Optical transmission networks

ETE 4050
Lecture 9: Optical Amplifiers
Objectives

• Discuss the operating characteristics of:

i. Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs)
ii. Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs)
iii. Raman fiber Amplifiers (RFAs)
Introduction

Although the transmission loss of light passing through optical

fibers is very small (Less than 0.2 dB/km @1,550 nm), for 10 km or
100 km, that transmission loss cannot be ignored.

When the optical power of a signal attenuates greatly due to long

distance, it is necessary to amplify the light using an optical
amplifier.

• An optical amplifier is a device that boosts optical signals in optical

Introduction
• Optical amplifiers are typically used at 3 different portions of a fiber optic
transmission link.
• Power Amplifiers: Used to boost the power of the signal before it is launched
on the line, thus extending the transmission distance before additional
amplification is required and are placed after the source or integrated with it.
• In-line Amplifiers: Located at strategic points along a long transmission link
to restore a signal to its initial power level, thus compensating for fiber
attenuation.
• Preamplifiers: Raise the signal level at the input of an optical receiver, which
serves to improve signal detection performance (i.e., the receiver sensitivity)
and are placed just before the detector or maybe integrated with it.
Introduction
• An optical amplifier amplifies light as it is without converting the optical
signal to an electrical signal and serves as a key device for long-distance
optical communication networks.
• The principle of optical amplifiers is basically based on stimulated radiation
(Similar to that of a laser), which realizes the amplification effect by
converting the energy of the pump light into the energy of the signal light.
• Types of optical amplifiers
i. Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs)
ii. Erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA)
iii. Non-linear optical amplifiers (Raman fiber amplifiers)
Construction of SOAs
• Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOA) were developed in the 1980s.
• The structure of a SOA is similar to that of a semiconductor laser.
• It consists of an active medium (a p-n junction) made of InGaAsP and
InP for the P and n regions.
• Anti reflective coatings are used on both ends of the active region to
prevent light from reflecting back into the circuit while the incoming
signal stimulates electrons in the active region.
• In other words, a semiconductor optical amplifier can be thought of as a
laser without optical feedback.
Operation of SOAs
• An optical signal is introduced into a fiber embedded in a forward-
biased PN junction.
• The optical signal then interacts with already excited electrons
within the semi-conductor’s quantum wells or quantum dots.
• Through the process of stimulated emission, these electrons emit
photons of the same wavelength as the input signal.
• The process creates a population inversion that generates a gain
within the semiconductor.
• The gain amplifies the signal as it travels through the SOA.
Characteristics of SOAs
• Advantage(s)
• Small and compact
• SOAs exhibit good gain over a wide range of operating wavelengths
• Disadvantage(s)
• Because of asymmetrical geometry, the SOA is polarization-dependent
• Coupling losses between fibers and the semiconductor chips substantially
reduce the usable gain and output power.
• The noise figure of a typical SOA is slightly higher than that of a typical
EDFA due to fiber-chip coupling losses.
• Since the carrier lifetime in the high-energy state is very short (in the order of
nanoseconds) which causes signal fluctuations at high bit rates (Gbps rates).
EDFA (Erbium doped fiber amplifiers)
• The EDFA amplifier is an optically pumped device
consisting of a strand of single-mode fiber, typically in the
order of tens of meters long, doped with erbium ions ( .

• Thus the energy is supplied by an optical source (Laser

Diode), which injects power into the doped fiber at a
wavelength matched to the characteristics of erbium (980 or
1480 nm).

• Pumping can be forward, backward, or bidirectional.

EDFA (Erbium doped fiber) amplifiers

• The pump (normally a laser lamp) is typically coupled to the

transmission fiber via a wavelength-selective coupler (WSC).
• Amplifications occurs by transfer of power from the pump wave to
the signal wave as it propagates down the doped fiber.
• Note that EDFA modules used in the field typically include other
components, such as optical isolators to eliminate reflected power,
and various devices for signal power monitoring, stabilization, and
control.
Working Process of EDFAs
Operation

• When a high-energy pump laser is used to stimulate an erbium-doped fiber, a large number of bound electrons of
the erbium are stimulated from the ground state to the high-energy state (E3).

• However, the high-energy state is unstable, and therefore the erbium ions quickly undergo radiationless decay
(photons are not released) and enters the metastable state E2.

• E2 is a metastable energy state, at which a particle can exist for a long time and thus the particles stimulated by the
pump laser continuously assemble to this state in this transition mode, giving rise to population inversion.

• When an optical signal with a 1550 nm wavelength passes through the erbium-doped fiber, particles at the
metastable state transit to the ground state in stimulated radiation mode and generate the same photons as incident
signal photons.

• In this way, photons in the signal light are increased, and signals are continuously amplified when traversing the
erbium-doped fiber.
EDFA structure
EDFA - Functions
• Erbium-doped fiber: A fiber cable (quartz core) of length 10 m to 30 m doped with erbium
at manufacturing.
• Isolator (ISO): One isolator is configured before the erbium-doped fiber and another is
configured after the erbium-doped fiber to transmit optical signals in a single direction (i.e
prevent reflections).

• Pump light source: 980 nm and 1480 nm pumping supplies are the most common ones
because the 1480 nm pump light source has the highest laser efficiency, and the 980 nm
pump light source has a low noise figure and the second highest efficiency. The function is to
enable the erbium ions to transit from the low-energy state to the high-energy state.

• Coupler: It combines signal light and pump light and injects them into the erbium-doped
fiber.
Raman Fiber Amplifiers
• A Raman fiber amplifier is an optical amplifier that competes
with the Erbium doped fiber amplifiers in a lot of telecom
applications.
• Its principle of operation is based on the stimulated Raman
scattering (SRS) effect.
• Raman scattering: An optical phenomenon observed when
intense monochromatic light enters a medium such as silica of a
fiber optic cable.
• The light scatters producing lower or higher wavelengths than
the incident wave (energy changes too)
• Notice how the Raman - scattered
light has different energy from
the original beam

• This means even the frequency /

wavelength will change

• Stimulated Raman scattering:

occurs when light interacts with
the vibrations of the atoms in the
optical fiber, leading to both a
reduction in the energy of some of
the incident light through
scattering and a consequent shift
of its wavelength to longer
wavelengths.
Operation of Raman Amplifiers

• The pump beam and signal beam are injected into the fiber through
a fiber coupler.
• The pump photon transfers its energy to create another photon of
lower energy at the signal frequency.
• The silica substance absorbs the remaining energy as molecular
vibrations (optical phonons).
• Through SRS, energy is continually transferred from the pump to
the signal while the two beams co-propagate inside the fiber.
Pumping can be done in the forward, backward or in both directions
Operation of Raman Amplifiers

• After the energy transfer process within the fiber, it is

essential to control and extract the amplified signal
efficiently.
• To achieve this, a specialized optical filter is employed
immediately after the fiber.
• This ensures that only the desired signal wavelength, is
allowed to pass, thus blocking other unwanted
wavelengths, including any remaining pump frequency.
Raman Amplifier characteristics
• Advantages
• That they can be used to amplify a wide range of wavelengths, from the near-
infrared to the visible spectrum, thus making them versatile such as in data
centers, undersea telecom links.
• They can easily interoperate with other amplification technologies, such as
erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, to achieve even greater signal amplification.
• Disadvantages
• They require high pump powers to achieve significant signal amplification.
• They are likely to suffer from noise and other nonlinear effects since SRS is a
non linear process