An application of a smart optical amplifier to the bidirectional transmission

A novel all-optical gain-controlled (AOGC) bidirectional amplifier is proposed and demonstrated in a compact structure. The AOGC function using FBG pairs controls both directional signals independently and combinations of optical interleavers and isolators suppress Rayleigh backscattering (RB) noise. The amplifier achieves high and constant gain with wide dynamic input signal range and low noise figure. The performance does not depend on the input signal conditions, whether static-state or transient signals, or whether symmetric or asymmetric data traffic on bidirectional transmission. Transmission comparison experiments between invariable symmetrical and random variable asymmetric bidirectional data traffic verify that the all-optical gain control and bidirectional amplification functions are successfully combined into this proposed amplifier.