CHARACTERIZATION OF ERBIUM-DOPED FIBERS AND APPLICATION TO MODELING 980-NM AND 1480-NM PUMPED AMPLIFIERS

Erbium-doped fibers are characterized using loss and gain coefficients, and one amplifier saturation parameter. With a large-signal amplifier model that resolves the amplified spontaneous emission spectrum, these easily measured parameters allow the fiber performance in 980-nm or 1480-nm pumped optical amplifiers to be assessed rapidly. In tests at 980-nm pump wavelength, good agreement between the theoretical and experimentally measured gains was obtained with amplifiers having either germano-silicate or germano-alumino-silicate core fibers.