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US 5,471,342 AGranted
Fiber optical amplifier having a detector for measuring scattered light at a splice
AssigneeAlcatel
InventorsBernhard Junginger, Rainer Fritschi, Heinz Krimmel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a fiber-optic amplifier, which consists of at least one pump coupler (2) with a pumping light source (1) and an erbium-doped fiber length (7) which is spliced to the pump coupler (2), at least one detector is located in the splice area (12) between the fiber length (7) and the outgoing transmission line, to monitor the amplifier by measuring the scattered light coming from this splice area (12). An electrical evaluating device follows the detector.
Claims11
A fiber-optic amplifier connectable to a transmission line (9), consisting of
- a pump coupler with several connecting points,
- a pumping light source connected to a first connecting point of the pump coupler,
- a length (7) of fiber having optical amplifying characteristics with one end being joined to a second connecting point of the pump coupler defining one splice area (11) and with another end to be joined to the transmission line (9) defining another splice area (12), and
- at least one detector (13, 15) being arranged at at least one end of the length (7) of fiber with optical amplifying characteristics and being pointed at a respective splice area (11, 12) to measure scattered light (S1', P1', S2', P2') leaking from the respective splice area (11, 12).
1 more element
A fiber-optic amplifier, comprising:
- a pump coupler (2) with several connecting points, including a first connecting point and a second connecting point;
- a pump light source (1) connected to the first connecting point of the pump coupler (2);
- a length of fiber with optical amplifying characteristics (7);
- a splice area (11) formed where an end of the length of fiber with optical amplifying characteristics (7) joins the second connecting point of the pump coupler(2);
- and
- at least one detector (13, 15) arranged adjacent the splice area (11) for measuring scattered light (S1', P1', S2', P2') leaking from the splice area (11).
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.