Gain-flattening apparatus and methods and optical amplifiers employing same

摘要

Gain-flattening components for compensation of at least a portion of the spectral gain profile of an optical amplifier comprises an optical substrate having at least a first gain-flattening filter disposed on a first surface of the optical substrate and a second gain-flattening filter disposed on a second surface of the optical substrate. The first gain-flattening filter has a transmission curve with a spectral loss profile for optical signals in the optical wavelength range, and has a net insertion loss error function relative to the spectral gain profile of an optical amplifier. The spectral loss profile of the second gain-flattening filter corresponds to the net insertion error function of the first gain-flattening filter. Gain-flattening optical amplifiers comprise one or more such gain-flattening components and at least one optical signal amplifier. Methods of producing gain-flattening components comprise: designing a primary gain-flattening filter to flatten the spectral gain profile of an optical amplifier; disposing on a first surface of an optical substrate a first gain-flattening filter according to the design of the primary gain-flattening filter; determining the error function of the coated substrate; designing a tweaker filter with a spectral loss profile corresponding to the error function of the coated substrate; and disposing on the second surface of the optical substrate a second filter according to the design of the tweaker filter.