Temperature-compensated rare earth doped optical waveguide amplifiers

摘要

In accordance with the invention, a temperature-dependent rare earth doped waveguide optical amplifier is compensated by a temperature-dependent loss filter. The filter characteristics are designed to be temperature-dependent filters so that the gain characteristic of the amplifier is compensated over a practical operating temperature range. In essence, the amplifier comprises a length of optical waveguide for transmitting optical signals, a rare earth doped amplifying region in the waveguide for amplifying the transmitted optical signals, a pumping source for optically pumping the amplifying region, and a temperature-dependent loss filter. A typical design compensates an EFDA to a variation of less than 1 dB over a temperature range of -40 DEG C. to 85 DEG C. and a spectral range of at least 20 nm.