Abstract
A comparison has been done between the two cases when intraband effects are included and when they are excluded in the semiconductor optical amplifier model for propagating short pulses. The numerical investigation shows that the dependence of output pulse chirping and broadening on the amplifier gain, input pulse energy, and input pulsewidth becomes stronger on inclusion of intraband effects. To prove the experimental fact of pulsewidth dependency of the amplifier saturated gain for short pulses, it is compulsory to include intraband effects in the model. We prescribe here an expression for the saturation energy as a function of pulsewidth that correctly predicts the variation obtained numerically. (c) 2013 Optical Society of America