9221651 Potasek The understanding of solid state devices and their interaction with optical fiber components is of importance in both solid-state physics and communications. Electroabsorption modulators made with bulk III-V semiconductors or multiple quantum well (MQW) are becoming important devices for encoding information in high-speed lightwave systems. Important issues remain to be resolved regarding their operation at high optical power, their integration with single-frequency lasers, and the effect of chirp on long-distance, high-speed fiber transmission for conventional and soliton systems. A study of the dynamic effects of the saturation of modulators is important for future applications of these devices, since most applications require the devices to operate at both high speed and high optical intensity. Additionally, we plan to study the effects of high input intensity of the modulator chirp since, for the most applications in fiber optic communications systems, especially when erbium-doped optical fiber amplifiers are used, it is important that the modulator operate with low chirp. ***
