Pump-sharing among reflective optical amplifiers

An optical amplifier assembly responsive to a plurality of N optical input signals and generating therefrom a plurality of N optical output signals, the optical amplifier assembly comprising:

• a fiber-based optical amplifier module, comprising:
• a plurality of N individual reflective optical amplifier elements, each individual reflective optical amplifier element including:
• a coil of rare-earth doped optical fiber having a proximate end termination and a distal end termination;
• an optical coupler disposed at the proximate end termination of the coil of rare-earth doped fiber optical, the optical coupler receiving as separate inputs an optical signal operating a known wavelength λs and a pump operating at a pump wavelength λP selected to induce amplification of the optical signal in the presence of the rare earth dopant, the optical coupler configured to inject both the optical signal and the pump into the coil of rare-earth doped optical fiber for initiating amplification;
• and
• a reflective element disposed beyond the distal end termination of the coil of rare-earth doped optical fiber, the reflective element configured to redirect the optical signal to pass again through the coil of rare-earth doped fiber, exiting the distal end termination as an amplified output signal;
• and
• a passive optical power splitter responsive to a pump input beam, the passive optical power splitter configured to divide the incoming pump beam into a plurality of N individual pump sub-beams, each sub-beam provided as the pump input to the optical coupler of a different one of the plurality of N individual reflective optical amplifier elements;
• a pump source external to the fiber-based optical amplifier module, the pump source providing the pump input beam to the passive optical power splitter.