Booster EDFAs in RZ-coded links: Are they average-power limited?

Martin Pauer; Peter J. Winzer; Walter R. Leeb

doi:10.1117/12.430774

20 June 2001 Booster EDFAs in RZ-coded links: Are they average-power limited?

Martin Pauer, Peter J. Winzer, Walter R. Leeb

Proceedings Volume 4272, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XIII; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.430774
Event: Photonics West 2001 - LASE, 2001, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

We analyze the properties of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) with respect to the gain provided for RZ input pulses of various duty cycles, but at a constant average input power. For representative data rates the EDFA is average power limited, i.e. the gain of the amplifier is determined by the average input power only, regardless of the RZ duty cycle. The time constants associated with the gain dynamics depend on the peak input power of the pulses, which justifies a detailed comparison between NRZ and RZ operation. We derive a dynamic model of the fiber amplifier, treating the erbium doped fiber as a basic three level laser system and neglecting the influence of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). The results from our model are valid whenever saturation of the EDFA due to ASE can be neglected, i.e. for sufficiently large input signal levels. The numerical calculations show that average power limitation can be assumed for data rates above a certain threshold rate; depending on the pump power, threshold values for the data rate are found to be on the order of several hundred kbit/s. Further, the predictions of the theoretical model are confirmed by experimental verifications.

Citation Download Citation

Martin Pauer, Peter J. Winzer, and Walter R. Leeb "Booster EDFAs in RZ-coded links: Are they average-power limited?", Proc. SPIE 4272, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XIII, (20 June 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.430774

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