35 AM-VSB TV CHANNELS DISTRIBUTION WITH HIGH SIGNAL QUALITY USING A 1480-NM DIODE-PUMPED ERBIUM-DOPED FIBER POSTAMPLIFIER

We experimented with a 1480 nm laser diode-pumped erbium-doped fiber postamplifier in a 35 AM-VSB TV channels distribution system. The postamplifier, with an output power of + 9.6 dBm, did not degrade the very high linearity of the isolated DFB laser transmitter. A 51.2 dB weighted signal-to-noise ratio was obtained and an optical power budget of 16 dB was achieved with a weighted signal-to-noise ratio higher than 48 dB. A larger power budget with higher SNR will be possible with an increase of DFB laser output power and EDFA saturated output power, and with a minimization of EDFA noise contribution.