Experimental comparison of 980 nm and 1480 nm-pumped saturated in-line erbium-doped fiber amplifiers suitable for long-haul soliton transmission systems

The performances of 980-nm- and 1480-nm-pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifiers applicable to high-bit-rate, long-haul soliton transmission systems are compared. Depending on the system parameters and preferred pumping configuration, 980-nm pumping is likely to offer a noise figure advantage of between 1.0 and 1.5 dB. However, the tolerances on pump wavelength are significantly tighter around 980 nm than at 1480 nm.<>