A 23 dB bismuth doped optical fiber amplifier for a 1700 nm band
It is now almost twenty five years since the first Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated. Currently, the EDFA is one of the most important elements widely used in different kinds of fiber optic communication systems. However, driven by a constantly increasing demand, the network traffic, growing exponentially over decades, will lead to the overload of these systems "capacity crunch" because the operation of the EDFA is limited to a spectral region of 1530 1610 nm. It will require a search for new technologies and, in this respect, the development of optical amplifiers for new spectral regions can be a promising approach. Most of fiber optic amplifiers are created using rare earth doped materials. As a result, wide bands in shorter (1150 1530 nm) and longer wavelength (1600 1750 nm) regions with respect to the gain band of Er doped fibers are still uncovered. Here we report on the development of a novel fiber amplifier operating in a spectral region of 1640 1770 nm pumped by commercially available laser diodes at 1550 nm. This amplifier was realized using bismuth doped high germania silicate fibers fabricated by MCVD technique.
Scientific reports