Abstract

The low-noise operation of fluoride-based erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) is demonstrated with ${{}^{4}I}_{11/2}$-level pumping for what we believe to be the first time. A noise figure as low as $3.5\pm 0.5 \mathrm{dB}$ at 1550 nm is achieved by means of 970-nm pumping. It is shown that it is possible to construct fluoride-based EDFA's with a noise figure as low as that of silica-based EDFA's.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

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