Gain and Noise Figure Performance of Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers

Abstract

Fiber loss is a fundamental limitation in realizing long haul point-to-point fiber optical communication links and optical networks. One of the advanced technologies achieved in recent years is the advent of erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) that has enabled the optical signals in an optical fiber to be amplified directly in high bit rate systems beyond Tetra bits. In this paper, a simulation of an EDFA has been studied to characterize Gain, Noise Figure of a forward pumped EDFA operating in C band (1525-1565 nm) as functions of Er +3 fiber length, injected pump power, signal input power and Er +3 doping density. The simulation has been done by using Optisystem 5.0 software simulator (license product of a Canadian based company) at bit rate 10 Gbps.