Study and Optimization of Raman Amplifiers in Tellurite-Based Optical Fibers for Wide-Band Telecommunication Systems

Abstract

Here we present a numerical analysis and the optimization of a multi-pump discrete Raman amplification system based on the use of a Tellurite optical fiber as the gain media. By using previously reported optimization techniques we were able to exploit the high Raman gain of Tellurite optical fibers and its multipeak spectrum to achieve amplification over an amplification band from 1520 to 1600 nm. Average gains around 10 dB with ripples in the region of 3 dB were achieved using only 3 pumps with less than 800 mW each. Optimized systems were obtained for different lengths of fiber showing that discrete Raman amplifiers based on tellurite fibers with lengths as short as 100 meters can provide high gains and low ripples in a broad wavelength band. Lower cost systems using only 2 pumps were also analyzed in this study providing 5.8 dB of gain with only 2.4 dB of ripple for an 80 nm signal bandwidth.

Optimization of Very Short Multi-Pump Discrete Raman Amplifiers based on Tellurite Fibers

“…Despite the net gain achieving a maximum peak of 34.5 dB for a specific wavelength in [18], the obtained ripple was close to 11 dB. In [19], a special care was taken to minimize the ripple and gains as high as 10 dB were achieved maintaining the ripple values around 3 dB, when using 3 pumps and gain media lengths between 100 and 200 meters. In another case, [20] proposed a T-FRA that covered only a narrow amplification band of 47 nm, yielding an average gain above 17 dB while keeping ripple below 0.7 dB but at the cost of cascading two tellurite fibers with a total measurement longer than half a kilometer, pumped by two lasers, as a gain media.…”

“…1, where for simulation simplicity we have considered a WDM telecommunication system with 20 signal channels equally distributed over the spectral window ranging from 1520 to 1600 nm and each channel operating with -5 dBm as the input power. The mentioned 1520-1600 nm band was set after a review on the amplification band of related works [18], [19], [20], so deciding to choose a spectral window covered by their amplifiers as a way to allow us to compare our results with the literature. Moreover, using this band is also an opportunity to show that our proposed setup can be a valid alternative to be used as a discrete amplifiers for standard telecommunication systems especially if we are thinking about using few pumps and short fibers, and still achieving high gains and small ripples.…”

“…In this paper, we propose a numerical study focused on the optimization of tellurite-based fiber Raman amplifiers for applications in the 80 nm bandwidth ranging from 1520 to 1600 nm, considering the gain media based on the Te O 2 − Bi 2 O 3 − Zn O − Na 2 O (TBZN) glass composition, the same fiber material that was used in [19], [21]. While most studies about discrete Raman amplifiers in such fibers focus on cases where hundreds of meters are employed, here we considered multiwavelength pumping Raman amplifiers with extremely short dimensions, in which the gain media was varied from 2.5 to 30 meters.…”

Engineering of TeO2-ZnO-BaO-Based Glasses for Mid-Infrared Transmitting Optics

“…Among soft glass systems, tellurium oxide (TeO 2 )-based glasses are emerging as enabling materials for mid-infrared (IR) optics due to their wide array of functional properties, such as wide transmission ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to mid-IR (0.4 to 6 μm), low melting temperatures (~800 °C), good thermal stability (≥100 °C), larger index of refraction (≥2.0), low maximum phonon energies (~750 cm −1 ) and larger Raman gain coefficient [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Many researchers have thus studied the tellurite glass materials as contenders for a range of optical applications that include lasers/amplifiers [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], ceramic bulk lasers [ 21 ], upconverters [ 22 , 23 ], Raman amplifiers [ 24 , 25 ], mid-infrared lasers [ 26 ] and non-linear optical devices [ 27 ].…”

Optical Fiber Spool Acoustic Wave Resonances Employing a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer in Vacuum Chamber

“…Low phase-noise lasers [1]- [4] have relevant applications in optical fiber communications [5], temperature and pressure sensing [6], medical ultrasound devices [7], [8], temperature monitoring [9,10], wide-band fiber optic systems [11], monitoring of power grids [12], fiber optic interferometric sensors [13], low-phase-noise photonic oscillator fiber sensors [1], and fiber acoustic sensors [14]- [17].…”