Abstract

Optical amplifiers have revolutionized the deployment of fiber-optic systems. Erbium-doped silica amplifiers operating in the 1500-nm third window have been commercially available for a number of years and are being deployed at an ever-increasing rate. In the 1300-nm window, praseodymium-doped fluoride amplifiers are now commercially available, opening up extra capacity in the millions of miles of already deployed, unamplified optical links. In this paper we present a fully engineered first-window thulium-doped fluoride amplifier, providing the last link in the chain toward practical amplification in all three low-loss optical windows.

© 1995 Optical Society of America