When the signal repetition time of a transmission system is comparable to the carrier lifetime of an amplifier, the dynamic gain of the amplifier will be different from the static gain of the same device, and the gain experienced by each individual signal pulse will be different from each other and dependent on its foregoing signals. If several amplifiers are used in series, the amplitude difference between the amplified pulses will be enhanced. As a result, the reliability of the communication system will be degraded and the number of the on-line optical amplifiers will be limited. Employing the rate equations, we have investigated the dynamic response of travelling-wave semiconductor laser amplifier (TWAs) to pulse-coded signal streams.