Gain flatness comparison between erbium-doped fluoride and silica fiber amplifiers with wavelength-multiplexed signals

Author

Clesca, B. ; Ronarc, D. ; Bayart, D. ; Sorel, Y. ; Hamon, L. ; Guibert, M. ; Beylat, J.L. ; Kerdiles, J.F. ; Semenkoff, M.

Author_Institution

Alcatel Alsthom Recherche, Marcoussis, France

Volume

6

Issue

4

fYear

1994

fDate

4/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

509

Lastpage

512

Abstract

With the ever growing interest in wavelength division multiplexing transmission systems, the need for an optical amplifier with a large bandwidth is more and more necessary. Unlike the standard erbium-doped silica fiber amplifiers, the fluoride-based fiber amplifiers display more uniform gain spectra. The benefit expected from fluoride amplifiers with multiwavelength signals has been experimentally assessed through comparisons in single- and cascaded-amplifiers configurations. Four db gain flatness was achieved with four wavelength-multiplexed signals extending over 23 nm after three fluoride amplifiers while 15 dB gain unbalance was observed after three silica amplifiers. This result shows that fluoride amplifiers may be of the utmost relevance for multiwavelength transport systems.<>

Keywords

erbium; fibre lasers; optical communication equipment; optical links; wavelength division multiplexing; 15 dB; Er-doped fluoride fiber amplifiers; Er-doped silica fiber amplifiers; ZBLAN:Er; ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF:Er; cascaded-amplifiers; gain flatness; gain spectra; gain unbalance; large bandwidth; multiwavelength signals; multiwavelength transport systems; optical amplifier; silica amplifiers; wavelength division multiplexing transmission systems; wavelength-multiplexed signals; Bandwidth; Displays; Erbium-doped fiber amplifier; Gain; Optical amplifiers; Optical fiber amplifiers; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Silicon compounds; Stimulated emission; Wavelength division multiplexing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.281811

Filename

281811