Optical Technique
The effect of upconversion on erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA)
Zhou Meng
Abstract
Erbium-doped fiber amplifier(EDFA)efficiency strongly depends on erbium concentration.Highly doped erbium devices show degraded performance when compared with low concentration ones.The mechanism of upconversion is studied and the effect of it on the performance of an EDFA is analyzed numerically,by means of a set of rate equations model.Approximate analytical solutions,for the rate equations,which include the effect of the upconversion,are presented,when the amplified spontaneous emission can be neglected,compared to the pump and signal powers.Results show that the pump and signal powers all bear degradation due to upconversion.,and the effect can't be neglected when the Er3+ concentration is larger than 2.95×1025 m-3.