Band-selective C- or L-band erbium-doped fiber amplified spontaneous emission source

Abstract

Two novel methods are demonstrated to build up a band-selective amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) broadband light source that can operate in the selective conventional band (C-band, 1525 similar to 1565 nm) or long-wavelength band (L-band, 1565 similar to 1605 nm) region using a 1 x 2 optical switch. With the backward ASE feedback technique, an output power of 27.6 mW for the C-band ASE and 11.8 mW for the L-band ASE are obtained while with the compound pump technique, a power of 24.5 mW for L-band ASE and 27.2 mW for C-band ASE are obtained both with a fixed total pump power of 100 mW. The advantage of using the backward ASE feedback technique is that the ASE source design is simpler whereas the power of L-band ASE is lower, and the notable advantage of using the compound pump technique is that the output powers of the two selective bands (C- or L-band) are balanced though the configuration is a little complicated. (c) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.