Optical Fiber Amplifiers: Optimization and PerformanceEvaluation

A K Abass

doi:10.24237/djes.2019.12108

Abstract

This work demonstrates the simulation of two different types of optical fiber amplifiers (OFA) utilizing OptiSystem–10, namely, 3 m length of erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and 7 km length of Raman fiber amplifier (RFA). The counter-pumped architecture is adopted for both proposed optical amplifiers. The optimum pump power (OPP) for each amplifier determines in which the longest 3–dB flat gain bandwidth (3–dB BW), reasonable average gain level (Gav), proper average noise figure (NFav) and lower gain variation (Gvar) were achieved. The EDFA shows best performance at conventional band (C–band) within the pump power of 30 mW.While the better performance is observed at long band (L–band) within the pump power of 600 mW for the RFA.

Highlights

The optical fiber amplifiers (OFA) is a fiber laser with the absence of the positive feedback, and can be classified into two categories, namely, linear OFA and nonlinear OFA (Raman and Brillouin fiber amplifier)
The erbium pump power (EPP) is increased from 20 mW to 60 mW with a step of 10 mW and the Raman pump power (RPP) is increased from 400 mW to 800 mW with a step of 100 mW
For both amplifiers the average gain increases quickly as the pump power is increased, and starts to saturate at a certain pumPing level. This can be attributed as following; in erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) the EPP is fully inverted the population in the erbium ions, while in Raman fiber amplifier (RFA) the pump depletion and the red shift effect caused the gain saturation and deviated the amplification factor

Summary

Introduction

The OFA is a fiber laser with the absence of the positive feedback, and can be classified into two categories, namely, linear OFA (rare earth doped fiber amplifier) and nonlinear OFA (Raman and Brillouin fiber amplifier). All performance parameters of these two amplifiers depend on the amplification mechanism, such as the gain bandwidth, gain saturation and the noise figure, as well as the required pumPing power. The erbium pump power (EPP) for 3 m of the EDFA and Raman pump power (RPP) for 7 km of the RFA was optimized utilizing OptiSystem–10.

Results

Conclusion