Arrayed optical fiber amplifier using ribbonized erbium-doped fiber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9379512-B2
Application number	US-201514633521-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2015
Priority date	Apr 11, 2014
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods for reducing cost and amplifier module size are disclosed. One system comprises an arrayed optical fiber amplifier that uses a ribbonized fiber that permits reduction of amplifier module size and also reduction in the cost of manufacturing that are not readily achievable in other currently-available systems.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
signal inputs;
signal outputs; and
a ribbon, comprising:
a ribbon matrix material; and
gain-doped fibers located within the ribbon matrix material, each gain-doped fiber being optically coupled to a corresponding signal input, each gain-doped fiber further being optically coupled to a corresponding signal output, each gain-doped fiber comprising:
R Al within approximately ±0.05 of a target R Al ;
α being within approximately ±3% of a target absorption;
a gain-doped core;
a cladding surrounding the gain-doped core; and
a coating layer surrounding the cladding.

2. The system of claim 1 :
the cladding having an outer diameter of between approximately 80 μm and approximately 125 μm; and
the coating layer having an outer diameter of between approximately 160 μm and approximately 250 μm.

3. The system of claim 1 , the ribbon being a peelable ribbon.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
means for providing pump power.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
pump sources optically coupled to the signal inputs, the pump sources for providing pump power through WDM couplers.

6. The system of claim 5 , the pump sources being arranged in a co-pumping scheme.

7. The system of claim 5 , the pump sources being arranged in a counter-pumping scheme.

8. The system of claim 5 , the pump sources being shared pump diodes.

9. The system of claim 1 , the gain-doped fibers being color-coded.

10. The system of claim 1 , the gain-doped fibers being arranged linearly in the ribbon.

11. The system of claim 10 , the ribbon comprising eight (8) color-coded Erbium-doped fibers (EDFs) arranged linearly.

12. The system of claim 1 , the gain-doped fibers being arranged in a substantially closely-packed configuration.

13. The system of claim 1 , the gain-doped fibers being Erbium-doped fibers (EDFs).

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
output monitors optically coupled to the signal outputs.

15. A fiber array, comprising:
gain-fibers, each gain-fiber comprising:
a cladding having an outer diameter of between approximately 80 μm and approximately 125 μm;
a coating having an outer diameter of between approximately 160 μm and approximately 250 μm;
R Al within approximately ±0.05 of the target R Al ; and
α being within approximately ±3% of a target absorption.

16. The fiber array of claim 15 , further comprising a peelable ribbon.

17. The fiber array of claim 15 , the EDFs being color-coded.

18. The fiber array of claim 15 , the EDFs being arranged linearly.

19. The fiber array of claim 15 , the EDFs being arranged in a substantially closely-packed configuration.

Assignees

• Ofs Fitel Llc

Inventors

• Digiovanni David J
• Zhu Benyuan

Classifications

• H01S3/06737 Primary

  Fibre having multiple non-coaxial cores, e.g. multiple active cores or separate cores for pump and gain · CPC title

• H01S3/0064

  Anti-reflection devices, e.g. optical isolaters (absorbing layers for marking or protecting purposes in laser working B23K26/50; magneto-optical non-reciprocal devices G02F1/093, G02F1/0955) · CPC title

• H01S3/094003

  the pumped medium being a fibre · CPC title

• H01S3/0078

  Frequency filtering · CPC title

• H01S3/09415

  the pumping beam being parallel to the lasing mode of the pumped medium, e.g. end-pumping · CPC title