Efficient and Compact Optical Amplifier Using EYDF

Abstract

An efficient Erbium/Ytterbium doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA) is demonstrated using a 1058nm pumping wavelength, where the amplification is assisted by energy transfer between Yb and Er ions. The energy transfer increases the limit of erbium doping concentration that is imposed by concentration quenching in Erbium-doped fiber (EDF). Therefore, the gain and noise figure are severely degraded with 1480 nm pumping, where the energy transfer cannot be achieved. The use of optical isolator improves the small signal gain and noise figure by about 4.8 dB and 1.6 dB, respectively. By employing a double-pass configuration, a higher gain can be obtained with an expense of a noise figure penalty. The gain improvement of 17.0 dB is obtained at 20 mW and -50 dBm of pump and input signal powers. This shows that the double-pass configuration is an important aspect to consider when designing an efficient EYDFA.