An ion-ion interaction analysis-based performance estimation of thulium-doped fiber amplifiers in s-band including amplified spontaneous emission

Abstract

The search for new doping material in S and near-C band communication window could prove as a boon for data traffic to which Thulium fits the slot optimally. The paper presents the performance estimation of Thulium doped fiber amplifiers (TDFAs) through ion-ion interaction mechanism (IM) effects consisting of homogeneous up-conversion (HUC) and pair induced quenching (PIQ) processes, also called clustering effect. Typically, the IM effects were studied as detrimental effect on signal gain, but in this work it was shown that they can also act as aiding mechanisms for early population inversion and lasing conditions at relatively lower pump power. Design parameters of TDFA were studied by carrying out the computational simulations on MatLab and OptiSystem 16 based on the mathematical model. The obtained results infers about the constructive nature of the IM effects. The optimum performance estimation parameters TDFA length was determined as 100 m with dopant area of 1μm. Due to the interplay of IM effect the optimum pump power was determined as 450 mW and signal gain of 20.32 dB instead of 650 mW when no IM effect was considered. The signal wavelength for minimum noise figure was calculated as 1460 nm. The work presented may be considered as a step closer to S and near-C band fiber optic communication systems.