The effect of ASE reinjection configuration through FBGs on the gain and noise figure performance of L-Band EDFA

Abstract

In this study, we present the gain and noise figure performance improvement in L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (L-EDFA) provided by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) reinjection through different configurations of 1533nm band FBGs. The experimental results are compared with a single-stage bidirectionally pumped conventional L-EDFA design. It is shown that when the forward and/or the backward ASE noise is partly reinjected to L-EDFA using a double/single 1533nm fiber Bragg gratings (FBG), the gain and noise figure performance of L-EDFA increases depending on the FBG configuration. The best gain and NF performance in our L-EDFA was achieved by reinjection of forward and backward ASE through FBG1 and FBG2 leading to an 4.5dB increase in gain and 1dB decrease in NF at 1585nm and −30dBm input signal power. The results show that both FBGs must be used at the same time to improve gain and NF performance in L-band EDFAs.