Direct dispersion measurement of highly -erbium -doped optical amplifiers using a low coherence reflectometer coupled with dispersive Fourier spectroscopy

Abstract

The group delay and dispersion, including the erbium ion contributions, of the highly erbium-doped silica planar wave-guide amplifier and multicomponent glass fibre amplifiers are directly measured at different pump powers using a low coherence reflectometer and dispersive Fourier spectroscopy. This method derives the refractive index spectra of these amplifiers directly from the produced reflectograms without any physical or mathematical assumptions. The dispersion of the planar or mathematical assumptions. The dispersion of the planar waveguide amplifier at 500mW pumping changes between +300 and −200Ps/Km/nm with a 0.4wt% erbium concentration