Dynamic-performance characterization of C-band EDFA using ASE-power peak-selective feedback gain-clamping

We propose and demonstrate a C-band Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) using amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) power peaking-selective and feedback to achieve highly stabilized and wide dynamic range gain clamping performances. The gain of 16.20 ± 0.13 dB is obtained with the input signal power dynamic range of 30 dB and the maximum noise figure (NF) was 6.6 dB with the input signal power from −35 to −10 dBm. To investigate the gain variation for the probe signals, we applied a saturation tone signal to simulate 16-channel DWDM signals as it is added (dropped) into (from) EDFA. The gain variation of the proposed scheme at a appropriate ring-cavity loss (VOA = 5 dB) is less than 0.13 dB for the input signal power from −35 to −5 dBm and wavelength from 1530 to 1564 nm.