SC123 Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers and Raman Fiber Amplifiers

Monday, May 5, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
John Zyskind; JDSU, USA

Level: Beginner (no background or minimal training is necessary to understand course material)

Course Description
This course will introduce Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and Raman amplifiers. By enabling the extensive deployment of commercial Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) systems, the Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is the key driver for the explosive growth in the capacity and reach of optical networks. We will use the EDFA and its principles of operation as the vehicle to present the key functional characteristics of optical amplifiers, such as gain, output power, optical noise, gain flatness, polarization dependence and dynamic response. These ideas will be applied to understand the design principles of EDFAs, the revolutionary impact of optical amplifiers on optical network architectures, most notably high-capacity DWDM networks for terrestrial and undersea applications, and system engineering considerations, particularly OSNR engineering, in designing such networks.

Raman fiber amplifiers, which have superior noise characteristics and spectral flexibility, are now also becoming more widely deployed to enhance performance and reduce system cost. To understand the design principles of Raman amplifiers and their applications in optical networks, we will discuss their principles of operation and key characteristics, such as pump requirements, spectral dependence and polarization dependence, with particular attention to their superior noise performance and effective noise figure. Impairments which limit the design and applications of Raman amplification, such as nonlinear pump interactions and RIN transfer will also be discussed. Finally, alternative technologies such as semiconductor optical amplifiers and doped waveguide amplifiers will be compared to the dominant optical amplifier technologies.

Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:

• Define and describe optical amplifier performance metrics and their impact on WDM system applications.
• Explain the principles of Erbium-doped fiber amplifier operation, architecture and design.
• Explain the principles of Raman amplifier operation, architecture and design.
• List the advantages and drawbacks of various optical amplifier technologies for different system applications.
• Describe system applications enabled by EDFAs including high-capacity DWDM networks.
• Compute optical signal to noise ratios and link budgets for optically amplified systems.
• Design optical amplifiers for high performance and low cost.
• Design optical communications systems which rely on optical amplifiers.

Intended Audience
This course is intended for engineers who design or specify optical amplifiers and/or optical networks which employ optical amplifiers. It will also be valuable for managers and others who seek an overview of the DWDM/optical amplifier revolution and a guide to the optical network architectures and technology choices it makes possible. Previous knowledge of optical amplifiers is not required.

Instructor Biography
John Zyskind received his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology, where he was a Fannie and John Hertz Fellow. At Bell Labs, where he pioneered optical amplifiers for DWDM systems and led optical amplifier research for the MONET optical networking program, he was named Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and received the President’s Gold Award. From 1999 to 2002 he was at Sycamore Networks, where he led the development of ultralong haul optical network products. More recently, as senior director of engineering at Optovia, he led development of optically amplified line systems for hut skipping applications and he is currently at JDSU working on related products. Zyskind is an OSA Fellow and has served as 2001 technical co-chair and 2002 general co-chair of the Topical Meeting on Optical Amplifiers and Their Applications.