EDFA Application in WDM CATV Systems

Lidia Jordanova
1
and Valentin Topchiev
2
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I.INTRODUCTION
Erbium-doped Iiber ampliIier (EDFA) is mostly applicable
Ior signal ampliIication in C-band (1525-1565 nm) due to
high signal gain, wide waveband, low noise Iigure (3-5 dB)
and low price.
EDFAs are made by doping the silica Iiber with erbium
ions. These ions can absorb light energy injected Irom laser
source and reemit it in the range oI input signal wavelength,
due to stimulated light emission. The highest quantum
eIIiciency is attained when pumping at 980 nm or 1480 nm.
The EDFA is designed to operate in saturation when single-
wavelength signal ampliIies. This way, when the input signals
level varies in wide range, the output power and noise Iigure
remain stable. It is well-known that the average inversion
population is very low ( 0.69) in saturation regime operation,
which is precondition Ior maximum transIormation Irom
pump to signal power.
One oI the main issues when EDFA ampliIies multi-
wavelength signal is the gain Ilatness in the used wavelength
range. Researches show that maximum gain Ilatness is
achieved when the average inversion population is in the
range Irom 0.75 to 0.8 |1|. This means that EDFA, which
operates in saturation, is not suitable to work in WDM
systems. To ensure high gain Ilatness, it is necessary to retain
high average value oI inversion population. There are two
ways to obtain that by using higher pump power or shorter
erbium-doped Iiber. In the second case, this leads to gain
decrease.
The goal oI the researches in this paper is to optimize
EDFA parameters in order to obtain high gain Ilatness and
low noise Iigure when it operates in C-band. Since this
ampliIier is used in WDM CATV system, we are interested in
the inIluence oI the total input power on the ampliIier
characteristics.
II. MATHEMATICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE
PROCESSES IN AN EDFA
EDFAs are designed to operate in three main pumping
schemes Iorward, backward and bidirectional. The Iorward
pumping provides lowest noise Iigure (NF), while the
backward the highest saturated output power. As the
parameter noise Iigure is one oI the most important Ior EDFA,
the researches are made using Iorward pumping only.
Fig. 1 shows simpliIied EDFA block scheme which consists
oI: pump laser, connected to EDF by wavelength division
multiplexor (WDM), optical isolators Ior separation oI the
ampliIier input and output, an optical waveband Iilter that
decreases the pump and ASE noise power at the ampliIier
output.
Fig. 1. EDFA Scheme
The processes in EDFA can be described by two types oI
mathematical equations the rate equations, which deIine the
transitions between energy states, and the propagation
equations, which characterize signal (
-
), pump (

) and ASE
(

) power evolution along the active Iiber |2|.

On the base oI the rate equations, a Iormula that calculates
the number
2
oI the erbium ions in excited state can be
written as:





2
1
x
1 ,
(1)

- -


- -

where is the liIe time oI electrons in exited state,

and

emission and absorption cross section, eIIective area oI
erbium Iiber, photon energy, overlap Iactor,
erbium ions concentration and is the signal light Irequency.
1
Lidia Jordanova is with the Faculty oI Telecommunications at
Technical University oI SoIia, 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd, SoIia 1000,
Bulgaria, E-mail: jordanovatu-soIia.bg.
2
Valentin Topchiev is with the Faculty oI Telecommunications at
Technical University oI SoIia, 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd, SoIia 1000,
Bulgaria, E-mail: vtscmail.bg.
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The indexes used in Iormula are reIer to the signal (-), pump
power (), the number oI the signal () and the ASE noise
power () spectrum terms.
Since the EDF length usually does not exceed 20 m, the
signal attenuation is neglectIully low and the propagation
equations can be described as Iollows:
i about signal and pump powers:

2 1
( )

, (2)
i about ASE noise power:



2 1
2 0
.

o
o
o
o
(3)
The parameters used in the Iormulas given above are
related to diIIerent wavelength The number oI erbium ions
in ground state
1
and the part oI ASE noise power that
propagates along with the signal, can be calculated by:
1 2
0
,
2 .




(4)
When we calculate

, we take into consideration just the
part oI power that propagates to the signal direction

,
which can be deIined with the Iollowing expression:
1

, (5)
where

2
/(
2

1
) inversion population Iactor,
waveband oI optical Iilter ampliIier gain.
III. FIBER PARAMETERS AND PUMP POWER
SELECTION
The simulation researches are conducted by using erbium-
doped Iiber, which has the Iollowing parameters: Iiber type
Al-Ge-Er-SiO
2
; erbium ions concentration N 0,7.10
-19
cm
-3
;
liIe time oI electrons in exited state 10 ms; overlap Iactor
(15351565) 0.40, (1480) 0.43 and (980) 0.64.
Fig. 2.

On the Fig. 2 absorption (

) and emission (

) cross
sections as a Iunction oI wavelength are presented. To create
absorption cross section curve, experimental data is used |3|,
while the emission cross section is calculated by using
McCumber equation |4|
48.007
31.232
| |
.

(6)
To deIine the pump laser power, the dependence oI EDFA
parameters (,

and ) on the pump power attained in

|5|, is used. On the base oI made analysis, we obtain that the
gain is higher than 17 dB, when the value oI input signal is
approximately 1 mW, and the needed pump power is at about
97 mW. For that reason, in researches conducted below,

is
assumed to be equal to 100 mW.
IV. SIMULATION AND RESULTS

In order to investigate the ampliIier gain that is designed on
the base oI the described above erbium-doped Iiber, multi-
wavelength signal is launched in the ampliIier input. This
signal consists oI 41 single-wavelength signals with channel
spacing oI 1 nm, placed on the wavelength range Irom 1525 to
1565 nm and each oI them has 16 dBm power (or total input
power is equal to 1.025 mW). The numerical simulations are
made with pump laser source having 100 mW output power in
two cases: when

980 nm and

1480 nm.
The EDF length varies at about its optimum value that is
attained in |5| in case the ampliIier operates with 1550 nm
single-wavelength signal. The main goal oI this investigation
is to deIine the optimum value oI EDF length so that the gain
is higher than 17 dB and the gain Ilatness is maximal in
largest possible wavelength range.
The ampliIier gain can be calculated by the Iollowing
expression:
0
- -
, (6)
where
-
(0) and
-
(

) are input and output signal optical

power calculated by using Iormula (2).
The results given on Figs 3a) and 3b) show that EDFA
appliance in the range oI 1525 to 1540 nm is not appropriate,
because the gain Ilatness in not suIIicient (about 8 dB). In the
range Irom 1540 to 1560 nm, the gain spectrum is relatively
Ilat, which is the reason Ior applying this ampliIier in WDM
systems. Furthermore, the shorter is

, the higher is the

gain Ilatness. At the same time the gain value decreases too
much.
From Fig. 3a) we can easily deIine that when

is
approximately equal to 10.5m, a gain at about 17 dB is
obtained so that the gain Ilatness is lower than 1 dB in the
range Irom 1540 to 1560 nm. II the pump laser operates at
1480 nm the required gain value oI 17 dB can be achieved at

14 m. In this case the gain Ilatness is too low (2.5 dB).

ThereIore such ampliIier is not appropriate Ior multi-
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118
wavelength signal ampliIication and Iurther researches are
conducted just in case

980 nm.
a)
b)
Fig. 3. Gain Spectrum, when multi-wavelength signal is ampliIied
and 100 mW with 980 nm a) and 1480 nm b) is pumped

-
In the previous simulation more than 70 oI the pump
power is used Ior ampliIication oI the input signals at about
1530 nm. ThereIore, the optimum values oI the

and in
the range oI 1540 to 1560 nm cannot be determined. For that
reason it is necessary a second simulation to be perIormed and
the input signal spectrum is limited to the range that is
interesting Ior us.
The results shown on Fig. 4 are attained by launching
EDFA input with 21 single-wavelength signals with channel
spacing oI 1 nm, placed on the wavelength range Irom 1540 to
1560 nm and each oI them has 13 dBm power (or total input
power is equal to 0 dBm).
It can be clearly seen that the maximum gain Ilatness is
obtained when

is equal to 10 m. Then the gain

is 17.2 + 0.4 dB and the quantum eIIiciency oI the optimized
ampliIier is approximately 59 , which is a typical value Ior
EDFA applied Ior single-wavelength ampliIication.
Fig. 4. Gain Spectrum when pump 100 mW with 980 nm
and L
EDF
is Irom 8 m to 12 m

The results till now show that when a chosen erbium-doped
Iiber is used, then EDFA in the range Irom 1540 to 1560 nm
can be designed. When the pump laser operates at 980 nm and
its output power is equal to 100 mW and the total input power
is 0 dBm, the gain Ilatness remains lower than 0.4 dB.
When the ampliIier operates in real WDM CATV system,
the optical input power usually diIIers Irom the optimized
value. To clariIy the EDFA behavior, when the total input
power changes, a research with multi-wavelength signal
containing 21 single-wavelength signals within the optimized
range, is conducted. The power oI each single-wavelength
changes by step oI 3 dB in the range oI 19 7 dBm,
thereIore the total input power oI the ampliIier is respectively:
6, 3 , 0, 3 and 6 dBm.
The obtained results oI the simulation are presented on
Fig. 5. It can be seen that any deviation oI the optical input
power Irom the optimum (
1
13 dBm, respectively.

0 dBm), leads to decrease oI the gain Ilatness. This can

be explained by the deviation oI the average level oI inversion
population Irom its optimum value (
2
0.75), that can be
calculated by Iormula (1). Nevertheless, even iI the total level
oI input signals changes twice, i.e.

+ 3 dBm, the gain

changes in the examined range not more than 1 dB.
Fig. 5. Gain Spectrum when pump 100 mW with 980 nm
and
1
is Irom 19 dBm to 7 dBm
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The analysis oI the obtained results show that the total
output power remains almost constant. This guarantees a
stable output level (+ 0.5 dB), which allows easier
calculations oI the optical channel budget.
-
On Fig. 5 are given results oI the simulation which show
how changes in the input power and its wavelength aIIect the
noise Iigure (NF). The value oI this parameter can be
determined by the Iollowing Iormula:



2

. (7)
Fig. 6. Noise Figure Spectrum when pump 100 mW with
980 nm and
1
is Irom 19 dBm to 7 dBm,
It is obvious that the investigated parameter slightly
exceeds the quantum level oI 3 dB and its value remains lower
than 3.8 dB even in the most unIavorable case. The higher
level oI noise in the short wavelengths oI the examined range
is due to the higher values oI gain cross section and the
tendency oI the erbium ions to emit photons spontaneously in
this spectrum range, respectively.
V. CONCLUSION
The perIormed simulations show that the researched EDFA
scheme can ensure Ilat gain oI the optical signals at
wavelengths Irom 1540 nm to 1560 nm. When an EDFA is
launched with 21 single-wavelength signals with channel
spacing oI 1 nm, placed on the wavelength range Irom 1540 to
1560 nm and each oI them has 13 dBm power (or total input
power is equal to 0 dBm), then the obtained ampliIier gain is
17.2 + 0.4 dB. In the same time the gain Ilatness remains
approximately + 0.5 dB, even iI the total input power changes
twice. This ensures stable output level (+ 0.5 dB) and noise
Iigure lower than 3.8 dB.
REFERENCES
|1| P. Becker, N. Olsson and J. Simpson, Erbium-Doped Fiber
AmpliIier Fundamental and Technologies, Academic Press.
1997.
|2| N. Suong and Ph. Hop, Simulation oI the Gain Characteristics
oI EDFA, ISEEE 2005, ConIerence Proceeding, pp. 37-41,
HCM City, Vietnam, 2005.
|3| E. Desurvire, C. Giles, J. Zyskind and all oI N.J., Erbium-
Doped Fiber AmpliIier, US Patent 5027079, 1991.
|4| N. Mohan, Erbium-Doped Fiber AmpliIier: Modeling and
Simulation Using VHDL-AMS, Course Project Report ECE-
770, Ontario.
|5| L. Jordanova and V. Topchiev, Optimizing the Parameters oI
AmpliIiers used in the Optical Channel oI CATV Systems,
Telecom 2008, ConIerence Proceedings, pp. 206-211, Varna,
Bulgaria, 2008.
|6| Optical AmpliIier: EDFA, EECS 290Q, CCH Lecture 3,
September 25, 2001.
|7| St. Pinter, J. Jiang and X. Fernando, A Dynamic Multi-
Wavelength Simulink Model Ior EDFA, ConIerence
Proceedings, CCECE 2004 - CCGEI 2004, Niagara Falls, May
2004.
|8| Li Qian, Experiment on Erbium-Doped Fiber AmpliIiers,
Advanced Labs Ior Special Topics in Photonics (ECE 1640H),
University oI Toronto, April, 1998.
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