 438-442Gallep, C.M., Conforti, E., Simulations on Picosecond Non-Linear Electro-Optic Switching Using an ASE-calibrated Optical Amplifier Model (2004) Optics Communication, 236 (1-3), pp. 131-139Ghafouri-Shiraz, H., (1996) Fundamentals of Laser Diode Amplifiers, , John Willey & SonsConforti, E., Gallep, C.M., Bordonalli, A.C., Decreasing Electro-Optic Switching Time in Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers by Using Pre-Pulse Induced Chirp Filtering (2003) TOPS 92, 92, pp. 111-116. , Mørk, J., Srivastava, A. (eds.): Optical Amplifiers and Their Applications 2003, Optical Society of America