

Optical amplifiers, as their name implies, operate solely in

the optical domain with no interconversion of photons to
electrons
• They are placed at intervals along a fiber link to provide
linear amplification of the transmitted optical signal

Emerged as promising network elements not just for use
as linear repeaters but as optical gain blocks, wavelength
converters, optical receiver pre amplifiers

when used in a non linear mode, as optical gates, pulse
shapers and routing switches

The two main approaches to optical
amplification :-

semiconductor optical amplifiers which utilize
stimulated emission from injected carriers

fiber amplifiers in which gain is provided by either
stimulated Raman or Brillouin scattering or by rare earth
dopants
 Both amplifier types (i.e. semiconductor and
fiber; specifically rare earth and Raman) have the
ability to provide high gain over wide spectral
bandwidths
 It may be observed that the semiconductor optical
amplifier (SOA), the erbium-doped fiber amplifier
(EDFA) and the Raman fiber amplifier all provide
wide spectral bandwidths

the Brillouin fiber amplifier has a very narrow spectral
bandwidth, possibly around 50 MHz, and therefore
cannot be employed for wide band amplification

Can be used for channel selection within a WDM
system by allowing amplification of a particular
channel without boosting other nearby channels

SOAs offer an advantage - smaller size

exhibit low power consumption and their single-mode
waveguide structures make them particularly
appropriate for use with single-mode fiber
 SOA is based on semiconductor laser structure where
the output facet reflectivity's are between 30 and 35%


Semiconductor optical amplifiers can be used in both
nonlinear and linear modes of operation

Fabry–Pérot amplifiers (FPAs) and traveling-wave

amplifiers (TWAs) - Difference b/w 2 :- facet
reflectivities
When the input and output laser facet reflectivities
denoted by R1 and R2 are each around 0.3 FPA is
obtainted
FPAs is based on the conventional semiconductor
optical structure (gain- or index-guided) with an active
region width W, thickness d and length L
When the input and output laser facet reflectivities
denoted by R1 and R2 are each around 0.3 FPA is
obtainted
the FPA is biased below the normal lasing threshold
current
light entering one facet appears amplified at the other
facet together with inherent noise
FPA is very sensitive to fluctuations in bias current,
temperature and signal polarization
they are used within nonlinear applications for
example, to provide pulse shaping and bistable
elements
To form a traveling-wave SOA, antireflection coatings
may be applied to the laser facets to reduce or
eliminate the end reflectivities.
TWA operating in the single-pass amplification mode
in which the Fabry–Pérot resonance is suppressed
bythe reduction in facet reflectivity
transmission characteristics less dependent upon
fluctuations in bias current, temperature and input
signal polarization

Hence the TWA proves superior to the FPA
(particularly for linear applications) and also provides
advantages in relation to both signal gain saturation
and noise characteristics .
antireflection facet coatings have the effect of
increasing the lasing current threshold, and so in
practice such SOAs are operated at currents far beyond
the normal lasing threshold current
Basic requirement of optical amplifier:-high signal
gain, high saturated output power, minimal noise
generation (within the amplifier) and ultra-wide
bandwidth.
the spectral bandwidths and center wavelengths are
largely defined by the atomic structure and not the
mechanical geometry
Variations resulting from temperature changes, aging
and pump power are therefore less significant in fiber
and waveguide amplifiers than in SOAs.
The gain medium normally comprises a length of
single-mode fiber connected to a dichroic coupler
Excitation occurs through optical pumping from a
high-power solid-state or semiconductor laser which is
combined with the optical input signal within the
coupler
rare-earth-doped fiber amplifiers, Raman fiber
amplifiers and Brillouin fiber amplifiers
the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)- a piece of
fiber working as an active medium is heavily doped
with ions of erbium(Er)
High gains of between 30 and 40 dB with low noise
with optical pump powers in the range 50 to 100 mw
Pumping is done with a laser diode radiating powerful
light at a wavelength other than info. Signal
wavelength.
Both these beams are put in the same fiber by a
coupler
Those two beams propagate together along the doped
section of the fiber, where the information signal is
The amplification is dependent on the material gain of
a relatively short section (1 to 100 m) of the fiber
Aluminum co doping can be used to broaden the
spectral bandwidth to around 40 nm.
Amplification through stimulated emission. Energy
from pumping signal excites erbium ions at upper
energy band
The information signal stimulates transition of the
excited ions to the lower energy band
These transitions result in the radiation of photons
with same wavelength of input signal
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A factor which limits the gain available from an
erbium-doped fiber amplifier is a phenomenon known
as excited state absorption (ESA)
ESA reduces the pumping efficiency of the device
and as a result it is necessary to pump at a higher
power to obtain a specific gain.

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Reduction of ESA may be achieved by changing the
location of the energy levels through co doping of the
erbium–silica fiber amplifier with other compounds
such as phosphorus pentoxide
Another technique is to pump the fiber amplifier at a
wavelength which does not cause the population of an
excited state
An alternative solution to avoid ESA, is to change to
another glass technology in place of silica –
Fluorozirconate host glass
 Wavelength conversion is defined as a process by which
the wavelength of the transmitted signal is changed
without altering the data carried by the signal
 A wavelength converter should be capable of receiving
an incoming signal at any wavelength (i.e. a variable
wavelength) at the input port and must produce the
converted signal at a particular wavelength (i.e. a fixed
wavelength) at the output port

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 An optoelectronic wavelength converter
comprises an optical receiver and transmitter
that receives the incoming signal at one
wavelength and then retransmits on another
signal wavelength.

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 An optical intensity-modulated input signal (λin) is
first detected in an optical-to-electrical (O/E) block
using a photodiode and then the received data is
processed in the electrical domain.
 The processor section may also contain an
electronic regenerator circuit that reconstitutes the
electrical signal from the received data thereby
rectifying any errors induced by transmission
through the fiber.
 The electrical data is then converted back to an
optical signal in an electrical-to-optical (E/O)
section by modulating an optical transmitter that
emits a . converted wavelength, λ conv at the
output port .

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 the signal remains entirely in the optical
domain from the input to the output port.
 utilizes the nonlinearity of the optical

medium which can be either active or passive,

each producing different nonlinear effects
 subdivided according to their operating

principles into two broad categories :-

◦ 1. coherent wavelength converters
◦ 2. cross-modulation wavelength converters
 cross-gain modulation (XGM);
 cross-phase modulation (XPM);
 cross-absorption modulation (XAM);
 differential polarization modulation (DPM).
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 utilizes the nonlinear properties of a
semiconductor optical amplifier to perform
the conversion process.
 According to the XGM principle, the intensity-

modulated data on one signal wavelength,

called the pump signal, produces variations
in carrier density within the SOA which
provides inverted gain modulation in the SOA
medium

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 These gain modulations can be imprinted
onto a continuous wave (CW) signal called a
probe signal.
 Thus the probe signal acquires an inverse

copy of the data and when the wavelength of

the probe signal is different from the pump
signal, wavelength conversion is obtained
where data has been shifted from the pump
signal wavelength to a probe signal
wavelength.

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