Bit error rate reduction by power shaping in WDM networks with EDFAs

The trend in multi-wavelength optical networks is toward dynamic route and wavelength assignment to support burst-switching or packet switching. Where erbium-doped optical amplifiers (EDFAs) are used for multi-wavelength amplifications, the time interval between traffic blocks can be long enough to induce EDFA optical power transients created by abrupt changes in the average input power to the EDFAs and can adversely affect the performance of the network. To mitigate the effects of EDFA optical power transients on optical networks, a method based on power shaping where heads and tails are joined to the beginning and end of a traffic block is proposed. A head (tail) gradually increases (decreases) the channel power by employing a pseudo-random bit sequence in which the probability of a “1” (“0”) increases from 0 to 0.5. This paper reports experimental results showing that EDFA optical power transients can be significantly reduced with adequate shaping periods. The effects of alternative shaping profiles are examined, and for a linear shaping profile, experiments show that the drop transient deviation is reduced by 0.5 dB while the add transient deviation is reduced by 0.71 dB. We show by lab experiments that the bit error rate induced by wavelength add-drop transients in a chain of EDFAs in an emulated fiber network can be reduced by 25% using power shaping techniques. Power shaping is an economical means of suppressing EDFA optical power transients compared to other physical layer approaches that require the addition of specialized components and can be applied to EDFAs as well as other solid-state and Raman optical amplifiers.     

Methods for Stabilizing the Gain of EDFAs in Burst Switching Optical Networks

Transmitting optical bursts through a chain of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) results in dynamic gain changes, which in turn lead to possibly large variations in output power of the data channels. There are many proposals how to control these optical amplifiers in order to minimize or eliminate the power variations. In this paper, we investigate the gain dynamics in a burst switching environment experimentally and numerically. With a categorization of gain control schemes we review the state of the art and discuss advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches particularly with regard to burst switching networks. A comparison of the performance of these methods is given. In our opinion there are two preferences, one for the scheme using electronic feedback on the EDFA's pump power, because of good performance, and another for schemes controlling whole links of EDFA cascades by an extra control channel, because of lower costs.     

All-Optical AGC of EDFA Based on SOA

We propose a novel all-optical method for automatic gain controlling of transients in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based negative feedback loop for adjusting the EDFA pump power. A dynamic model for the EDFA-SOA system is developed and used for numerical simulation of the transient behavior of this system. Simulation results for EDFA-SOA performance of the proposed method are presented. It is shown that using this method, it is possible to significantly reduce the transient effects, without producing power oscillations on the surviving channels     

Output power excursions in a cascade of EDFAs fed by multichannelburst-mode packet traffic: experimentation and modeling

A serious problem facing wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) networks with fiber amplifier cascades is transient cross-gain saturation or gain dynamics of fiber amplifiers. Attention has been focused primarily on circuit-switched scenarios. When the number of WDM channels transmitted through a circuit-switching network varies, channel addition/removal will tend to perturb signals at the surviving channels that share all or part of the route. Even more serious bit error rate deterioration can arise in WDM packet switched burst mode networks. In this paper, we present experimental and theoretical results demonstrating the effect of fast power transients in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) on packetized traffic transmitted through a chain of five EDFAs. Traffic of a local-area network has been transmitted over three channels. The effect of EDFA cross-gain saturation due to the burstiness of the traffic has been observed in a continuous-wave monitoring channel. The stabilizing effect of gain clamping of the first EDFA in the cascade has been investigated. The experimental results are extended to eight-channel WDM system using a large signal numerical analysis     

An EDFA gain control and power monitoring scheme for fault detection in WDM networks by employing a power-stabilized control channel

Schemes are proposed for the highly reliable gain control of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) and for power monitoring to detect faults in wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) networks. These schemes employ one WDM channel (a control channel). The EDFA gain and output power levels are controlled by monitoring the control channel power that is automatically controlled and stabilized in the node. This prevents the uncontrolled EDFA operation that might result from any serious change in the control channel power. The use of a power stabilized control channel for power monitoring makes it possible to detect transmission system faults correctly because the monitoring of the control channel power is unaffected by the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) generated in the EDFA. We also report experimental results on the dependence of the transient response of the EDFA gain and output power on the signal channel power and channel number input into the EDFA, when the power of the control channel changes due to problems with its light source. Numerical calculation of the gain transience explains the experimental results.     

Output power and SNR swings in cascades of EDFAs for circuit- andpacket-switched optical networks

A simple dynamic model of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) that includes self-saturation by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) is used to analyze the power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) transients in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical networks in which signals cross chains of EDFAs from source to destination. The model, which consists of solving sequentially one ordinary differential equation per amplifier, is used to (1) determine power and SNR excursions in the surviving channels along a chain of 35 EDFAs during isolated add-drop events in a 16-channel WDM circuit switching scenario and (2) run Monte Carlo simulations of the first five EDFAs of the same chain fed by burst-mode packet switching traffic on each of the 16 channels. Each packet source is modeled as an ON-OFF asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) source, with ON and OFF times having a heavy-tailed Pareto distribution. The aggregate source model is asymptotically self-similar, and well describes multimedia packet communications. The results are used to examine the influence of average network utilization and source ON-OFF time variance on the probability density function of signal power and SNR at each EDFA output. We demonstrate that self-similar traffic generates sizable power and SNR swings, especially at low network utilization. The simulations also indicate sizable broadening of the power and SNR density functions along the cascade of EDFAs, reaching levels in excess of 9 dBm and 4 dB for the power and SNR swings, respectively, at the 5th EDFA. The effect becomes more pronounced for longer EDFA chains. Such a large broadening may imply serious system impairments in burst-mode WDM packet networks     

Effective suppression of signal-wavelength dependent transients in a pump-controlled L-band EDFA

Typical pump-controlled L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) in a feed-forward scheme give significant transients due to gain difference on wavelength of input signal when only a few channels are left. The fiber Bragg grating added pump-controlled L-band EDFA eliminates the wavelength dependent gain difference and transients.     

Gain transient control for wavelength division multiplexed access networks using semiconductor optical amplifiers

Gain transients can severely hamper the upstream network performance in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) access networks featuring erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) or Raman amplification. We experimentally demonstrate for the first time using 10 Gb/s fiber transmission bit error rate measurements how a near-saturated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) can be used to control these gain transients. An SOA is shown to reduce the penalty of transients originating in an EDFA from 2.3 dB to 0.2 dB for 10 Gb/s transmission over standard single mode fiber using a 2³¹–1 PRBS pattern. The results suggest that a single SOA integrated within a WDM receiver at the metro node could offer a convenient all-optical solution for upstream transient control in WDM access networks.     

几种新型的掺铒光纤放大器

概述了近年来掺铒光纤放大器 (EDFA)的技术发展 ,着重介绍了单泵两级 EDFA、远泵浦 EDFA、增益均衡或增益锁定 EDFA三种新颖的原理结构 ,为未来实用的优化 EDFA提供一些参考。     

A study of green wavelength-division multiplexed optical communication systems using cascaded fiber bragg grating

This paper studies the performance analysis of wavelength-division multiplexed optical communication systems (WDM). First, flat-gain erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are seriously needed to obtain proper and equal amplification of all channels. Such amplifiers can be designed by intrinsically modifying the host material or extrinsically using proper filters. In this research, we benefit from both the intrinsic and extrinsic methods to achieve sharp flat EDFA output gain using cascaded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). Second, the performance of our technique has been evaluated through calculating the bit error rate (BER) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a WDM system embedded with the reported EDFA flattening system. The parametric simulations of the FWHM of FBGs, SNR, optical power and the transmission distance have shown a noticeable improved performance. Sending data via an optical WDM system will be proven from comprehensive simulations to achieve high quality signal transmission spectrums, increased transmission distances and low power consumption. By extension, the reported design using cascaded FBGs can also be generalized to equalize the gain of any arbitrary profile.     

Experimental and theoretical analysis of relaxation-oscillationsand spectral hole burning effects in all-optical gain-clamped EDFA's forWDM networks

Experimental and theoretical analysis of the gain dynamics of all-optically stabilized multichannel erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and the impact on wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) networks performance requirements is presented. In particular, we focus on precise analysis of the detailed transient response of the surviving channel and the relaxation oscillations of the compensating (lasing) signal. The main objective of this work is to experimentally and theoretically analyze and examine some of the critical factors such as, lasing wavelength, gain recovery time, relaxation oscillation frequency of the feedback loop, and the number of channels dropped/added, that affect the transient power excursions in the surviving channel. First, we consider the applicability of laser automatic gain control (AGC) to control fast power transients in WDM optical networks and reports the first high resolution measurements of transients in such gain controlled EDFAs. Second, the experimental results are compared with those predicted from a numerical simulation of the dynamic of the gain controlled EDFA     

A broadcast-and-select OADM optical network with dedicated optical-channel protection

A metro-area optical-ring network based on a novel optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) architecture using a wavelength blocker is proposed. We demonstrate experimentally the performance of the OADM and capability of optical channel dedicated protection in a two-fiber ring network with 24/spl times/10 Gb/s dense wavelength division multiplexing traffic capacity. The channel-by-channel optical protection of the network is enabled by using a liquid crystal-based wavelength-selective switch as the protection switch and erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) with fast transient-gain control. The bit-error rate performance of the network is studied for the normal operation and for the transition to the protection state from a failure. The network protection for all channels is provided within 5 ms on a cable-cut failure. Importance of transient-gain control during protection switching to reduce the network transients is also discussed.     

Pump wavelength-dependent spectral-hole burning in EDFAs

Gain-difference spectra are used to show that 980-nm band pump wavelength changes can significantly effect spectral-hole burning (SHB) in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Gain measurements made using a number of different signal and pump wavelengths help to characterize the underlying inhomogeneous spectral properties of EDFAs and a framework for modeling these effects is presented. Despite the difficulty of obtaining the needed subpopulation specific cross section spectra, this model can be used to explain seemingly anomalous changes in the gain spectra of EDFA as a result of changes in signal or pump wavelength     

Analysis of optical gain enhanced erbium-doped fiber amplifiersusing optical filters

Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) with enhanced optical gain obtained by incorporating narrow-bandpass optical filters into the amplifier length are studied. It is shown in theory that it is possible to increase optical gain by more than 10 dB for optical signals around the wavelength of 1.55 μm, compared with conventional EDFAs without filters. It is also shown that the gain improvement at longer wavelengths away from the amplifier gain peak is much higher than that of the EDFA with an optical isolator within the amplifier length. The optimum filter position is found to be around 42% of the total amplifier length from the input end. The effects of filter insertion loss and pump loss are discussed. This amplifier can be used as an optical preamplifier in a receiver for a wide range of wavelengths     

Modeling, measurement, and a simple analytic approximation for the return loss of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

When fiber-optic systems contain erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA), reflections are enhanced by the gain of the amplifiers and can degrade system performance. We present a simple approximate analytic expression for the return loss of pumped EDFAs, with and without discrete reflections that applies at both the signal and pump wavelengths. A novel return loss measurement test set is used to verify the validity of this expression for a particular EDFA design. Using a computer simulation, the return loss is computed as a function of EDFA design to assess the range of validity of the approximate expression. The expression serves as an easy way to chain amplifiers and accurately predict the effects of reflections in long systems.     

Simplified modeling of transients in gain-clamped erbium-dopedfiber amplifiers

A simple technique for modeling transients in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) has been applied to a gain-clamped amplifier. Integration of the variables along the length of the amplifier allows the formulation of the problem as a single simple, ordinary, time-dependent differential equation. We demonstrate examples for a typical conventional EDFA and one in which internal out-of-band oscillation is used to clamp the gain     

用增益钳制法观察烧孔效应

掺铒光纤放大器(EDFA)的烧孔效应(SHB)是导致放大器增益不平坦主要因素，进而影响长距离波分复用(wDM)光纤传输系统的性能。与此同时，对于EDFA的非均匀加宽作用的物理学研究并不成熟，所提出的几个理论模型也只是从经验和统计方面对SHB在一定程度上进行分析。为此，我们首次提出了利用放大器恒定增益控制来研究SHB的实验方法，分析了室温下1530～1564nm波长范围内SHB的深度、宽度与饱和信号波长的关系，以及SHB的深度与饱和信号功率的关系。     

应用相敏光放大器抑制光孤子互作用的研究

通过计算机系统仿真研究了应用相敏光放大器(PSA)作为在线放大器抑制光孤子传输系统中孤子间的互作用，并与相应的掺铒光纤放大器(EDFA)光孤子系统进行比较。仿真中考虑了平均孤子和动态孤子两种传输方案。结果表明，应用相敏光放大器代替掺铒光纤放大器作为在线放大器能有效地抑制孤子系统中脉冲的展宽和孤子间的互作用。对于平均孤子，在没有附加其他孤子控制措施的情况下，相敏光放大器系统中孤子间互作用得到有效的抑制，孤子对稳定传输距离得到极大的延长。对动态孤子，相敏光放大器亦表现出良好的抑制孤子间互作用的效果，但孤子脉冲的幅度经长距离传输后显著下降。     

Soliton transmission in telecommunication networks

Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers are a major breakthrough for soliton communication. Most of the difficult problems preventing soliton communication recently were solved using erbium-doped optical fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Progress in optical soliton communication has been very rapid, since the invention of the 1.48 μm laser diode pumped EDFA, mainly because of its great potential for high-speed communication. This article describes how optical soliton communication has been established, together with the recently developed "soliton control" technique     

Evaluation of the 800 nm pump band for erbium-doped fiberamplifiers

Performs a comprehensive experimental and theoretical investigation of methods for overcoming the excited-state absorption (ESA), which is the main obstacle to efficient pumping of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) at 800 nm. The effects of ESA on gain can be reduced at the cost of an additional noise penalty by adopting bidirectional pumping or by pumping in the long-wavelength tail of the ground-state absorption (GSA) band. The GSA and ESA cross-section spectra on the glass host material. One of the most promising hosts, fluorophosphate, is compared to Al/P silica in a detailed analysis based on a quantitative numerical model. It is predicted that 2-3 dB less pump power is required for the fluorophosphate EDFA. For Al/P-silica EDFAs, it is found that ~7-dB-higher power is required when pumping in the 800 nm band than for pumping at 980 and 1480 nm