Experimental demonstration of noise figure reduction caused by nonlinear photon statistics of saturated EDFA´s

Author

Willems, F.W. ; van der Plaats, J.C.

Author_Institution

AT&T Network Syst. Nederland B.V., Huizen, Netherlands

Volume

7

Issue

5

fYear

1995

fDate

5/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

488

Lastpage

490

Abstract

For the first time, experimental evidence is presented for the prediction that the noise figure for an EDFA in the nonlinear or saturated regime, calculated by measuring the ASE power, can lead to an overestimation when compared to a direct measurement of the noise variance with an electrical spectrum analyzer. These results are in line with theories based on the quantum mechanical photon master equation describing an optical amplifier with saturated upper and lower ion inversion levels.<>

Keywords

erbium; fibre lasers; laser noise; laser variables measurement; optical saturation; population inversion; power measurement; statistics; superradiance; ASE power; electrical spectrum analyzer; ion inversion levels; noise figure reduction; noise variance; nonlinear photon statistics; nonlinear regime; optical amplifier; quantum mechanical photon master equation; saturated EDFA´s; saturated regime; Electric variables measurement; Erbium-doped fiber amplifier; Noise figure; Noise measurement; Nonlinear equations; Optical noise; Power measurement; Quantum mechanics; Spectral analysis; Time measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.384519

Filename

384519