Transmission capacity of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers as a criterion for quality of erbium-doped optical fibers

A new criterion—transmission capacity in the unsaturated gain regime—is proposed for comparing the quality of glasses for erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, considered as an element of an optical communication system. It is shown that, according to the criterion for the highest transmission capacity, amplifiers based on alumino-phosphate-silicate and zinc-sodium-germanate-silicate fibers are preferred for systems with separate C and L bands, respectively. In broadband systems, the highest transmission capacity is observed in amplifiers based on tellurite fibers.