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Optical Amplifiers

The document discusses Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs), which are commonly used to amplify optical signals. EDFAs utilize erbium ions in fiber to stimulate the emission of photons with the same wavelength as the input signal photons, amplifying the signal. They have advantages of being relatively low cost, efficient, and low noise. The document describes the basic structure and energy level diagram of EDFAs and explains their principle of operation, requirements, characteristics, applications, and comparison to Semiconductor Optical/Laser Amplifiers.

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Sriram Narendran
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216 views15 pages

Optical Amplifiers

The document discusses Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs), which are commonly used to amplify optical signals. EDFAs utilize erbium ions in fiber to stimulate the emission of photons with the same wavelength as the input signal photons, amplifying the signal. They have advantages of being relatively low cost, efficient, and low noise. The document describes the basic structure and energy level diagram of EDFAs and explains their principle of operation, requirements, characteristics, applications, and comparison to Semiconductor Optical/Laser Amplifiers.

Uploaded by

Sriram Narendran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA)

• By far the most common type


• First developed (late 80s)
• Advantages
• Relatively low cost
• Efficient
• Low noise
• Part of broader class of amplifiers sometimes referred to as Rare Earth Doped Fiber Amplifiers
(REDFAs)
• Currently only erbium (Er) and praseodymium (Pr) used
• In principle any rare earth could be used
Basic structure of EDFAs
• Utilize principle of laser
• Signal never leaves fiber, never converted to electronic form
• Gain of 1000 or 30 db
• 10 m of fiber doped with Er3+ ions

Source: Dutton
Energy Level Diagram of EDFAs

Excited
State
F as
tD Metastable
e ca
y State
0.98-m pump

0
1.48-m pump

0 0
2 0
4 0
3 Incoming 0
Signal Output Gain Photons
1 Photon plus Signal Photon
Ground Spontaneous Emission Gain
State Noise
(1.53 << 1.56 m)

USC
Optical
Communications
Laboratory
Principle of operation
• Erbium ions can exist in several energy states
• Stark Splitting , Thermalization process
• In high energy state, photon can stimulate it to move to lower state and emit
a photon (stimulated emission)
• Idea is to keep pumping Er ions so that chain reaction of photon
emission occurs
• Done by means of “pump laser”
• High powered laser diode 10-200 mw
• 980 nm /1480 nm
Details of operation
• High powered beam of laser light mixed with input signal (excitation
light)
• Excitation, input signal must be at significantly different wavelengths
• Guided into section of fiber with erbium doping
• Excitation light excites erbium atoms to move to high energy state
• Incoming signal stimulate erbium atoms to drop to lower state and
emit photon
• Only a small range of wavelengths can stimulate
• 24 nm wide band
Details of operation (continued)
• Erbium atoms emit photons at same wavelength and in same phase
and direction as incoming photons
• Cascading photons effectively amplify incoming signal
• One incoming photon can lead to 1000 outgoing photons
• Signal amplified in direction of travel only
• Similar to laser action
• Isolator put at output to prevent reflections from returning to
amplifier and disrupting operation
Requirements for EDFA to work
• Need population inversion, as with laser
• Light for pumping ~ 980 nm
• Light for stimulated emission in range 1525-1570 nm
• Light at other wavelengths just passes through with no effect
Pump Source

• 980 nm
• low ASE, low noise amplifier
• 1480 nm
• higher power pump laser
• high output power
• not as efficient
• degree of population inversion is lower
EDFA characteristics
• Gain in db (output power/input power)

• Gain coefficient (signal gain/pump power)

• Bandwidth - range over which amplifier works

• Gain saturation - input level at which no further gain is available

• Polarization sensitivity - change in gain when signal polarization changes 90 o, typically low, ~0.01 to 0.1 db

• Noise - specified as “noise figure”, signal-to-noise ratio at output / signal-to-noise ratio at input
Gain curve for typical EDFA

Source: Dutton
Cascading of EDFAs
• Simple cascading can lead to problems

Source: Dutton

• Necessary to take steps to mitigate such problems


• Operate at ~77o K = -196o C: usually not practical
• Use different dopants along fiber
• Control pump power with feedback loop
• Use special filters
Three applications of EDFAs

Source: Goff, Fiber Optic


Reference Guide
Semiconductor Optical/Laser Amplifiers
(SOAs/SLAs)
• Basic construction is same as FP laser, except that back facet (mirror) allows
light to enter, which is amplified by usual laser mechanism
• Main advantage: can be integrated with other devices on planar substrate
• Cannot be made long, so few passes through amplifier are possible (~450
microns)

Source: Dutton

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