Unit8 SOA

1 Optical Fiber Communication: UNIT 8
Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Optical Amplifiers-the Basics
2 Amplifier Types and Applications
Amplifiers are used to overcome fiber

loss
They are used in 4 basic applications:
In-line amplifiers for periodic power

boosting
Power Amplifier to increase the power

to greater levels than possible from
the source
Pre-amplifier to increase the received

power sensitivity
3 Characteristics of all amplifiers
 They operate by creating a population inversion, where

there are more individuals in a high energy state than in a
lower one
 The incoming pulses of signal on the fiber induce
stimulated emission
 They saturate above a certain signal power
 They add noise to the signal
4 Comparison of Real and Ideal
Amplifier

5 Inhomogeneous Gain Broadening

Inhomogeneous broadening
The individual atomic responses

within and inhomogeneously
broadened transition all add up to
yield the measured lineshape
A Gaussian inhomogeneously
broadened atomic lineshape such as
produced by doppler broadening in
atoms
Lasers-Siegman
6 Interaction of Atoms with Light

Ideal7 Amplifier System
Third excited state with very short lifetime,

no fluorescence
Second excited state with very long

lifetime and high cross section for
stimulated emission
Pump process
with large cross Energy gap between first and
section second excited states matches
telecommunication frequencies
First excited state with very short

lifetime
8 Amplified Spontaneous Emission

Laser Amplifiers
9
10 Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

Fiber Optics Communication Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner
Types of SOA
11

Fabry-Perot Amplifier
High gain but non-uniform gain spectrum
Traveling wave amplifier

Broadband but very low facet reflectivities are needed
Gain as a function of frequency

Ripples are caused by the cavity modes
The overall gain curve is due to the width of the
atomic transition in the semi-conductor
Fundamentals fo Multiaccess Optical Fiber Networks

Dennis J. G. Mestgagh
12 Amplifier Bandwidths

Comparison of the bandwidths of Fabry Perot and Traveling wave amplifiers

13 Traveling Wave SOA
To make a traveling wave Semiconductor

Optical Amplifier the Fabry-Perot cavity
resonances must be supressed. To
accomplish this the reflectivity must be
reduced.
Three approaches are commonly used:
Anti-reflection coating
Tilted Active Region
Use of transparent window regions

14 Undesired effects in an SOA
Cross saturation can cause undesired
coupling between channels

•This can be used for wave length
conversion and “controlling light
with light”
If used for multiple channels in a switched

network gain must be adjusted as channels
are added and dropped
Four wave mixing is also quite

pronounced in SOAs
•Causes undesired coupling of light
between channels
•Can however also be used to
advantage in wavelength converters.
High coupling loss

Fiber Optics Communication Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner Polarization sensitive gain
15 Semiconductor amplifier advantages

 Are the right size to be integrated with
waveguide photonic devices (short path length
requirement)
 Can easily be integrated as preamplifiers at the
receiver end
 Use same technology as diode lasers
 Gain relatively independent of wavelength
 Are pumped with current, not another laser
16 Semiconductor amplifier
disadvantages

 Polarization dependence
 Self-phase modulation leading to chirp
 Cross-phase modulation
 Four-wave mixing and crosstalk
 Extremely short (ns) excited state
lifetimes
Optically Amplified Systems
EDFA = Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier
Optical Amplification
Variety of optical amplifier types exist, including:

 Semiconductor optical amplifiers
 Optical fibre amplifiers (Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers)
 Distributed fibre amplifiers (Raman Amplifiers)
Optical fibre amplifiers are now the most common type
One of the most successful optical processing functions
Also used as a building block in DWDM systems

Overview
Erbium doped fibre amplifiers
Amplifier applications
Issues: Gain flattening and Noise
Raman amplification
Basic EDF Amplifier Design
 Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) most common
 Commercially available since the early 1990’s
 Works best in the range 1530 to 1565 nm
 Gain up to 30 dB (1000 photons out per photon in!)
 Optically transparent
 “Unlimited” RF bandwidth Input Coupler Isolator
 Wavelength transparent
1480 or 980
nm Pump Output
Laser
Erbium Doped Fiber
Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifier
 A pump optical signal is added to an input signal by a WDM coupler

 Within a length of doped fibre part of the pump energy is transferred to the input
signal by stimulated emission
 For operation circa 1550 nm the fibre dopant is Erbium
 Pump wavelength is 980 nm or 1480 nm, pump power circa 50 mW
 Gains of 30-40 dB possible
Isolator Isolator
Input WDM Output

Erbium Doped
Fibre
Pump Source
= Fusion Splice
Source: Master 7_5

Interior of an Erbium Doped Fibre Amplfier
(EDFA)
Pump laser
WDM Fibre coupler
Erbium
doped fibre
loop
Fibre
input/output
Source: Master 7_5

Operation of an EDFA
Power
Power level
Power level
interchange
between
pump and
980 nm 1550 nm data data signals 980 nm 1550 nm data
signal signal signal signal
Isolator Isolator
Input Output
WDM
Erbium Doped
Fibre
= Fusion Splice Pump Source

Physics of an EDFA
Erbium Properties
 Erbium: rare element with phosphorescent properties
 Photons at 1480 or 980 nm activate
electrons into a metastable state
 Electrons falling back emit light in
the 1550 nm range
540
 Spontaneous emission
670
 Occurs randomly (time constant ~1 ms)
820
 Stimulated emission
980
 By electromagnetic wave
Metastable
 Emitted wavelength & phase are 1480
identical to incident one state
Ground state
Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers
Consists of a short (typically ten metres or so) section of fibre which has a small
controlled amount of the rare earth element erbium added to the glass in the form of
an ion (Er3+).
The principle involved is the principle of a laser.
When an erbium ion is in a high-energy state, a photon of light will stimulate it to give
up some of its energy (also in the form of light) and return to a lower-energy (more
stable) state (“stimulated emission”).
The laser diode in the diagram generates a high-powered (between 10 and 200mW)
beam of light at a wavelength such that the erbium ions will absorb it and jump to
their excited state. (Light at either 980 or 1,480 nm wavelengths.)

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1 Optical Fiber Communication: UNIT 8

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

They are used in 4 basic applications:

In-line amplifiers for periodic power

Power Amplifier to increase the power

Pre-amplifier to increase the received

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

The individual atomic responses

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Second excited state with very long

First excited state with very short

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Traveling wave amplifier

Gain as a function of frequency

Fundamentals fo Multiaccess Optical Fiber Networks

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Fiber Optics Communication Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Three approaches are commonly used:

Tilted Active Region

Use of transparent window regions

Fiber Optics Communication Technology-Mynbaev & Scheiner

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

If used for multiple channels in a switched

Four wave mixing is also quite

High coupling loss

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Dept. of ECE, ATMECE

Variety of optical amplifier types exist, including:

 Optical fibre amplifiers (Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers)

 Distributed fibre amplifiers (Raman Amplifiers)

Optical fibre amplifiers are now the most common type

One of the most successful optical processing functions

Also used as a building block in DWDM systems

Erbium doped fibre amplifiers

Issues: Gain flattening and Noise

 A pump optical signal is added to an input signal by a WDM coupler

Input WDM Output

Source: Master 7_5

Source: Master 7_5

= Fusion Splice Pump Source

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