A global design of an erbium-doped fiber and an erbium-doped fiber amplifier

A global design of an erbium-doped fiber and an open-loop erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) in a steady-state operation is discussed by applying genetic algorithms. Taking a signal gain and a bandwidth as objective functions, 7 parameters of the EDFA (erbium concentration, core radius, erbium-doped radius, refractive index difference, fiber length, pumping wavelength and signal power) are optimized by solving optical propagation equations, assuming a homogenous two-level active medium and a single-mode propagation. There is evidence to show that the 1480 nm pump utilized in usual EDFAs is not an optimal choice, which should be chosen around 1460 nm. The optimal core radius ranges 0.465–0.548 μm on pumping power 50–200 mW. Under different design objects and with different pumping powers, however, there are different optimal Er-doped concentrations, reflective index differences and fiber lengths. As a single fiber EDFA, 35 dB signal gain or 35 nm bandwidth is obtained with the 7 optimal parameters, 100 mW pumping power and 0.001 mW input signal power.