Design and demonstration of REAM-based WDM-PONs with remote amplification and channel fault monitoring

The use of reflective electro-absorption modulators (REAMs) as colorless upstream transmitters for wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical networks is attractive for providing 10 Gb/s and above data rates. We address the feasibility of applying the remotely pumped optical amplifier to boost all upstream channels when REAMs are used at the optical network units. This scheme can avoid the use of more complicated devices, such as integrated REAMs with semiconductor optical amplifiers. The remote pumping scheme can simultaneously boost the upstream and downstream signals as well as the monitoring signals by the gain from the erbium-doped fiber and Raman amplification. The required pump power and the limitation on the seeding power are analyzed in order to optimize the bidirectional transmission performance for different access network spans.