An investigation of the noise figure and conversion efficiency of 0.98 mu m pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifiers under saturated conditions

The results of an investigation of the noise figure and conversion efficiency or erbium-doped fiber amplifiers for unsaturated, moderately saturated, and heavily saturated operation are reported. Quantum-limited 3 dB noise figures result only for small signal operation of low-gain amplifiers. For high gain, partially saturated amplifiers useful as in-line repeaters, bidirectional pumping results in the best combination of noise performance and conversion efficiency while co-propagation of signal and pump produces the best noise performance.<
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