Abstract

Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) have attracted much interest in the field of optical transmission research, due to their superior amplification at the third telecommunication window (around 1550 nm) [1-3]. Pump sources, which supply energy to the amplifying media, are major component of the EDFA. Semiconductor pump sources are indispensable for practical EDFAs which require compact and efficient pumping. Experimental application of EDFAs to transmission systems has been progressing with the help of high-power laser diode pump sources. This paper describes the state-of-the-art EDFA semiconductor pump sources: 980-nm InGaAs/GaAs and 1480-nm InGaAsP/InP lasers.

© 1990 Optical Society of America