Performance comparison of enhanced Erbium–Zirconia–Yttria–Aluminum co-doped conventional erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

• Published in: Optik (Stuttgart) 2017-03, Vol.132, p.75-79
• Main Authors: Markom, A.M., Paul, M.C., Dhar, A., Das, S., Pal, M., Bhadra, S.K., Dimyati, K., Yasin, M., Harun, S.W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Erbium–Zirconia–Yttria–Aluminum co-doped fiber amplifier; Flat-gain amplifier; Zirconia based erbium-doped fiber
• ISSN: 0030-4026; 1618-1336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2016.12.041

A new Erbium–Zirconia–Yttria–Aluminum co-doped fiber amplifier (Zr-EDFA) with improved gain and noise figure characteristics is successfully demonstrated using a newly developed Erbium–Zirconia–Yttria–Aluminum Co-Doped fiber (Zr-EDF) as the gain medium. The fiber consists of Er2O3-doped ZrO2 rich nano-crystalline particles and thus it has a high erbium doping concentration with absorption pump power around 80.0dB/m at 980nm. Compared to the conventional silica based Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (Si-EDFA), the gain of the proposed Zr-EDFA is more efficient especially at longer wavelength region. At input signal of −10dBm, a flat gain of 19.5dB is obtained for the single-pass Zr-EDFA with gain variation of less than 1dB within a wavelength region from 1530 to 1570nm. In double-pass configuration, the measured gain varies from 17.5dB to 21.3dB within the wavelength region from 1525 to 1565nm, where the noise figure is maintained at below 10dB. The double-pass Zr-EDFA gain is also maintained above 12dB within a wavelength region from 1520 to 1600nm. These results indicate that the Zr-EDFA can achieve even better flat-gain value and bandwidth as well as lower noise figure than the conventional Si-EDFA