Operation of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and lasers pumped withfrequency-doubled Nd:YAG lasers

An optical amplifier consisting of an erbium-doped germanosilicate fiber optically pumped at 532 nm is described. Negligible excited-state absorption at 532 nm allows efficient pumping, enabling a gain of 34 dB at 1536 nm to be obtained for only 25 mW of pump power. The pulsed pump source produces negligible noise on the small signal if the pump repetition rate is above 10 kHz. Pulsed laser operation is achieved by pumping a Fabry-Perot erbium-doped fiber laser with a frequency-doubled Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Pulses of 0.9-W peak power and 280-ns duration at 1.538-μm were obtained     

Localization of telencephalic regions concerned with habituation of cardiac and ventilatory responses associated with arousal in the goldfish (Carassius auratus).

54 goldfish were presented with a light-on stimulus at 2-min intervals, and their cardiac and ventilatory responses were monitored. Normal Ss, Ss with sham operations for telencephalic lesions, and Ss with bilateral electrolytic lesions of the telencephalon (anterior commissural and posterior telencephalic groups) were compared for responsiveness and habituation to regularly presented stimuli. There was no evident difference in responsiveness between the 4 groups, although 3 Ss with lesions in the regions ventralis pars dorsalis and ventralis pars ventralis gave fright responses to novel stimuli. Lesions in posterior telencephalic regions dorsalis pars centralis and ventralis pars intermedialis and at the telencephalic/diencephalic border close to the habenula caused significant impairment of habituation. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Noise characteristics of erbium-doped fiber amplifier pumped at 980nm

A noise figure of 2.9±0.4 dB, measured in a high-gain erbium-doped fiber amplifier for input signals in the range -35 to -15 dBm and for pump powers of >5.8 mW, is discussed. The spontaneous emission factor n_sp was 0.99±0.09 for input signals less than -15 dBm. These low figures are attributable to the optimized fiber design and the use of a pump wavelength of 980 nm, at which erbium operates as a true three-level system. These two factors contribute to the very low (~500 μW) pump threshold seen in fiber, which permits nearly complete inversion to be achieved for the low pump powers employed     

Sustained potential shifts in the toad tectum reflect prey-catching and avoidance behavior.

Sustained potential shifts (SPS) were recorded for 10 sec from the surface of the optic tectum of toads presented with live prey and moving artificial prey stimuli. On the anterior tectal surface, a negative SPS was followed by a positive wave; the converse was true for the posterior tectum. Some animals were immobilized, and they exhibited a monophasic negative SPS in the anterior tectum and a positive wave in more posterior regions. The number of orienting responses made by toads to moving "wormlike" stimuli was reflected in the amplitude of the SPS, as was avoidance to stimuli in an "antiworm" configuration. Behavioral activity was most closely related to the negativity of the SPS recording. The SPS of toads responding to live prey showed no direct time relationship between the SPS and behavior, suggesting that the SPS reflects sensory or decision-making activity rather than the consequent behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of 40 Gb/s TDM-transmission over embedded standard fiberemploying chirped fiber grating dispersion compensators

Nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ)- and return-to-zero (RZ)-transmission formats are investigated for 1.55 μm 40 Gb/s fiber grating dispersion compensated standard fiber transmission. The RZ-format is shown to give a twofold increase in transmission distance compared with the conventional NRZ-format. In addition, a larger power margin is obtained at the expense of a reduced dispersion tolerance. System guidelines are proposed relating the pulse width, equalizer spacing, input power and maximum transmission distance. The results are compared with prior theoretical works at 40 Gb/s using equalizer fiber and optical phase conjugation     

All fiber 2/spl times/2 polarization insensitive switch

We report the development of a polarization insensitive all fiber 2/spl times/2 acoustooptic switch based on twisting the waist of a null taper coupler. The polarization insensitivity is better than 0.2 dB, the device requires a drive power of <1 mW, and exhibits a switching time of <50 /spl mu/s and insertion loss of 0.1 dB.     

Dysprosium doped Ga:La:S glass for an efficient optical fibreamplifier operating at 1.3 μm

The authors present experimental results which indicate that a Dy ³⁺-doped Ga:La:S glass fibre amplifier may be operated efficiently at 1.3 μm with an optimum device length significantly shorter than a comparable Pr³⁺-doped glass fibre amplifier. Moreover, the efficiency exceeds that obtained from the Pr³⁺-doped ZBLAN devices currently available     

Rayleigh scattering effect on the gain efficiency and noise oferbium-doped fiber amplifiers

The effect of the internal Rayleigh scattering on the gain efficiency and noise of the erbium-doped fiber amplifier has been considered in detail. It is shown that excess background loss due to Rayleigh scattering at the signal and pump wavelengths dramatically reduces the optimum gain efficiency of either high NA, low-concentration or confined-dopant erbium-doped fibers. Distributed feedback due to Rayleigh backscattering, on the other hand, degrades the noise performance of high gain amplifiers considerably. In applications where high gain and low noise figure are required, increasing the fiber NA and dopant confinement above an optimum value are shown to increase the required pump power dramatically due to the deleterious effects of Rayleigh backscattering     

High-performance optical fiber polarizers based on long-period gratings in birefringent optical fibers

We have demonstrated the feasibility of achieving high-performance fiber polarizers (insertion loss <0.5 dB, extinction ratio >30 dB), based on polarization mode dispersion in a long-period grating. Chirped operation with 100-nm bandwidth has also been achieved, showing the possibility of a broad-band device.