Optically amplified first window systems experiments

A diode pumped, commercially packaged, thulium doped fluoride fiber amplifier (TDFFA) operating in the region of 0.8 μm has been characterized. The unit is capable of producing large small signal gains, low noise figures and high saturated output powers. A power amplifier slope efficiency of 62% has been achieved at 810 nm. The same TDFFA unit was used in a series of systems experiments, at data rates of 310 Mb/s and 1.2 Gb/s, in the first telecommunications window. The results of this work indicate that data can be transmitted over ≈10 km lengths of both singlemode and standard transmission fiber, while still allowing significant margin to split the signal to a number of customers. The application of the TDFFA could therefore have significant benefit for future LAN/MAN type systems architectures involving large signal splits to customer's premises