Double-pass L-band EDFA with enhanced noise figure characteristics

A new double-pass long wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier with enhanced noise figure characteristics is demonstrated by adding a short length of forward pumped erbium-doped fiber (EDF) in front of a double-pass amplifier. Compared with the conventional double-pass amplifier, the new amplifier provides noise figure improvement of about 0.8 to 6.0 dB over the flat-gain region from 1568 to 1600 nm. Since the optical circulator prevents the amplified signal and backward amplified spontaneous emission from propagating into the EDF, the population inversion of the input part of the amplifier is hardly affected by the intense lights, therefore, the noise figure could be kept low. The new double-pass system has achieved a flat-gain output at about 33.5 dB, which is 13.5 dB higher than that of the single-pass system with gain variation less than 1.3 dB at the flat-gain region. The noise figure varies from 5.9 to 6.6 dB in this region.     

基于光纤环形镜的L-波段掺铒光纤放大器增益的提高

提出了一种基于光纤环形镜作为反射器的反射式L-波段掺铒光纤放大器(EDFA)结构。光纤环形镜不但可以反射后向放大自发辐射(ASE)作为二次抽运源，而且还可以反射信号，使信号得到二次放大。当抽运功率为115mW时。在1570～1605nm波长范围内，反射式L-波段掺铒光纤放大器的平坦小信号增益达到29．14dB，与前向抽运方式L-波段掺铒光纤放大器相比(保持平坦性不变)。增益提高了5．33dB。分别输入波长为1580nm和1600nm的信号，反射式L-波段掺铒光纤放大器的饱和输出功率为7．63和7．6dBm．与前向抽运方式L-波段掺铒光纤放大器相比分别提高了2．98和3dB。     

A low-noise L-band EDFA with a 1500-nm Raman-pumped dispersion-compensating fiber section

This report presents a low-noise L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) with a dispersion-compensating Raman amplifier. With an optimized prestage and 1500-nm Raman-pump laser diodes, the proposed EDFA achieved an internal noise figure of less than 4.5 dB over a 33-nm flat gain bandwidth within 0.5 dB at -2 dBm of large signal input power.     

Noise performance of erbium-doped fiber amplifier pumped at 1.49μm, and application to signal preamplification at 1.8 Gbit/s

Direct measurements of the noise figure of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier are described. With an amplifier gain as high as 36 dB, a noise figure as low as 4.1 dB was measured. Noise figures remained below 6 dB for signal wavelengths within the high gain (G>20 dB) region of the amplifier. An optical receiver sensitivity of -43 dBm at 1.8 Gb/s, corresponding to 215 photons/b, was achieved using the fiber amplifier as an optical preamplifier for a direct detection receiver     

Low-noise intelligent cladding-pumped L-band EDFA

We present results on a low-cost cladding-pumped L-band amplifier based on side pumping (GTWave) fiber technology and pumped by a single 980-nm multimode diode. We show that simultaneous noise reduction and transient suppression can be achieved by using gain clamping by a seed signal (/spl lambda/=1564 nm). In the gain-clamping regime, the amplifier exhibits 30-dB gain over 1570-1605-nm spectral band with noise figure below 7 dB. The noise figure can be further reduced to below 5 dB by utilizing a low power single-mode pump at 980 nm. The erbium-doped fiber amplifier is relatively insensitive to input signal variations with power excursions below 0.15 dB for a 10-dB channel add-drop.     

两段级联宽带碲基掺铒光纤放大器特性研究

利用四能级结构速率方程组和光功率传输方程组,研究了在碲基掺铒光纤(EDTF)中内插一个光隔离器、形成两段级联的碲基掺铒光纤放大器(EDTFA)后对EDTFA性能的改善.结果表明,在给定泵浦方式、泵浦功率、纤芯掺杂浓度和输入信号功率条件下,两段级联EDTFA可以有效的抑制光纤中反向传输放大自发辐射(ASE)噪声,降低反转粒子数的消耗,从而提高信号增益、输出功率,并且降低了噪声系数.对不同光纤长度和光隔离器内插在光纤中不同位置的研究表明,当光纤为最佳长度和光隔离器在最佳位置处时,可使短波长信号增益增加10 dB,噪声系数减小1 dB,并进一步增加了放大带宽以及功率转换效率.     

Study on noise characteristic of gain-clamped erbium-doped fiber-ring lasing amplifier

A simplified method to estimate the noise figure of the optically gain-clamped erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) is proposed. The simulation results indicate that the population inversion level at the signal input end dominates the noise performance of the entire amplifier. For a gain-clamped EDFA with ring-lasing configuration, the effects on the noise figure of the amplifier by the distributions of the pumping and lasing powers as well as the lasing wavelength are analyzed theoretically. The suggested noise-optimum configuration is co-pumping and co-traveling lasing oscillation at 1531 nm. Near quantum limit internal noise figure of 3.6 dB is achieved in the experiments under the best arrangement. The experiment results show perfect accordance with the theoretical analysis.     

Broad-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier with double-passconfiguration

We demonstrate a broad-band silica-based erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) with double-pass configuration. The signal gain and noise figure are obtained more than 24 dB and less than 6 dB, respectively, for 1526-1562 nm and 1569-1605 nm. The same signal gain can be achieved with 53% less pump power and 45% shorter erbium-doped fiber length, compared to a conventional parallel type EDFA. Furthermore, the noise figure and power conversion efficiency are improved for the wavelength range     

On the Temperature-Dependent Gain and Noise Figure Analysis of C-Band High-Concentration EDFAs With the Effect of Cooperative Upconversion

We present an efficient temperature-dependent analysis to study the effect of cooperative upconversion on the temperature-dependent gain (TDG) performance of the C-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) at high-concentration. The influence of cooperative upconversion on the TDG is examined by using a set of temperature-dependent rate and light propagation equations. In the analysis given, the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), as well as the excited state absorption (ESA) are also considered. In the forward pumping configuration at a signal wavelength of 1547 nm and in the temperature range of - 40degC to + 80degC, the variations of the TDG and the noise figure (NF) are about 1.7 and 0.9 dB, respectively. Numerical analysis results show that, with 260-mW/1480-nm pump power, an erbium-doped fiber amplifier having a doping concentration of 4.4 times 10²⁶ ion/m³ and optimum length of 9.2 cm may reach a signal gain of 44.6 dB and a noise figure of 3.9 dB at room temperature.     

Ultrawide-band La-codoped Bi/sub 2/O/sub 3/-based EDFA for L-band DWDM systems

The demonstration of a 253-cm-long lanthanum-codoped Bi/sub 2/O/sub 3/-based erbium-doped fiber which provides gain of greater than 20 dB and noise figure less than 6.7 dB to 142 dense wavelength-division-multiplexing channels simultaneously over an extended wavelength range of 58 nm from 1554 to 1612 nm is reported. The 3-dB (gain of 17-20 dB) bandwidth of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier is 54 nm when it is pumped with 350 mW of 1480-nm light. The power conversion efficiency of the fiber is about 54%.     

Gain clamping in two-stage L-band EDFA using a broadband FBG

A gain-clamped long wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (L-band EDFA) with an improved gain characteristic is demonstrated by simply adding a broadband conventional band (C-band) fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in a two-stage amplifier system. The FBG reflects backward C-band amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from the second stage back into the system to clamp the gain. The gain is clamped at about 22.4 dB with a gain variation below 0.4 dB for input signal powers of -40 to -15 dBm. Compared with an unclamped amplifier of similar noise figure values, the small signal gain has improved by 2.4 dB due to the FBG which blocks the backward propagating ASE. At wavelengths from 1570 to 1600 nm, gain of the clamped amplifier varies from 19.4 to 26.7 dB. The corresponding noise figure varies by /spl plusmn/0.35 dB around 5 dB, which is not much different compared to that of the unclamped amplifier.     

Laser diode pumped Er3+-doped fiber amplifier in a 565Mbit/s DPSK coherent transmission experiment

A laser-diode-pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifier, exhibiting 9-dB gain, has been operated as an in-line optical repeater in a 565-Mb/s coherent optical communications system. A sensitivity penalty of 0.4 dB was observed when the amplifier was positioned 35 dB away from the receiver, thus indicating a system improvement of 8.6 dB. By progressively reducing the coupling loss between amplifier and receiver, the noise figure of the contradirectionally pumped amplifier was calculated to be 5.4 dB, a value which is consistent with simple noise theory     

一种新型低噪声并联C+L波段掺铒光纤放大器

提出并论证了一种新的低噪声系数C+L波段掺铒光纤放大器的结构.在该结构中,利用一个前置放大器以减少噪声系数,并利用一个带有光纤布拉格光栅的双通结构以增加L波段增益,同时减少噪声系数.实验结果表明,新宽带放大器的噪声系数减小了约2 dB,并且在1 525～1 605 nm波长范围内,增益提高到了25 dB以上.     

反射式L波段掺铒光纤放大器增益与噪声指数改善

提出了一种改善反射式L波段掺铒光纤放大器增益和噪声指数的方法,即在放大器的输入端插入一泵浦源,通过提高信号输入端的粒子数反转率实现提高增益和降低噪声指数的目的.通过仔细调整两个泵浦源的输出功率,与单泵浦结构相比,在相同条件下,在1565～1615 nm波长范围内,小信号增益提高了1.5～9.9 dB,噪声指数下降了1.3～9.4 dB.     

A novel compensating light injection configuration for gain-clampedEDFA's

A novel compensating light injection configuration for gain-clamped erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA's) is proposed. The compensating light is backward injected from the end of the first stage of the amplifier and then reflected by a grating at the amplifier input end. Very wide input dynamic range (0.5 μW-500 μW) with less than 1 mW of compensating light and low noise penalty (<0.5 dB) is demonstrated     

Improved Automatic Filtered Power Control Pumping Method for Uniform Shortpass Band in Optical Fiber Communications

To form a low noise figure and uniform shortpass band in optical fiber communications an improved automatic filtered power control (AFPC) pumping method is proposed here. A modulated single laser signal was entered in a closed feedback loop, in which the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) was used as a part of the AFPC loop. Owing to the constant filtered signal and the quadrature phase shift delay inside the feedback loop, an optical pass band was uniformly formed. This EDFA attains high performance with a low noise figure simultaneously. The method was successfully applied to the fabrication of practical 12.0 m length of erbium-doped fiber pumped at 980 nm wavelength and 20 dBm power. Experiments prove that the signal gain of the loop remain flat in the range of 18.2 to 22.4 dB with a worst case error of ±0.5 dB and the noise figure was reduced by 2.2 dB at optimal, which correspond to a shortpass range of 40 nm band pass from 1525 nm to 1565 nm in wavelength. Of course, it should be possible to extent the system performance to all pumping configurations for semiconductor optical amplifiers. This provides the simplest and most economical way to transmit a well-defined band of modulated laser signal and to reject all other unwanted radiation.     

Reflection insensitive erbium-doped fiber amplifier

It is experimentally and theoretically examined how the insertion of an isolator within the erbium-doped fiber influences the sensitivity of the fiber amplifier to external reflections. We examined the EDFA in various regions of saturation, and compared the configuration with the isolator to the traditional configuration without an isolator. The most significant improvements were found in the small-signal region, where the requirements to reflections may be relaxed by as much as 13 dB. This, together with an improved gain and noise figure, makes the configuration with the isolator very attractive for preamplifier applications     

Improvement of gain and noise figure in double-pass L-band EDFA by incorporating a fiber Bragg grating

An obvious improvement on both the gain and noise figure (NF) is demonstrated in the new double-pass L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) with incorporating a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). Compared with the conventional L-band EDFAs, the gain is improved by about 6 dB in the new configuration for a 1580-nm signal with an input power of -30 dBm at 60 mW of 980-nm pump power. It is important that the NF is greatly reduced in the new configuration, as the FBG greatly compresses the backward amplified spontaneous emission. For the economical utility of pump power and erbium-doped fiber length, such a configuration may be a very competitive candidate in the practical applications of L-band EDFAs.     

Dispersion-compensating Raman/EDFA hybrid amplifier recycling residual Raman pump for efficiency enhancement

We experimentally demonstrate a novel concept of the dispersion-compensating Raman/erbium-doped fiber amplifier hybrid amplifier recycling residual Raman pump for increase of overall power conversion efficiency. The proposed dispersion-compensating hybrid amplifier system has only one pump source for Raman amplification in the dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF) and the residual pump power after the DCF is recycled for secondary signal amplification in an erbium-doped fiber cascaded to the DCF. Using the proposed scheme, we achieve the significant enhancement of both signal gain and effective gain-bandwidth by 15 dB (small signal gain) and 20 nm, respectively, compared to the performance of the Raman-only amplifier.     

Modeling of noise in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers in the saturatedregime

We have made a theoretical study of the noise figure of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers in the saturated regime. The noise figures of amplifiers subjected to specific gain and gain compression requirements were calculated for various amplifier lengths. The resulting noise figures together with the required pump and input signal powers map out all possible solutions given constraints on gain, compression, pump power, output signal power, and noise figure. In some cases, requirements on the output signal power prohibit any solutions. A way to solve this problem is the introduction of a post-amplifier loss. For this configuration, two possible solutions exist, which collapse into one solution at a certain critical loss, under which there exist no solutions. When the impact of amplified spontaneous emission is neglected in the model, only one solution is obtained, and the critical loss is much smaller than when the amplified spontaneous emission is included in the model. We conclude that amplified spontaneous emission generally has to be taken into account, even when the gain is as low as 10 dB, to accurately predict the noise performance of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers