Abstract: Distortion and crosstalk that occurs when operating optical amplifiers in saturation is substantially reduced by passively compensating for gain variations caused by changes in input power to the optical amplifiers. More specifically, in an optical communication system having one or more optical amplifiers, a “reservoir” optical channel is supplied in addition to the other traffic-carrying optical channels. The wavelength of the reservoir channel is selected such that the power level of the reservoir channel varies in response to changes in power levels of the traffic-carrying channels. Because gain variations are typically highest around the gain peak region in an optical amplifier's gain bandwidth, the reservoir channel in one exemplary embodiment is assigned a wavelength around the gain peak region.

Abstract: A high-capacity optical transmission arrangement utilizing a plurality of laser sources and a plurality of wide-band optical amplifiers permit the reliable transmission of 1 Tb/sec rates over significant distances of optical fiber.

Abstract: Substantially error-free communications is achieved in an optical communication system that includes optical amplifiers by detecting bits transmitted in the amplified optical signal using a detection threshold that is derived as a function of a maximum power level associated with a first bit value, e.g., bit “0”, and a minimum power level associated with a second bit value, e.g., bit “1”. Importantly, this detection scheme can be used to accurately detect bit patterns in the amplified signal even in the presence of nonlinear distortions caused by gain variations, such as inter-modal distortion and saturation induced crosstalk. In a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) system comprising semiconductor optical amplifiers, for example, the detection threshold can be set at a level corresponding to PTOTAL/2N, where PTOTAL represents the total power in the WDM signal and N represents the number of optical channels in the WDM signal.

Abstract: A method of modeling erbium doped fiber (“EDF”) for use in erbium doped fiber amplifiers (“EDFA”). The EDF has a length and a fractional population density of erbium ions in an excited state. Since the EDF supports N channels, the power propagation along the EDF is characterized by N+1 differential equations as a function of the direction of propagation, z, of the channels along the length l of the EDF and the time t. By applying an average inversion model to a spatially averaged inversion level of the erbium ions in the fiber, the N+1 partial differential equations are reduced to a single ordinary differential equation. This allows an analytical solution at the boundary and initial conditions of the fiber so that an expression for the power of the signal propagating along the fiber can be obtained. With this expression, the single equation can be solved analytically for the inversion level at any point along the EDF.

Abstract: A wide band optical amplifier employing a split-band architecture in which an optical signal is split into several independent sub-bands which then pass in parallel through separate branches of the optical amplifier. Each branch may be optimized for the sub-band that traverses it. The independent sub-bands are combined before output, resulting in a broad band, high efficiency amplifier. Alternative, hybrid split-band amplifiers are described. As a result of their desirable characteristics, these wide band optical amplifiers may be used in dense WDM communications systems.

Abstract: A wideband optical amplifier employs split-band architecture in which an optical signal passes through a common amplification stage and is then split to pass through parallel gain stages, each of which may be optimized for a particular band being traversed. A broadband grating reflector is used after the input gain section to reflect the signals of one of the bands so that they again will pass through the common input gain section before passing through gain section of the split structure dedicated to their particular wavelength. Meanwhile, the other signals pass through the reflector and move on through the gain section pertinent to their wavelength.