Enhanced Erbium-Zirconia-Yttria-Aluminum Co-Doped Fiber Amplifier

• Main Authors: Ahmad, H. (Author), Bhadra, S.K (Author), Das, S. (Author), Dhar, A. (Author), Hamzah, A. (Author), Harun, S.W (Author), Markom, A.M (Author), Pal, M. (Author), Paul, M.C (Author), Rosli, N.S (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2015
• Subjects: Absorption loss; Aluminum; Aluminum coatings; Broadband amplifiers; Chemical vapor deposition; Co-doped; Erbium; Erbium doped fiber amplifiers; Erbium doped fibers; Erbium-doped fiber; Fiber amplifiers; Fibers; Input signal power; Modified chemical vapor depositions; Optical switches; Solution doping; Wavelength regions; Wide-band; wideband optical amplifier; Yttrium alloys; Zirconia; Zirconia Yttria Aluminum co-doped fiber; Zirconium
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus

 An efficient optical amplifier is demonstrated using an improved erbium-zirconia-yttria-aluminum co-doped fiber (Zr-EDF) as the gain medium. With a combination of both Zr and Al, we could achieve a high erbium doping concentration with an absorption loss of around 80.0 dB/m at 980 nm. The Zr-EDF is obtained from a fiber preform, which is fabricated in a ternary glass host, i.e., a zirconia-yttria-aluminum co-doped silica fiber, using a modified chemical vapor deposition, in conjunction with a solution doping process. At the optimum length of 1 m, the Zr-EDF amplifier produces a flat gain of 38 dB within a wavelength region between 1530 and 1565 nm with a gain variation of less than 3 dB when the input signal power and 980 nm pump power are fixed at    0 dBm and 130 mW, respectively. The highest gain of 40.3 dB is obtained at 1560 nm wavelength. Compared with the previous Zr-EDF amplifier, the proposed Zr-EDFA shows improved gain, particularly at longer wavelengths. The gain is enhanced by about 15.8 dB at a wavelength of 1560 nm for an input signal of-   0 dBm. © 2015 IEEE.