Tomlins, P; Wicks, M C (2004) Characterisation of a fibre optic Raman amplifier. NPL Report. DEM-EM 003

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Abstract

This report describes and discusses the characterisation of fibre optic Raman amplifiers (FRA). Techniques developed for erbium doped fibre amplifiers were used to experimentally investigate the noise and gain characteristics of a home built FRA.
Results from this preliminary investigation indicate that the accuracy of gain measurements is affected by the choice of measurement source, either broad or narrow band. This is due to gain saturation and is contrary to previously published results. Analysis of optical noise figure measurements has also shown that gain spectrum structure can lead to high measurement uncertainties when using the interpolation technique. It is also reported that double rayleigh scatter noise was negligable in the FRA under test.
This work is not exhaustive and paves the way for further and more exhaustive investigation. Particular attention should be given to FRA noise figure measurements. In the literature there is currently no comprehensive comparison of optical and electrical measurement techniques that would be especially useful to device and systems manufacturers. Future work should also rigourously examine the origins of gain and noise in a FRA, paying attention to the contribution from multiple non-linear processes.

Item Type:	Report/Guide (NPL Report)
NPL Report No.:	DEM-EM 003
Keywords:	noise figure, gain
Subjects:	Optical Radiation and Photonics Optical Radiation and Photonics > Optical Comms. And Data
Last Modified:	02 Feb 2018 13:16
URI:	https://eprintspublications.npl.co.uk/id/eprint/3078