Method and apparatus to measure gain spectra of erbium doped fiber amplifier
AssigneeTyco Telecommunications (US) Inc.
InventorsChinlon Lin, Michael Mills, Morten Nissov
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Abstract
A test apparatus includes a broadband noise source, a test station, and a spectrum analyzer. A method using the test apparatus to measure the spectral gain of an erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) under test includes steps of providing an optical signal from a broadband noise source to an input of the EDFA under test, measuring a power at a test wavelength at an output of the EDFA under test, adjusting the test wavelength, and repeating the steps of measuring and adjusting for a predetermined number of times.
Claims19
A test apparatus to measure the gain spectra of an optical amplifier comprising:
- a broadband noise source to provide light to said amplifier, said source having a desired bandwidth associated with a desired operating requirement of said amplifier;
- a test station including said amplifier under test, said test station coupled to said noise source;
- and
- an optical spectrum analyzer coupled to said test station.
A method for testing an erbium doped optical amplifier comprising the steps of:
- providing an optical signal from an unpolarized amplified stimulated emission broadband noise source to an input of an erbium doped fiber amplifier under test;
- selecting a test wavelength within a particular bandwidth of the erbium doped fiber amplifier under test;
- measuring a power at said test wavelength at an output of the erbium doped fiber amplifier under test with a spectrum analyzer;
- adjusting the test wavelength;
- and
- repeating the steps of measuring and adjusting for a predetermined number of times.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.