Light chirp is a major issue in optical fiber links. This letter deals with precise characterizations of the frequency chirp parameters of reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers （RSOAs）. The RSOA chirp properties are represented by transient and adiabatic chirps, whose parameters are characterized utilizing a ratio between the phase and the amplitude modulation depths of the RSOA when modulated with sine waves. Utilizing a high-resolution optical spectrum analyzer, a RSOA linewidth enhancement factor a and an adiabatic factork are obtained experimentally, based on which the influence of chirp parameters on the transmission performance of non-return-to-zero （NRZ） signals can be analyzed.
By optimizing the gain configuration and length of the loop, a 90-tone optical frequency comb （OFC） is successfully generated based on recirculating frequency shifter structure. The peak-to-peak power fluctuation of the 90-tone OFC is 4.26 dB and the tone-to-noise ratio is higher than 19.17 dB. To further analyze the noise accumulation feature of the tones when travelling around the loop, linewidth of the tones is measured by delayed self-heterodyne interferometer structure. The result shows the linewidth of the tones deteriorates little during the recirculating process, indicating that the generated OFC is an ideal multi-wavelength source for high-speed communication svstems.
