Gain Characteristic of Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier

Lihua Zhanga,b,c, Yungang Dub, Ying Xia, Jijun Li *b, Chunwang Zhaob
a
State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Research Center of Remote Sensing & GIS,
b
Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China 100875; School of Science, Inner Mongolia
c
University of Technology, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China 010051; National Satellite
Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China 100081

ABSTRACT

In the design of Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA), improving flat-gain has great important significance. The
working principle and gain characteristics of EDFA are introduced briefly, the influence of the factors such as Erbium-
doped fiber (EDF) length and pump power on the gain of EDFA is analyzed in detail, and the simulation experiments
were carried out with Optisystem software. The result shows that, when pump power is constant, with EDF length
departing the optimal value, the gain of each channel decreases at different degrees; when EDF length is constant, with
pump power departing the optimal value, the gain of each channel changes at different degrees. Moreover, Er3+
concentration has significant effect on the gain, and there is an optimal Er3+ concentration to get the largest gain.
Keywords: Optical communications, EDFA, Gain characteristic

1. INTRODUCTION
Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) was first successfully developed in University Of Southampton of Britain in 1985.
It is one of the greatest inventions in Optical Fiber Communications [1~3]. The research on EDFA has made great
breakthrough from the beginning of the late 1980s. Now, EDFA has become the most widely used amplifier in optical
fiber communications and greatly promoted the development of optical fiber communications due to its high gain, wide
frequency band, low noise, high efficiency, low splice loss, polarization insensitive etc.[4,5] . At present, “EDFA +
DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) + non zero dispersion fiber (NZDF) + photonic integrated circuits
(PIC)” has become the main technology direction of international long distance high speed optical fiber communication
lines.
The working principle and gain characteristics of EDFA are introduced briefly, the influence of the factors such as EDF
length and pump power on the gain of EDFA is analyzed in detail, and the simulation experiments were carried out with
Optisystem software. The result shows that, when pump power is constant, with EDF length departing the optimal value,
the gains of 16 channels decrease at different degrees; when EDF length is constant, with pump power departing the
optimal value, the gains of 16 channels change at different degrees. Moreover, Er3+ concentration has significant effect
on the gain, and there is an optimal Er3+ concentration to get the largest gain.

2. THE PRINCIPLE AND GAIN OF EDFA

An EDFA consists of an erbium-doped fiber, one or more pump lasers, a wavelength division multiplexer, and optical
isolators, as shown in Fig.1. Both EDF and pump lasers are the key devices of EDFA. The Wavelength Division

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 68407414; E-mail address: lijjtom@yahoo.com.cn

Supports were provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40671131) and the Special Funds of National
Satellite Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration (No. GYHY (QX) 2007-6-46).

2008 International Conference on Optical Instruments and Technology: Advanced Sensor Technologies and Applications,
edited by Anbo Wang, YanBiao Liao, AiGuo Song, Yukihiro Ishii, Xudong Fan, Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 7157, 715714
© 2009 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/09/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.807099

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 Multiplexer handles either 980/1550-nm or1480/1550-nm wavelength combinations to couple both the pump and signal
optical power efficiently into the fiber amplifier. The optical isolators prevent the amplified signal from reflecting back
into the device, where it could increase the amplifier noise and decrease its efficiency. Both EDF and high power
pumping source are key devices [4~6].
Adopting erbium doped single-mode fiber as the gain medium. EDFA creates the population inversion under the action
of the pump light and realizes the stimulated emission amplification induced by the signal light. The pump light is
usually injected from the same direction as the signal flow. This is known as codirectional pumping. It is also possible to
inject the pump power in the opposite direction to the signal flow, which is known as counter-directional pumping.
counter-directional pumping allows higher gains, but codirectional pumping gives better noise performance. In addition,
pumping at 980 nm is preferred, since it produces less noise and achieves larger population inversions than pumping at
1480 nm.

Pump laser

EDF

Signal in Signal out

Wavelength Division Multiplexer

Opticalisolator Opticalisolator

Fig. 1. The architecture of an EDFA

As one of the most important parameters of an EDFA, the signal gain or amplifier gain G represents the amplification
ability of EDFA, which is defined as

Pout
G = 10 log
Pin

Where Pin and Pout are the input and output power, respectively, of the optical signal being amplified.
The amplifier gain G is affected by many factors, such as Er3+ concentration, the fiber length and pump power etc. When
the pump power is given, the amplifier gain remains unchanged with input power increasing at lower input power.
However, when the pump power increases to a certain value (generally is -20dBm), the amplifier gain decreases with
input power increasing, and eventually starts to saturation [7]. This paper mainly discusses the small-signal gain of
EDFA.

3. THE MAIN FACTORS INFLUENCING THE GAIN OF EDFA

3+
The Er ion’s widths of the metastable and ground-state levels allow high levels of stimulated emissions to occur in the
1530-to-1560-nm range [4]. Beyond 1560 nm, the gain decreases steadily until it reaches 0dB (unity gain) at around 1616
nm. . So EDFA can be used to amplify signal in the 1530-to-1560-nm range, but the gain of different wavelength signal
is different. When the pump wavelength is 980nm, the wavelength region of the input signals is 1546-1560nm, and the
input power is -23.5dBm, the flattened small -signal gain spectrum of 16 channels in WDM system is shown in Fig.2 by
reasonable selection the length of EDF (5.778m) and pump power (26.64mW). (In order to make a clear comparison, we

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 use output power as ordinate from Fig.2 to Fig.6.). The effect of the length of EDF, Er3+ concentration, and pump power
etc. factors on the gain of EDFA is discussed here.

L-5. lTbii,
Jp26. 64ir

I.

r
£
1.55 1.56
Way eleng fit 'i rn
Fig. 2. The output power of each channel when both pump
power and EDF length are at the optimal values

3.1 The effect of the length of EDF on the gain of EDFA

EDF is the core component of EDFA. The length change of EDF directly affects the amplified ability of EDFA. When
pump power is at the optimal value of 26.64mW, the effect of the length of EDF on the gain of EDFA is discussed here.

（1）When the length of EDF is less than the optimal value 5.778m, the variety of output power of each channel is
shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. From the figures, we can see that as the length of EDF decreases, the gain of each channel
starts to decrease because of the limitation of EDF length, but the reduced degree is different which makes the flatness of
gain spectrum worse.

L2.
Fp26.

I
Way e1engh 'irn

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 Fig.3. When the pump power is at optimal value, the variety of the output power
of each channel with the EDF length decreasing compared to Fig.2

（2）When the length of EDF is more than the optimal value 5.778m, the variety of output power of each channel is
shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4. From the figures, we can see that as the length of EDF increases for low pumping power, the
gain of each channel starts to decrease after a certain length because the pump does not have enough energy to create a
complete population inversion in the downward portion of the amplifier. In this case, the unpumped region of the fiber
absorbs the signal, thus resulting in signal loss rather than gain in that section.

L8. TT;E;rn,
?2B, 4rn

155 1.56
Way eleng th 'pi in
Fig.4. When the pump power is at optimal value, the variety of the output power
of each channel with the EDF length increasing compared to Fig.2

3.2 The effect of Er3+ concentration on the gain of EDFA

Er3+ doping concentration has significant effect on the gain too. If Er3+ doping concentration is too low, the excited state
will be depleted. So the optical signal amplification is limited to the smaller ion number available. But a too heavy
doping can result in the quenching mechanism due to cross-relaxations and ion-pair upconversions. This mechanism
reduces the pump efficiency and consequently the signal gain [8~10].

3.3 The effect of the pump power on the gain of EDFA

Pump power is an important factor that affects the gain of EDFA. When the length of EDF is at the optimal value of
5.778m, the effect of the pump power on the gain of EDFA is discussed here.
(1) When the pump power is less than the optimal value 26.64mW, the variety of output power of each channel is shown
in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5. From the figures, we can see that as the pump power decreases for low pumping power, the gain of
each channel starts to decrease, which makes the flatness of gain spectrum worse.
(2) When the pump power is more than the optimal value 26.64mW, the variety of output power of each channel is
shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 6. From the figures, we can see that as the pump power increases, the gain of each channel starts
to increase, but the increased degree is different which makes the flatness of gain spectrum worse.
It is obvious that the higher pump power is not better, and there is an optimal value nearby which the flattened gain
Spectrum of EDFA can be gained.

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 L. 778in,
Fp16. 64nii

1+5 1.56
WaIøngtJ ii
Fig.5. When the EDF length is at optimal value, the variety of the output power
of each channel with the pump power decreasing compared to Fig.2

L5 77rn,
?;i1. BrTi

1 I .56
av elength 'rn

Fig.6. When the EDF length is at optimal value, the variety of the output power
of each channel with the pump power increasing compared to Fig.2

4. CONCLUSIONS
Based on the analysis above, some conclusions can be drawn as follows:

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 (1) The gain of each channel decreases with EDF length decreasing, and the gains of longer-wavelength channels
decrease more rapidly. The gain of each channel decreases with EDF length increasing, and the gains of shorter-
wavelength channels decrease more rapidly;
(2) The gain of each channel decreases with the pump power decreasing, and the gains of shorter--wavelength channels
decrease more rapidly. The gain of each channel increases with the pump power increasing, and the gains of shorter -
wavelength channels increase more rapidly.
(3) Er3+ concentration has significant effect on the gain, and there is an optimal Er3+ concentration to get the largest
gain.
Therefore, in order to make it to work in the best condition, it is needed to select suitable pump power and the length of
EDF on the basis of structure parameters of EDF in the design of EDFA

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