Experimental and theoretical studies on a double-pass C-band bismuth-based erbium-doped fiber amplifier

Performance of a Bismuth-based Erbium-doped fiber amplifier is experimentally and theoretically investigated using 1480 nm pumping with double-pass scheme. In the theoretical analysis, the rate and power propagation equations are solved to examine the optimum length for the C-band operation as well as the gain and noise figure characteristics. The calculated small signal gain is 38 dB with gain variation of less than 3 dB. The measured gain is 4 dB lower due to spurious reflections which were ignored in the theoretical analysis. At input signal power of 0 dBm, a gain of 14.5 dB is obtained experimentally with gain variation of less than 1 dB within the wavelength region from 1530 to 1565 nm. The noise figure is less than 12 dB within this region.     

Effects of an auxiliary pump on the performance of TDFA

An efficient fluoride-based thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) is theoretically demonstrated using a dual pumping scheme. Differential equations are solved directly in the theoretical analysis. An auxiliary pump at 1560 nm is used for ground-state absorption to enhance the excited-state absorption provided by the main pump of 1050 nm and, thus, to improve the gain and noise figure of the TDFA. A gain improvement of more than 10 dB is obtained at the 1470-nm region with the use of a 1560-nm pump at 20 mW. A small signal gain as high as 30 dB is obtained at this region with 100 mW of a 1050-nm pump and 20 mW of a 1560-nm pump using a 20-m of thulium-doped fiber. The corresponding noise figure is obtained at lower than 5 dB.     

Optimizing the thulium doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) gain and noise figure for S-band 16 × 10 Gb/s WDM systems

This paper aims to evaluate a comprehensive numerical model based on solving rate equations of a thulium-doped silica-based fiber amplifier. The pump power and thulium-doped fiber (TDF) length for single-pass thulium-doped fiber amplifiers (TDFA) are theoretically optimized to achieve the optimum gain and noise figure (NF) at the center of S-band region. The 1064 nm pump is used to provide both ground-state and excited state absorptions for amplification in the S-band region. The theoretical result is in agreement with the published experimental result.     

Inherently gain flattened L band TDFA based on W-fiber design

We present here a detailed theoretical analysis for realizing an inherently gain flattened L⁺ band thulium doped fiber amplifier (TDFA), based on a depressed inner-clad (W-fiber) design, wherein the inherent gain flattening is achieved by an optimized bend induced leakage loss. The leakage loss characteristics of W-fiber have been used to suppress higher wavelength amplified stimulated emission (ASE) in the designed TDFA, which otherwise depletes the population inversion in the amplifier, making it almost impossible to obtain high gain for wavelengths in and close to the conventional L-band. It has been shown through simulations that 20 dB net gain (±0.3 dB ripple) is achievable over 32 nm bandwidth (1604-1636 nm), using this design pumped with 160 mW of power. We also show that inherent gain flattening leads to redistribution of power among signal wavelengths, and hence an inherently gain-flattened TDFA is much more efficient as compared to a configuration that uses discrete filters for gain flattening. The net gain value and gain flattening of the designed TDFA module have been tested against tolerance with respect to fiber parameters as well as bend radius. This is for the first time to the authors knowledge that inherently gain flattened L⁺ band operation has been shown using TDFAs.     

Double-pass erbium-doped zirconia fiber amplifier for wide-band and flat-gain operations

The double-pass erbium-doped zirconia fiber amplifier (EDZFA) is proposed and demonstrated to provide a wide-band amplification as well as flat-gain operation in both the C- and L-band regions using only a single-gain medium. The proposed amplifier utilizes an erbium-doped zirconia fiber (EDZF) with erbium ion concentration of 2800 ppm as a gain medium. The medium is fabricated in a ternary glass host, zirconia-yttria-aluminum codoped silica fiber through solution doping technique along with modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD). Compared to a single-pass operation, the double-pass EDZFA shows a better gain performance. At input signal power of 0 dBm and the optimum EDZF length of 2 m, a flat gain of around 16 dB is achieved by the proposed double-pass amplifier with gain variation of approximately 2.5 dB throughout the wavelength range from 1530 to 1590 nm. However, the noise figure of the double-pass amplifier is slightly higher than that of the single-pass due to inefficient population inversion at the input part of the amplifier.     

Experimental and theoretical studies on ytterbium sensitized erbium-doped fiber amplifier

The performance of a high power erbium-ytterbium doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA) is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The EYDFA provides a flat gain with an output power higher than 23 dBm in the wavelength region from 1541 to 1565 nm using a multimode pumping at 927 nm. In the theoretical analysis, the rate and power propagation equations are solved to examine the effect of fiber length on the bandwidth of the gain spectra. In the C-band region, the small signal gain of the EYDFA varies from 30 to 34 dB with 10 m long erbium-ytterbium doped fiber (EYDF) while the 927 nm pump power is fixed at 3.5 W. It is shown that the calculated output power is in good agreement with the experimental results, verifying the feasibility of our theoretical model. However, the experimental result shows a relatively lower gain compared to the theoretical result due to the spurious reflection in the cavity and the insertion loss of the EYDF which were neglected in our theoretical model.     

37.2 dB small-signal gain from Er/Yb Co-doped fiber amplifier with 20 mW pump power

An efficient erbium–ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA) is demonstrated by forward and backward pumping a 3 m erbium/ytterbium co-doped fibers (EYDF) in single- and double-pass configurations using a 20 mW pump. At the input signal wavelength of 1536 nm, the forward- and backward-pumped double-pass amplifiers achieved a maximum low-signal gain of 37.2 and 28.6 dB and a corresponding noise figure of 5.4 and 10.8 dB, respectively. Whereas, the forward- and backward-pumped single-pass amplifiers (at the same wavelength) achieved a maximum low-signal gain of 20.0 and 22.2 dB and a corresponding noise figure of 4.6 and 10.3 dB, respectively. The double-pass design offers an economical solution to high-efficiency and high-gain optical amplifiers.     

The L-band EDFA of high clamped gain and low noise figure implemented using fiber Bragg grating and double-pass method

The L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) of low noise figure and high clamped-gain using gain-clamped and double-pass configuration is presented in this paper. A total of five different configurations of EDFAs by reflection scheme with single forward pumping schemes are examined and compared here. Among these configurations, we first find the configuration of 1480-nm pumped L-band EDFA with optimum gain and noise figure value. To further minimize the gain variation, a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with 1615-nm center wavelength and 1-nm bandwidth is determined and added in double-pass L-band EDFA. The gain variation and maximum noise figure of EDFA while channel dropping is investigated. As the number of channel dropping from 32 to 4, the L-band type-A EDFA keep the variation of gain within 2.9 dB and the maximum noise figure below 5 dB with each channel’s input power of −23 dBm.     

High gain L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier with two-stage double-pass configuration

An experiment on gain enhancement in the long wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (L-band EDFA) is demonstrated using dual forward pumping scheme in double-pass system. Compared to a single-stage single-pass scheme, the small signal gain for 1580 nm signal can be improved by 13.5 dB. However, a noise figure penalty of 2.9 dB was obtained due to the backward C-band ASE from second stage and the already amplified signal from the first pass that extracting energy from the forward C-band ASE. The maximum gain improvement of 13.7 dB was obtained at a signal wavelength of 1588 nm while signal and total pump powers were fixed at -30 dBm and 92 mW, respectively.     

Gain clamped L-band EDFA with forward–backward pumping scheme using fiber Bragg grating

The paper proposes a novel two stage L-band erbium doped fiber amplifier with forward–backward pumping scheme for transmission of 32 wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) channels. It is gain clamped with an in-line fiber Bragg grating (FBG) to provide flat gain over 45 nm by restricting and reutilizing amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). We demonstrate that it provides an efficient small signal gain with minimum noise figure of over 20 dB and 5.5 dB, respectively, in the L-band region (1565–1610 nm) by comparing with its forward and backward pumped counterparts with fixed Er³⁺ fiber length of 20 m for −30 dBm/channel input power. We also obtain the gain and noise figure dependence as a function of each of the Er³⁺ fiber lengths, pump power (both 1480 and 980 nm), and temperature. Hence a 10 nm region (1580–1590 nm) has been acknowledged where temperature variations become constricted for 30 °C variations (15–45 °C).     

An experimental investigation of the gain spectrum of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers under various system configurations

The paper presents an experimental investigation of the gain spectrum of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) considering different system configurations, which include single-pass, double-pass, and double-pass with tunable band-pass filter (TBF). The role of TBF is to suppress the undesired amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). Both co- and counter-pumping schemes are considered with a 1480 nm laser diode as the pump and a suitable tunable laser source as the signal source. The results indicate that the signal achieves an average of 14 dB higher gain in the case of double-pass amplification with the implementation of a TBF. However, the pumping scheme hardly becomes of much importance in influencing the gain characteristics.     

A dual pumped double-pass L-band EDFA with high gain and low noise

This paper presents an efficient pumping scheme for L-band erbium-doped fiber (EDFA) amplifier to reach high gain and low noise performance in a double-pass configuration. The main L-band amplifier is composed of two sections of EDFs. A 980 nm and a 1480 nm pump lasers are used to pump the first section of EDF bi-directionally. The generated backward C-band amplified spontaneous emission noise from this EDF is used to pump a subsequent un-pumped section of EDF. In the double-pass scheme, a narrow-band fiber Bragg grating at each channel wavelength is used to back-reflect the L-band signal to make it amplified twice by the pair of EDFs. Compared with its conventional counterpart, this new double-pass configuration provides a lower noise figure and a higher gain. The pump conversion efficiency can be improved by more than 50% in a 3-channel demonstration by using the proposed configuration.     

Gain and gain-flatness improved photonic crystal fiber Raman amplifier based on a dual-pass amplification configuration with single pump laser

A gain and gain-flatness improved L-band dual-pass Raman fiber amplifier (RFA) utilizing a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) as gain medium is demonstrated. By introducing complementary gain spectra of typical forward and backward pumping single-pass RFA using the same PCF, we finally achieve average net gain level of 22.5 dB with a ±0.8 dB flattening gain in 20-nm bandwidth from 1595 nm to 1615 nm, which is rare in RFAs with only one single pump and no flattening filter. Compared with the single-pass pump configurations, gain level, flatness and bandwidth are greatly improved by using the dual-pass amplification configuration. The limitation of this configuration caused by multi-path interference (MPI) noise and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is also discussed.     

Gain ripple minimization in fiber Raman amplifiers based on variational method

In this paper, the variational method is employed for minimizing the gain ripple of multi-wavelength fiber Raman amplifiers. The variance of gain spectrum of the fiber Raman amplifier is regarded as the cost function, restriction on total pump power and average gain is given as the constraints of the minimization problem. It is shown that the minimization problem with any necessary constraints on the pump powers, average gain and signal to noise ratio, is reduced to a two-point boundary value problem. The method gives the entire possible local and global solutions. The method is applied to different examples of fiber Raman amplifiers with different lengths from 25 km to 100 km and different numbers of pumps from 4 to 20 to determine the pump powers and wavelengths for minimum gain ripple. It was obtained for a 100 km fiber Raman amplifier the gain ripple can be about 0.1 dB with on-off gain more than 20 dB.     

Tunable double-clad ytterbium-doped fiber laser based on a double-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer

We have demonstrated an adjustable double-clad Yb³⁺-doped fiber laser using a double-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The laser is adjustable over a range of 40 nm from 1064 nm to 1104 nm. By adjusting the state of the polarization controller, which is placed in the double-pass Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we obtained central lasing wavelengths that can be accurately tuned with controllable spacing between different tunable wavelengths. The laser has a side mode suppression ratio of 42 dB, the 3 dB spectral width is less than 0.2 nm, and the slope efficiencies at 1068 nm, 1082 nm and 1098 nm are 23%, 32% and 26%, respectively. In addition, we have experimentally observed tunable multi-wavelengths lasing output.     

L-band all-optical gain-clamped EDFA by utilizing C-band backward ASE

By using an optical circulator and C/L-band wavelength division multiplexer to recycle the C-band backward ASE, an L-band gain-clamped erbium-doped fiber amplifier is presented. We have experimentally studied the static gain clamping property of this amplifier. As the ASE feedback attenuation is set to 0, the gain at 1585 nm can be clamped at 18.84 ± 0.26 dB within dynamic range of 25 dB and the critical power reaches about −15.09 dBm. The gain variation and saturated output power at 1585 nm for 0 dB attenuation are 1 dB lower and 2.17 dB higher than those for 30 dB attenuation, which indicates that the L-band EDFA gain can be effectively clamped via the ASE injection technique.     

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.     

Four-wave mixing in dual wavelength fiber laser utilizing SOA for wavelength conversion

In this paper, a novel configuration of a wavelength converter is set forth by utilizing a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) as a nonlinear gain medium to generate a four-wave mixing (FWM) effect by using a dual wavelength bi-erbium-doped fiber laser that uses an Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) together with two optical channel selector (OSC) as selective elements to function as a dual wavelength switchable pump power. The four-wave mixing (FWM) is produced with a wavelength detuning of 7 nm from the pump and signal which used is as the converted signal at wavelength 1532.8 nm or 1534.5 nm for transferring data from the input signal at wavelength 1547.0 nm. Thus, even though the conversion efficiency is as low as −43 dB, it is still possible for applications as a wavelength converter.     

1.50-mum-band gain-shifted thulium-doped fiber amplifier with 1.05- and 1.56-mum dual-wavelength pumping

We propose and demonstrate a 1.50-mum- band gain-shifted thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) by using a novel dual-wavelength (1.05and1.56 -mum) pumping scheme for what we believe is the first time. By providing a small amount of 1.56-mum power to a conventional upconversion-pumped TDFA, we successfully demonstrated a small-signal gain larger than 25 dB and a noise figure of 5 dB in a 1475-1510-nm band.     

Excited state absorption spectroscopy for thulium-doped zirconium fluoride fiber

The excited state absorption (ESA) transitions at 1050 and 1420 nm play a fundamental role in thulium-doped fiber amplifiers (TDFA). We present a novel setup to measure the spectral cross-sections of these transitions in amplifier fibers and the results of this measurement in case of thulium-doped fluorozirconate (ZBLAN) fibers. Besides a standard system for fiber attenuation measurements and a long-pass filter, we use only components from the fiber amplifier setup, including the active fiber. No special parts are needed. We show that this fiber optic method delivers reliable results for different lengths of the doped fibers. The oscillator strengths of the measured transitions are calculated and compared to values published in the literature.