An effective numerical method for gain profile optimizations of multi pumped fiber Raman amplifiers

In this paper, we have solved propagation equations of multi-pump fiber Raman amplifier using Runge–Kutta (RK 4th order) numerical method and pump power evolutions along with the fiber length. They are used to calculate the net gain and gain ripple by varying the input signals powers for different fiber lengths. The pump powers are optimized by genetic algorithm and resulting net gain and gain ripple are reported graphically as well as in tabular form. The optimum minimum gain ripple is 0.26 dB for 1 mW input signal powers for 50 km fiber length. By increasing the fiber length gain ripple increases to 0.5 dB for 0.1 mW input signal power. In comparison to other methods reported in the literature, our method is simple to implement and efficient for numerical design of Raman amplification in optical communication systems.     

Construction of a photon drag detector for evaluating the performance of a CO2 laser amplifier

In this article, the construction of P-type germanium (Ge) photon drag detector which is used to characterize the gain and output powers of a 10 W CO₂ laser and a CO₂ laser amplifier is described. Gain and laser amplifier output power versus laser input power measurements collected at 4.7 mbar and 12.0 mbar amplifier tube pressures are discussed. Moreover, measurements relating the CO₂ laser output power to the laser tube discharge current are provided at 6.9 mbar and 7.3 mbar tube pressures.     

Noise figure and gain temperature dependent of praseodymium-doped fiber amplifier by using rate equations

A theoretical study of the temperature dependent noise effects of praseodymium-doped fiber amplifiers (PEDFAs) has been examined. The Pr³⁺-doped ZBLAN fiber amplifier pumped at 1017 nm and Pr³⁺-doped GeGa-sulfied fiber amplifier pumped at 1028 nm are chosen. The temperature-dependent rate and propagation equation related to four-level system consideration which is based on the population difference among amplification levels has been used. The population difference depends on pump and signal powers, Boltzman factor K_B, cross-sections, noise figure (NF) and Pr³⁺ concentration. The numerical results obtained over the temperature range from −20 °C to + 60 °C are used to present an analytical expression for the signal gain and noise figure effects in PDFAs length and noise figure with input pump power. The amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) has been taken into account.     

Quantitative analysis of optical power budget of bismuth oxide-based erbium-doped fiber

We investigated optical power budget of Bi₂O₃-based erbium-doped fiber (BIEDF). Lateral spontaneous emissions and scattering laser powers in the BIEDF were measured quantitatively by using an integrating sphere. Compared with the power of amplified spontaneous emission and signal detected at the output fiber end, it was found that considerable powers were consumed by the laterally emitting lights. As an optically undetected loss limits power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the fiber amplifier, the effect of nonradiative decay from the termination level of pump excited state absorption (pump ESA) was estimated from decay rate analyses of the relevant levels. The nonradiative loss was comparable to amplified signal power in the BIEDF when pumped with a 980-nm LD. Nonradiative decay following cooperative upconversion (CUP) process is also discussed using rate equations analysis.     

Tapered fiber amplifier with high gain and output power

We present a high-power ytterbium fiber amplifier based on active tapered double-clad fiber (T-DCF) and capable of high single-pass gain. The T-DCF power amplifier seeded with a 320 mW narrow-band signal generates up to 110 W of average output power corresponding to more than 25 dB gain. The amplifier exhibits near-diffraction-limited beam quality (M ² = 1.06) at the highest output power, which was limited by the available pump power. With a broadband seed source, the amplifier produced a gain of nearly 40 dB obtained for low-signal limit of the seed. The high output power combined with high gain is achieved owing to amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) filtering and increased stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) threshold inherent to the axially non-uniform geometry. The amplifier operates efficiently with a wide range of input seed powers thus providing the basis for one-stage tapered amplifier which combines the functions of preamplifier and power amplifier and can be a competitive alternative to multi-stage design.     

Modeling and optimizing of low-repetition-rate high-energy pulse amplification in high-concentration erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

Starting from the modeling of isolated ions and ion-pairs, a closed form rate and power evolution equations for pulse amplification in high-concentration erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are constructed. According to the equations, the effects of ion-pairs on the performance of a high-concentration EDFA in steady state including upper-state population, ASE powers without input signal are analyzed numerically. Furthermore, the effects of ion-pairs on the dynamic characteristics of low-repetition-rate pulse amplification in the EDFA including the storied energy, output pulse energy and evolution of pulse waveform distortion are systematically studied by using the finite-difference method. The results show that the presence of the ion-pairs deteriorates amplifier performance, such as the upper-state population, ASE power, storied energy, output pulse energy, and saturated gain, etc. For the high-concentration EDFA, the optimum fiber length should be modified to achieve a better performance. The relations between the evolution of pulse waveform distortion or output pulse energy and the input pulse peak power are also discussed. The results can provide important guide for the design and optimization of the low-repetition-rate pulse amplification in high-concentration EDFAs.     

A global design of high power Nd-Yb co-doped fiber lasers

A global optimization method - niche hybrid genetic algorithm (NHGA) based on fitness sharing and elite replacement is applied to optimize Nd³⁺-Yb³⁺ co-doped fiber lasers (NYDFLs) for obtaining maximum signal output power. With a objective function and different pumping powers, five critical parameters (the fiber length, L; the proportion of pump power for pumping Nd³⁺, η; Nd³⁺ and Yb³⁺ concentrations, N_Nd and N_Yb and output mirror reflectivity, R_out) of the given NYDFLs are optimized by solving the rate and power propagation equations. Results show that dividing equally the input pump power among 808 nm (Nd³⁺) and 940 nm (Yb³⁺) is not an optimal choice and the pump power of Nd³⁺ ions should be kept around 10-13.78% of the total pump power. Three optimal schemes are obtained by NHGA and the highest slope efficiency of the laser is able to reach 80.1%.     

Boost up of four wave mixing signal in semiconductor optical amplifier for 40 Gb/s optical frequency conversion

The 40 Gb/s optical frequency converter for non-return to zero differential phase shift keying (NRZ-DPSK) signal by using four wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) have achieved sucessfully. The optimized signal-to-pump ratio for NRZ-DPSK by using optimized SOA structure with enhanced FWM effect is also evaluated. The optimum signal-to-pump ratio is 12 dB and 10 dB with Q factor penalty of 0.685 dB and 0.663 dB. The dependence of four wave mixing efficiency and converted signal power on signal input power is studied and it is evaluated that four wave mixing efficiency decreases with increase in the input power. The impact of pump power, signal-to-pump ratio, and SOA parameters with Q factor penalty for 40 Gb/s has been illustrated. It has shown that converted signal power increases up to the saturation power of semiconductor optical amplifier, then decreases. It is observed that for the optimum pump power, OSNR of converted signal varies little with signal input power.     

Theory of Pr:ZBLAN ultraviolet upconversion fiber master oscillator power amplifier

A theoretical study for ultraviolet upconversion fiber master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) based on the transition from the 4f5d state to the ³H₄ ground state in Pr³⁺:ZBLAN fiber is performed by using steady population rate equations and propagation equations. The variation of the output power with the fiber length of master oscillator and MOPA and the launched pump powers, the dependence of the slope efficiency on the fiber length of master oscillator and MOPA, and the optimum fiber length of MOPA as a function of the launched pump powers, are calculated. Both the output power and the slope efficiency of MOPA are 2-3 times those of the simplex oscillator. It is found that the UV upconversion fiber MOPA system can effectively improve the output power and the slope efficiency of laser.     

A novel method degrading the combined effect of FWM and ASE noise in WDM systems containing in-line optical amplifiers

In this paper, a novel method degrading the combined effect of four-wave mixing (FWM) and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise of the amplifier on the most heavily affected channel in an equally channel spaced wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system containing in-line optical amplifiers is proposed. FWM effect is directly related to input powers of channels. So, FWM effect can be degraded by controlling channel input powers. In the proposed method, varying the input power of each channel in an optical fiber, the output optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) values are evaluated and input powers of all channels are optimized in order to maximize the OSNR value of the channel having the lowest OSNR. To interpret the results obtained, output OSNR values for the minimum optical input power launched to the system by each channel are also computed. Being compared to the computed results for minimum optical input powers, the lowest output OSNR value among all channels for optimized input powers shows a 5.1867 dB increase in a 5-channel system, a 3.5988 dB increase in a 9-channel system, a 3.0855 dB increase in a 15-channel system and a 1.6795 dB increase for a 21-channel system. Furthermore, output OSNR values of all channels exhibit a significant increase.     

Parameters optimization of high efficiency discrete Raman fiber amplifier by using the coupled steady-state equations

By using the coupled steady-state equations, we have numerically studied the characteristics optimization of Raman fiber amplifier (RFA) in a signal/pump double-passes-the-gain-medium scheme. The simulation results are in very good agreement with those of experimental data. Given a constant pumping power, the length of dispersion compensation fiber (DCF) in a RFA could be determined. The optimum design shows that the best length of the DCF is at around 3.8 ± 0.2 km in our study. This could provide both the highest signal output power and the lowest noise figure among all conditions we choose.     

Multiplication of the drive signal frequency in a relativistic microwave amplifier with a rod slow-wave structure

A theory is developed for the one-dimensional nonlinear multimode simulation of a Cerenkov maser of special configuration (antenna-amplifier [1, 2]) where a tubular relativistic electron beam propagates along a circular waveguide with a dielectric rod. The operating mode is the fundamental azimuthally asymmetric HE ₁₁ mode. Harmonics at the input signal frequency can be amplified because they fall into the amplification bands for higher modes. At certain parameters, the output power at the second or third harmonic may considerably exceed that of the amplified signal at the fundamental frequency. The powers of output harmonics can be efficiently controlled by varying the point of electron beam extraction from the interaction region, as well as by varying the input frequency or by switching the polarization of the input signal from linear to circular.     

High power pulse amplification of ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier

By solving a set of time-dependent equations, the characteristics of the ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifier are presented. Besides the steady state in the fiber of the upper-state population, pump power and amplified spontaneous emission without the input signal, the dynamic characteristics of the high power Gaussian pulse amplification like the evolution of pulse waveform distortion, upper-state population distribution and stored energy and pulse energy of the amplifier under the forward and backward pump,are simulated. The relations between the output pulse energy of the amplifier and the different input pulse peak power or pump power are also discussed. The models and results can provide important guide for the design and optimization of the high power pulse amplification.     

Superfunctions for amplifiers

An amplifier is characterized by its transfer function T, which expresses the dependence of the output signal on the input signal. This signal may be related to power, intensity, energy of a pulse, or its fluence, or any similar physical quantity. The internal structure of the amplified signal (e.g., its spectral content, polarization, temporal behavior, and spatial distribution) is not taken into account. The amplifier is considered to be spatially homogeneous and uniformly pumped. The transfer function is supposed to be known (measured in an experiment). The problem of reconstruction of the behavior of the signal inside the amplifier is formulated. For a given transfer function T, the evolution of the signal inside is interpreted as the superfunction F, satisfying the transfer equation F(z + 1) T(F(z)), where z is of coordinate along the propagation direction, while the length of the amplifier is used as a unit of measurement. (For simplicity, distances are measured in units of the length of the amplifier.) Two examples of realistic transfer function T are considered; they correspond to amplification of continuous wave and to amplification of pulses. In these examples, the transfer function and the distribution of the signal along the amplifier can be expressed in terms of special functions. The iterative procedure is suggested as a general method of reconstructing the signal along the amplifier, if neither the transfer function T, nor the superfunction F can be expressed with a simple combination of special functions. The examples show that the iterations converge to a physically meaningful solution. This method is expected to be useful for the characterization of laser materials from the measurement of the transfer function of a bulk sample.     

Amplification of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis>-Switched Ho:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> Oscillator in Thulium-Doped Large-Mode-Area Fiber

We report a high peak power, narrow linewidth, stable pulsed Ho:GdVO₄ amplifier based on thuliumdoped fiber, which produces 6.65 W average output power at 2,048 nm and 56.8 kW peak power with 11.7 ns pulse width at 10 kHz repetition rate. We use a simple Q-switched Ho:GdVO₄ laser as a seed laser and a thulium-doped fiber pumped by a 792 nm laser diode as an amplifier. The fiber amplifier provided 6.5 dB gain to the input signal. The spectral linewidth of the Ho:GdVO₄ amplifier remains < 0.5 nm with an M² beam quality of 1.36.     

Parametric amplification in a microstructure fiber

We report an observation of parametric amplification with a gain greater than 30 dB in a 1.7-m microstructure fiber. It is found that there exists a peak pump power P_s. For peak pump powers less than P_s, the amplified twin (signal: longer wavelength, and idler: shorter wavelength) pulses are highly correlated, and the bandwidth of the amplified signal pulse broadens monotonically with pump power. For peak pump powers exceeding P_s, the correlation between the amplified twin pulses drops when the pump power increases, the bandwidth of the amplified signal pulse becomes narrower when the pump power increases, and the central wavelength of the amplified signal (idler) pulse shifts towards longer (shorter) wavelength, respectively, due to phase matching. PACS 42.65.Yj     

Transient gain enhancement for a train of picosecond pulses in a large-aperture KrF laser amplifier

The heavily depleted steady-state gain in a large-aperture amplifier can be transiently enhanced by temporally suppressing the intra-cavity amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). In our previous experiments of amplifying two 10-ps pulses in a 29-cm-diameter KrF amplifier, we showed that output fluences of three times the saturation energy density E_sat were obtained at a pulse separation of 1.7 ns for full-filling beams, whereas it took 4 ns for 5-cm-diameter beams. Our recently developed time-dependent ASE code almost reproduced this observed quick gain recovery. In this paper, we report the experimental results of amplifying six 10-ps pulses in series to the saturation level in the large-aperture amplifier. The quick gain recovery was observed also for the pulse train. Short-pulse outputs of 3E_sat were obtained at a reduced pulse separation of only 1.5 ns. Received: 12 March 1999 / Published online: 19 May 1999     

Similarity in growth of output power of cw far infrared lasers

By means of intracavity Stark-pulse technique, growth of output power of an optically pumped cw CH₃OH 119-m laser has been observed for various pressures of the active medium and for various input optical powers. Comparison of the results obtained in this work with those of a previous report on a HCOOH laser suggests that there is similarity relation in growth of output power. The similarity relation in a two-level laser is discussed.     

High-gain and low-noise-figure erbium-doped fiber amplifier employing dual stage quadruple pass technique

A high-gain and low-noise-figure (NF) erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated utilizing a new technique called the dual-stage quadruple pass (DSQP) with filters. An efficient amplification occurs at the signal wavelength of 1550 nm when it travels along the DSQP amplifier. The highest gain of 62.56 dB with a low noise figure of 3.98 dB was achieved for an input signal power of −50 dBm and pump powers of 10 and 165mW in the second and first stage amplifiers respectively.