Gain performances of 980 nm-pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

Zhongyong Liu, Z.J. Wu, G. Xia +2 more

Yu. A. Varaksa, George V. Sinitsyn, Mikhail A. Khodasevich

Michael J. Yadlowsky, Leslie J. Button

Summary form only given. Recently it has been shown that small changes in pump wavelength within the 980-nm pump band change the shape of the gain spectrum of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). These gain variations can be as large as 3 dB in a typical line amplifier and cannot be explained by the well known homogeneous model for EDFAs. Pump-induced gain changes must be accounted for in multiwavelength amplifiers and systems operating over the pump-wavelength-sensitive short-wavelength portion of the erbium gain band. In this paper, we compare the impact of pump-mediated inhomogeneities on the gain spectra of EDFAs pumped in the 1480- and 980-nm pump bands. We find that the shape of the EDFA gain spectrum is less affected by changes in pump wavelength in the 1480-nm band, and show that in both cases the dynamic gain tilt function (DGTF) is relatively insensitive to changes in pump wavelength. The latter indicates that inversion-induced gain changes can be predicted from a (measured) DGTF despite pump band and some signal band inhomogeneities. We present fluorescence line narrowing measurements that explain these results and suggest a physical mechanism for 980-nm band pump-mediated inhomogeneities.

Nobuaki Takahashi, Haruaki Akashi, Tai Sasaki

B. Pedersen, Stanley A. Zemon, William J. Miniscalco

The performance and efficiency of erbium-doped fibers pumped in the 800-nm band has been analyzed using a quantitative amplifier model. Both a silica and a fluorophosphate host were investigated. The analysis showed that under optimized conditions the fluorophosphate is superior to the silica with higher gain and up to 60% higher quantum conversion efficiency. Only with respect to noise figure is the fluorophosphate poorer because of the shorter lifetime of the metastable state.

Frands B. Pedersen, Stanley A. Zemon, William J. Miniscalco

The performance and efficiency of erbium-doped fibers pumped in the 800-nm band has been analyzed using a quantitative amplifier model. Both a silica and a fluorophosphate host were investigated. The analysis showed that under optimized conditions the fluorophosphate is superior to the silica with higher gain and up to 60 % higher quantum conversion efficiency. Only with respect to noise figure is the fluorophosphate poorer, because of the shorter lifetime of the metastable state.