An All-Optical Remote Gain Switching Scheme for Er-Doped Fiber Amplifiers,

Abstract

Er-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) may find many potential application in optical networks due to their high gain, polarization insensitivity, low noise and immunity to cross-talk. They are especially useful in overcoming splitting losses in multiple access networks. Due to the very long 4I13/2 lifetime of Er3+, fast gain switching, which would be needed for packet switching for instance, is not possible with EDFA's. To direct traffic flow, however, slow gain switching schemes for EDFA's may still be very useful. The purpose of this letter is to demonstrate an optical feedback scheme, which allows remote switching of the gain, all-optically over the transmission fiber without the need for any electrical or mechanical control device.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 22, 1992
Accession Number
ADP007037

Entities

People

  • M. Zirngibl

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amplifiers
  • Colorado
  • Feedback
  • Gain
  • High Gain
  • Immunity
  • Losses
  • Low Noise
  • Multiple Access
  • Noise
  • Optoelectronic Feedback
  • Packet Switching
  • Polarization
  • Switching

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Radio communications and signal processing.