Minimizing gain transient dynamics by optimizing the erbium concentration and cavity length of a gain clamped EDFA

Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) gain transient dynamics are studied in the context of their application in optically reconfigurable networks. We address the question of how to design the EDFA in order to minimize the gain transients present in the output signals of the EDFA when the system is optically reconfigured such that the total average input power levels and wavelengths are changed. Both experimental measurements and theoretical simulations show that the amplitude transients depend on the length of the erbium doped fiber (EDF) and the erbium concentration. We show how it may be possible to reduce the gain transients by appropriate design of the EDFA.