Influence of optical filters on pulse circulation in fiber rings with a frequency shifter and EDFA

Optical fiber ring circuits constructed with frequency shifters and EDFAs are applicable to pulsed lightwave frequency sweepers, wavelength converters, and optical packet buffers. The salient criterion for those applications is how many times the optical pulse can circle the ring. Optical band-pass filters in the ring can serve an important role for pulse circulation because the filter determines the gain bandwidth at every circulation under the condition of signal wavelength shift. This paper clarifies the effects of optical filter response on pulse circulation in the ring through numerical simulation of the EDFA dynamic model, considering the gain spectrum.