A simplifying model of fiber amplifiers for the design of cascaded WDM-systems

A simple scheme for the calculation of the spectral gain and noise of a given EDFA is presented. The parameters of the model can be derived from measured data or from data supplied by the manufacturer. Measurements of the spectral gain at average inversions and ASE power densities provide enough information to describe an optical amplifier with sufficient accuracy. The measurements are carried out for two types of optical amplifiers, one pumped at /spl lambda/=1480 nm, and the other pumped at /spl lambda/=980 nm.