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Module 4.optical Amplifiers

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Preetham M. C Preetham M. C
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33 views

Module 4.optical Amplifiers

Uploaded by

Preetham M. C Preetham M. C
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Optical Fiber Communications

Module 4.OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS

By
Dr. Venkateswara Rao kolli
Associate Professor
ECE,MCE.
Syllabus
OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS:
1.Optical amplifiers,
2.Basic applications
3.Amplifier types,
4.Semiconductor optical amplifiers,
5.EDFA
1.Optical Amplifier

Fig. 8.1.1 Basic operation of


optical amplifier.

•Fig. 8.1.1 shows basic operation of optical amplifier.


•Most optical amplifiers amplify incident light through stimulated emission.
•An optical amplifier is nothing but a LASER without feedback.
• All the optical amplifiers increase the power level of incident light through a
stimulated emission or an optical power transmission process.
• An optical amplifier can boost incoming signal level but can’t generate a coherent
optical output by itself.
The external pump source energy is absorbed by the electrons in the medium.
By absorbing energy from external source pump, electrons in the active medium
raises to higher level results in “population inversion”.
 An incoming signal photon will trigger these exited electrons to drop to lower
levels through a stimulated emission process.
Photon of equal energy will be emitted. Results is amplified optical signal.
2.Basic Applications

Power Amp
Configurations
Basic Applications(cont…)
In-line amplifiers:
An inline optical amplifier can be used to compensate for transmission loss
and increase the distance between regenerative repeaters.
• Installed every 30 to 70 km along a link
• Good noise figure, medium output power
• Low transmission loss, increased repeater spacing
Power (boosters) amplifier:
• This serve to increase the transmission distance .
• Up to +17 dBm power, amplifies transmitter output
• Increase the transmission distance by 10-100km
• Using boosting technique , can enable repeater less transmission
• distance of 200-250 km
• Compensate couple-insertion loss, power splitting loss
• Used in cable TV systems before a star coupler
Pre-amplifiers:
These are used as a front-end preamplifier for an optical receivers. The weak
signal is amplified ,SNR caused by thermal noise can be suppressed.
• Low noise amplifier in front of receiver
• Provides larger gain factor and broader bandwidth
3.Optical amplifier Types

• Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA).

• Doped Fiber Amplifier (DFA).


Semiconductor Optical/Laser Amplifiers (SOAs/SLAs)

Simple SOA are almost the same as regular index-guided FP lasers. The back facet is
pigtailed to allow the input of signal light.

The main problem is that it has been difficult to make SOAs longer than about 450 m.

In this short distance there is not sufficient gain available on a single pass through the
device for useful amplification to be obtained.

One solution to this is to retain the reflective facets (mirrors) characteristic of laser
operation.

Typical SOAs have a mirror reflectivity of around 30%.

Thus the signal has a chance to reflect a few times within the cavity and obtain useful
amplification.
Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)(cont…)
•SOA is a Laser diode without end mirrors and with antireflection coating coupled
to both fiber ends.

•Light coming in either fiber is amplified by a single pass through the laser diode.

•SOA is an alternative to EDFA.

•Active medium consists of alloy semiconductor (P, Ga, In, As).


•SOA works in both low attenuation windows i.e. 1300nm and 1550nm.
•The 3dB bandwidth is about 70nm because of very broad gain spectrum.
• SOA consumes less power and has fewer components.

• Two major types of SOA are –


• a. Fabry - perot amplifier (FPA)
• b. Travelling wave amplifier (TWA)
•SOA has rapid gain response 1 ps to 0.1 ns.
Amplifier gain versus power
Gain vs. Wavelength

• 40-80 nm, InGaAs/InGaAsP. Single SOA


Spanning from 1250-1650 nm
Gain vs. Output Power

• An SOA has a Saturation Output Power


Output Power

• SOAs are linear for small input powers.


5.Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers

•The active medium in an optical fiber amplifier consists of a nominally 10 to 30 m


length of optical fiber that has been tightly doped with a rare-earth element such as
Erbium (Er), Ytterbium (Yb), Neodymium (Nd) or Praseodymium (Pr ).
•The host fiber material can be either standard silica, a fluoride-based glass or a
multi component glass.
•The operating regions of these devices depends on the host material and the
doping elements.
•Flourozirconate glasses doped with Pr or Nd are used for operation in the 1300-nm
window, since neither of these ions can amplify 1300 nm signals when embedded in
silica glass.
EDFA(cont…)
•The most popular material for long haul telecommunication application is a
silica fiber doped with Erbium, which is known as Erbium-doped fiber
amplifier or EDFA.
•The operation of an EDFA by itself normally is limited to the 1530 to 1560 nm
region and 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.)
EDFA(cont…)
EDFA has revolutionized optical communications
• All optical and fiber compatible
• Wide bandwidth, 20~70 nm
• High gain, 20~40 dB
• High output power, >200mW
• Bit rate, modulation format, power and wavelength
insensitive
• Low distortion and low noise (NF<5dB)
Technical Characteristics of EDFA
EDFAs have a number of attractive technical
characteristics:
•Efficient pumping
•Minimal polarisation sensitivity
•Low insertion loss
•High output power (this is not gain but raw amount of possible
•output power)
•Low noise
•Very high sensitivity
•Low distortion and minimal interchannel crosstalk
EDFA Architecture
EDFA Operation
1. A (relatively) high-powered beam of light is mixed with the input signal
using a wavelength selective coupler.
2. The mixed light is guided into a section of fibre with erbium ions included in
the core.
3. This high-powered light beam excites the erbium ions to their higher-
energy state.
4. When the photons belonging to the signal (at a different wavelength from
the pump light) meet the excited erbium atoms, the erbium atoms give up
some of their energy to the signal and return to their lower-energy state.
5. A significant point is that the erbium gives up its energy in the form of
additional photons which are exactly in the same phase and direction as
the signal being amplified.
6. There is usually an isolator placed at the output to prevent reflections
returning from the attached fibre. Such reflections disrupt amplifier
operation and in the extreme case can cause the amplifier to become a
laser!
EDFA(cont…)

Figure : Spectral Distribution of Spontaneous noise in EDFA

EDFA has a broadband type of amplification over a band of about 30nm. However,
due to the non-flat nature of the curve in the said band, the amplification of
different wavelengths in the band is different
EDFA(cont…)
The power conversion efficiency (PCE) in case of the above amplifier is
defined by the following relationship:

Its quantum conversion efficiency (QCE) is defined below:

The QCE is, in fact, the photon conversion efficiency of the EDFA. The gain
(G) of an EDFA can be defined as given below:
EDFA(cont…)
For low optical input signal powers, and the gain of the
amplifier is given by:

This equation explains the initial high gain of the EDFA at low
input signal power levels. However, for input signal powers
comparable to or larger than the pump input powers:

The maximum value of input signal power, for a given gain


and pump input, power is given below:
Gain Saturation

Psat  Gmax 
G  1  ln 
Pin  G 

 Output saturation power is defined as the output power when gain


drops by 3db
 Power amplifiers usually operate at saturation.
 Saturation gain is lower than the unsaturated one.
Amplifier gain versus power
Gain versus Amplifier length
Gain versus pump level
Gain Flattening Concept
References
1. "Optical Fiber Communication”, Gerd Keiser, 4th Ed., MGH, 2008.

2. "Optical Fiber Communications", John M. Senior, Pearson Education. 3rd


Impresson, 2007.

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