Optimally gain-flattened and dispersion-managed C + L-band hybrid amplifier using a single-wavelength pump laser

We propose a hybrid C-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and L-band Raman fiber amplifier (RFA) using a single pump laser diode. The optimum pump sharing ratio to EDFA/RFA is 1/10 with a total pump power of 660 mW. Using multiple fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with various reflectivities at different positions along the dispersion compensation fiber, the optimum dispersion compensation and power equalization for C + L-band channels are simultaneously realized. With an input power of −20 dBm/ch, the signal power variation among the channels is reduced from 9.8 dB to less than ±0.5 dB. Two pump reflectors are introduced to increase the pumping efficiency.     

Gain Characterization of All-Optical Gain-Clamped PDFFA for WDM Networks Using the Feedback Theory

Using feedback theory, we analyze the gain of an all-optical gain-clamped praseodymium-doped fluoride fiber amplifier (AOGC PDFFA) for eight-channel multiwavelength operation. We demonstrate by numerical simulation that gain stabilization is achieved when the open-loop gain is higher than the feedback path attenuation. If this condition is fulfilled, the gain stabilizes to a value equal to the feedback path attenuation and is not influenced by the pump power, input signal power, number of channels, doped fiber length, or any other doped fiber parameter. In our setup the AOGC PDFFA noise figure is 0.12 dB lower than the open-loop PDFFA noise figure.     

Simulation Results for DWDM Systems with Ultra-High Capacity

We present stimulation results for DWDM systems with an ultra-high capacity up to 1.28 Tbit/s and spectral efficiency approaching 0.4 bit/s/Hz. The impact of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on parameters such as channel spacing, length of fiber, dispersion, and number of channels has been investigated and the results obtained have been explained on the basis of fiber nonlinear effects. It has been shown that with an increase in channel spacing, the SNR increases to the maximum optimum value and then decreases to a steady value. With an increase in number of channels, the SNR decreases for small wavelength spacing. For large wavelength spacing, it becomes independent of the number of channels. Keeping channel spacing constant, the SNR decreases with an increase in the length of the fiber. The SNR also improves with a small increase in dispersion of the fiber. Further, it is observed that, with increase in length over dispersion-shifted fiber, the received power decreases and the bit error rate increases.     

Simulation Results for DWDM Systems with Ultra-High Capacity

We present stimulation results for DWDM systems with an ultra-high capacity up to 1.28 Tbit/s and spectral efficiency approaching 0.4 bit/s/Hz. The impact of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on parameters such as channel spacing, length of fiber, dispersion, and number of channels has been investigated and the results obtained have been explained on the basis of fiber nonlinear effects. It has been shown that with an increase in channel spacing, the SNR increases to the maximum optimum value and then decreases to a steady value. With an increase in number of channels, the SNR decreases for small wavelength spacing. For large wavelength spacing, it becomes independent of the number of channels. Keeping channel spacing constant, the SNR decreases with an increase in the length of the fiber. The SNR also improves with a small increase in dispersion of the fiber. Further, it is observed that, with increase in length over dispersion-shifted fiber, the received power decreases and the bit error rate increases.     

基于时分复用的多点式环形腔光纤电流传感器

为实现输电线路上的多点电流监测,利用通信用普通单模光纤,设计基于时分复用的多点式光纤环形腔结构电流传感器.多路传感系统共用一套光源、检测设备和数字信号处理系统,在节约成本的同时,提高了利用率.实验中选用双路全光纤电流传感器结构,在两个不同的点同时测量电流,其中一测量点对0~600A范围内的电流进行测量,另一测量点对0~1 500A范围内的电流进行测量.对实验数据进行线性拟合,结果表明:循环次数取8比较合适,此时系统具有比取2时高约3~4倍的灵敏度;两个测量点光信号的偏振态与电流之间有良好的线性关系,两个传感单元的灵敏度不同,而且相互之间没有串扰是各自独立的传感系统.     

Simple tunable multiwavelength Brillouin/Erbium fiber laser utilizing short-length photonic crystal fiber

We have demonstrated a simple ring cavity tunable multiwavelength Brillouin/Erbium fiber laser (MWBEFL), in which 70 m highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (HNL-PCF) is used as the Brillouin gain medium. The fiber laser utilizes recycling mechanism to enhance stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). The configuration that consists of only 3 optical components is easy to be integrated and improves the practicality. At the maximum 1480 nm pump power of 110 mW and the Brillouin pump power of 3 dBm, 10 stable output channels with more than 10 dB optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) and 0.078 nm channel spacing could achieve 10 nm tuning ranges.     

Suppression of Output Power and NF Excursions in Cascades of Highly Inverted EDFAs with Packet-Switched Traffic

Significant output power excursions in cascades of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) can cause serious problems in wavelength division multilexing (WDM) packet-switched burst-mode networks. Signal power excursions more serious than those induced by channel addition/removal in circuit switched networks can arise when data on the WDM channels is highly variable in nature. Self-similar traffic can be subject to large variation in EDFA gain. In order to prevent unacceptable error bursts, due, for example, to channel power becoming too low to preserve adequate eye opening or exceeding thresholds for optical nonlinearities, the channel power should be maintained constant. In this letter, it is shown that the sizable power and noise figure swings arising in a cascade of EDFAs with WDM burst-mode packet-switched networks with self-similar traffic can be effectively suppressed when highly inverted amplifiers are employed. The analysis is based on the application of a numerical model, which solves the transcendental equation for length averaged metastable level population of an EDFA.     

A simple temperature-insensitive fiber Bragg grating displacement sensor

The study on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) displacement sensor based on monitoring the back-reflected power from an array of novelly embedded FBG sensors is presented. The sensor is a uniform FBG with three sections that are embedded in different layer in a composite lamina. Its bandwidth is displacement dependent and hence its reflected power varies almost linearly with displacement and it is insensitive to temperature variation. Thus, only low-cost photodetector (PD) is required to monitor displacement. This study demonstrates a novel fiber sensor, a method of fabricated the same, and a method to achieve simultaneous multi-sensor measurement.     

掺Er3+光纤环腔激光器的初步研究

本文报道采用环形腔使用偏振灵敏性光纤隔离器(P-SensitiveISO)构成的掺Er³⁺光纤激光器的激光输出特性研究结果.用976nm激光作为泵浦激光获得了0.42mW最大功率、中心波长1.5287μm的激光输出,阈值泵浦功率17mW.在改变腔内光纤偏振控制器(PC)的状态时,输出激光光谱分裂为二个分立的峰值,波长分别为1.5317μm和1.5502μm.     

基于光纤光栅的高功率光纤激光器

分析了光纤光栅的选频原理以及光纤光栅基高功率光纤激光器的阈值特性和输出特性.采用紫外写入的光纤光栅做谐振腔,研制了全光纤结构的高功率光纤激光器,泵浦阈值为186 mW, 最大输出功率1.78 W,斜率效率59%,实验结果与理论分析基本吻合.     

Gain Stabilization in All-Optical Gain-Clamped Cascade of Praseodymium-Doped Fluoride Fiber Amplifiers

The authors present theoretical results of an analysis of an all-optical gain-clamped (AOGC) praseodymium-doped fluoride fiber amplifier (PDFFA) for protecting surviving channels in an amplified wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network with six cascaded PDFFAs. The theoretical analysis is based on application of a large-signal numerical model that takes into account propagation of pump, signal, and downstream and upstream amplified spontaneous emission and includes time variation effects in a four-level laser system. It is shown that power excursions caused in an eight-channel WDM network by loss addition of six channels could be lower than 1 dB and free of relaxation oscillations if the AOGC PDFFA is strongly inverted and the total loss of the ring resonator is appropriately set.     

Single-wavelength-pump bi-directional hybrid fiber amplifier for bi-directional local area network application

This paper proposes a novel bi-directional hybrid fiber amplifier using a single-wavelength pump laser diode (LD) at 1495 nm. The hybrid amplifier is theoretically applied in a 50 km bi-directional local area network (LAN) with 26 ch × 10 Gb/s for bi-directional transmission. Thirteen C-band channels serve as downlink signals while the other 13 L-band channels are employed as uplink signals. Without loss of generality, four channels (two from each band) are experimentally analyzed. Erbium doped fiber (EDF) provides amplification for the C-band channels and Raman amplification amplifies the L-band channels. The pump efficiency is improved by employing a double-pass scheme for both the Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and Raman fiber amplifier (RFA). The chromatic dispersion incurred by all the channels is precisely compensated for by inserting a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array in appropriate locations along the dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) segments. Moreover, gain equalization of all the channels is achieved by adjusting the FBG reflectivity. Both the simulation results and experimental measurements confirm the proposed device feasibility and potential application in a bi-directional LAN.     

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).     

Spatial domain multiplexing: A new dimension in fiber optic multiplexing

A novel multiplexing technique for fiber optic communications has been developed that supports multiple channels of optical energy inside an optical fiber by confining each individual channel to a unique spatial location. These channels can operate at exactly the same wavelength as well as differing wavelengths. The basic operating principle and experimental results for spatial domain multiplexed fiber optic communication systems is presented here. This technique adds a new dimension to currently available multiplexing schemes and has the potential to increase the bandwidth of existing and futuristic optical fiber systems by multiple folds.     

Predicting the performance data for a fiber laser by measuring the emitted fluorescence power of the end-on pumped fiber

A novel method is described that enables the prediction of the main laser parameters (threshold pump power, output power, slope- and extraction efficiency) without having realized the laser itself. The emitted fluorescence power of an end-on pumped fiber is absolutely measured along the fiber. Using specific material parameters of the doped glass and the waveguide attenuation, we calculate the laser properties without taking the resonator losses into account. This approach is extremely useful for fibers with special design parameters. We have used this method to characterize a fiber with a novel design, the M-profile fiber. Combining the results with the measurements on the realized laser, the impact of resonator losses (e.g., tilted fiber endfaces, effects of butt-coupled mirrors) can be inferred and improvements can be undertaken.     

Addressing fiber Bragg grating sensors with wavelength-swept pulse fiber laser and analog electrical switch

A pulse train with a wavelength dependent time sequence is generated in a fiber laser configuration, which contains a cascaded wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array and a tunable F-P filter. By distributing pulses to corresponding channels with a 1 × N analog electrical switch, a novel FBG sensors interrogation technique with advantages of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and high interrogation speed is experimentally demonstrated. Then, a FBG sensing system based on this interrogation technique and the mature unbalanced scanning Michelson interferometer (USMI) demodulation technique is realized. The system has shown a sensitivity of 1.610°/με, for the 1555 nm FBG, which agrees well with the theoretical value of 1.674°/με.     

Predicting the performance data for a fiber laser by measuring the emitted fluorescence power of the end-on pumped fiber

Abstract

A novel method is described that enables the prediction of the main laser parameters (threshold pump power, output power, slope- and extraction efficiency) without having realized the laser itself. The emitted fluorescence power of an end-on pumped fiber is absolutely measured along the fiber. Using specific material parameters of the doped glass and the waveguide attenuation, we calculate the laser properties without taking the resonator losses into account. This approach is extremely useful for fibers with special design parameters. We have used this method to characterize a fiber with a novel design, the M-profile fiber. Combining the results with the measurements on the realized laser, the impact of resonator losses (e.g., tilted fiber endfaces, effects of butt-coupled mirrors) can be inferred and improvements can be undertaken.     

C-band continuously tunable lasers using tunable fiber Bragg gratings

We report the development of a ring tunable fiber laser based on tunable fiber Bragg gratings (TFBG) integrated with an optical circulator. The TFBG is embedded inside a 3-piont bending device for wavelength tuning. The tunable laser operating in the C-band has power variation, tuning resolution, tuning range and laser line width of ±0.5 dB, 0.5 nm, 25.0 nm and less than 0.05 nm, respectively. As 40 mW of pump power is used, the ring tunable laser has a side mode suppression ratio of 60 dB and a power conversion efficiency of 25%. These specifications ensure the high-quality operation of a tunable laser.     

Dynamical power-equalized fiber laser arrays using strain-tunable pump reflectors

By using strain-tunable gratings as pump reflectors for power equalization, both the parallel and serial types, pump-shared linear cavity laser arrays are produced. A 11-channel, parallel type fiber laser arrays are used to simulate the feasibility. After the central reflected wavelengths of these pump reflectors are appropriately adjusted, the maximum power variation among channels is reduced from 7.2- to 0.1 dB and the average output power is nearly 100% increased.     

Power limitations in fiber-optic frequency-division multiplexed systems

Abstract

Launch power is limited to the milliwatt level by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a single-channel, coherent fiber-optic network. Increasing the number of frequency-division multiplexed channels causes the power limit to decrease quickly to submilliwatt levels due to three-wave intermodulation to keep the signal-to-noise ratio from deteriorating significantly. As the number of channels increases, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) begins to dominate. If a maximum of 0.5–dB depletion in the highest-frequency channel is allowed, SRS dominates when the number of multiplexed channels reaches about 300. Generally, the launch-power-limiting phenomenon is dependent on the number of channels being multiplexed.