Inherent enhancement of gain flatness and achievement of broad gain bandwidth in erbium-doped silica fiber amplifiers

We report new methods to inherently increase the flatness and bandwidth of erbium-doped silica fiber amplifiers from three perspectives: fiber design, pump-signal WDM coupler optimization, and amplifier structure. First, to achieve inherent control of the gain spectrum, a new type of composite fiber structure with an Er-doped core and a Sm-doped cladding ring is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Interaction of the optical field with the Sm-doped cladding to produce evanescent wave filtering is modeled, which provides an in-line control of gain fluctuation in the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) C band, 1530-1560 nm. Second, the effect of the spectral characteristics of WDM couplers over the L band of an EDFA is explored. A fused taper fiber coupler for a 1480-nm pump is optimized for signals in the wavelength range of 1570-1610 nm by measuring the small-signal gain, gain tilt, and noise figure in an L-band EDFA. Finally, a new all-fiber structure for a wide-band EDFA, where the L and C bands were coupled serially, is demonstrated with optimized pump-signal couplers. Further optimization of the new composite fiber structure and the transient effects in the serially coupled EDFAs are also discussed.