GHz bandwidth noise eater hybrid optical amplifier: design guidelines

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Optical Communications
• Fiber Optics

Background:

• Relative intensity noise (RIN) is a critical parameter affecting optical signal quality.
• Existing amplification methods often struggle to reduce RIN without introducing other noise sources or phase distortions.
• Minimizing RIN is essential for high-performance optical communication systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate an optical amplifier system for effective RIN reduction.
• To achieve significant noise reduction across a broad bandwidth without phase noise degradation.
• To demonstrate a practical amplifier configuration for improved optical signal integrity.

Main Methods:

• Cascading an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA).
• Optimizing EDFA output power to achieve optimal SOA saturation via coherent population oscillations.
• Utilizing a polarization-maintaining amplifier design.

Main Results:

• Achieved 17 dB optical gain.
• Demonstrated a 5.4 dB noise factor.
• Reduced input-RIN by 20 dB over a 3 GHz bandwidth.
• Confirmed no phase noise degradation.

Conclusions:

• The cascaded EDFA-SOA system effectively reduces RIN.
• The amplifier provides high gain and noise reduction simultaneously.
• The design offers a robust solution for low-noise optical amplification without electronic feedback.