High-power, low noise, high gain few-mode fiber amplifier

Abstract

The few-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifier (FM-EDFA) is a necessary component for high-capacity long-haul mode-division multiplexing (MDM) fiber optic communication systems. In this paper, an all-fiber few-mode amplifier based on erbium-ytterbium co-doped double-clad fiber is designed and demonstrated. We have developed a fiber-optic pump beam combiner and a few-mode isolator. Combined with the two-stage cascade method, an all-fiber few-mode fiber amplifier with high-power, high-gain and low-noise is realized. Simultaneous amplification of 6 modes (LP01, LP11a, LP11b LP21a, LP21b and LP02) are achieved in the 1535–1565 nm range with average modal gain greater than 40 dB, maximum saturated output power up to 29.5 dBm, differential modal gain (DMG) of ∼3 dB and minimum noise figure (NF) of 4.69 dB.