Dynamic performance of the all-optical gain-controlled EDFA cascade in multi-wavelength add/drop networks

We show that, in a WDM optical link of cascaded all-optical gain-clamped Er-doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs), error-free data transmission is possible even when channel add-drop frequencies become close to relaxation oscillation frequencies of the gain-clamped amplifiers. In conclusion, we have found that, in an optical link made up of cascaded all optical gain-clamped EDFAs, relaxation-oscillation-induced power penalties are negligible even when channel add/drop frequencies are set to relaxation oscillation frequencies of the amplifiers