Effect of pump laser noise on an erbium-doped fiber-amplified signal

The effect of pump laser noise on erbium-doped fiber-amplifier (EDFA) output was investigated using an optically pumped semiconductor laser (OPSL) as a high-power pump. Measurements included pump and amplified signal relative intensity noise (RIN) in frequency and time domains as well as gain spectral measurements and 10-Gb/s Q-factor tests, all under several levels of backreflection to the pump laser. Time-domain low-frequency noise (<50 kHz) was observed to increase with increasing backreflection. With 150-mW OPSL output power and -28 dB backreflection, temporal RIN was /spl sim/3.4% for the pump and /spl sim/2.2% for the amplified signal. At a maximum pump power of 450 mW, RIN was 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively. The measured Q-factor of 12.5 dB at 10 Gb/s showed less than 0.5-dB penalty compared to a back-to-back system measurement of 13 dB. Power budget and operating specifications of an OPSL-pumped multicoil EDFA were also evaluated.