Certified by Noise Performance of Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers With Forward and Reverse Pumping

The noise performance of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is characterized by modeling optical amplifiers as four-level or three-level systems. The gain and noise performance are then examined under forward and reverse pumping. It is found that a four-level system displays symmetrical behavior under forward and reverse pumping, while a three-level gives a better noise performance with forward pumping at the expense of gain. Analytical predictions from numerical simulations based on these models are then compared with EDFA experimental results. The concept of noise measure is also reinforced and applied in this paper. Thesis Supervisor: Professor H. A. Hau