Optical amplifier with 27 dB dynamic range in a coherent transmission system

For applications of optical amplifiers it is important to know the range of amplifier input powers that cause no or negligible system performance degradation. This dynamic range sets limits on information capacity and amplifier cascadability. A 27-dB dynamic range was measured for a traveling-wave optical amplifier with 10-dB fiber-to-fiber and 0.8-dB gain ripple. The device was used in a 150-Mb/s coherent transmission system. The result, the widest dynamic range reported to date, indicates the suitability of the optical amplifier for coherent photonic networks and systems.<
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