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

• Published in: IEEE Photonics Journal
• Main Author: Paul M.C.; Dhar A.; Das S.; Pal M.; Bhadra S.K.; Markom A.M.; Rosli N.S.; Hamzah A.; Ahmad H.; Harun S.W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2015
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84959229790&doi=10.1109%2fJPHOT.2015.2477899&partnerID=40&md5=1d69df12ce3d54b38afad1394895489a

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 $-$30 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-$30 dBm. © 2015 IEEE.