Dual-stage low power optical amplifier

摘要

A two-stage optical fiber amplifier requiring substantially reduced power comprises a pre-amplifier first-stage operating in the linear region within the small signal limits, and a post-amplifier second-stage operating in a saturated regime providing significant gain compression. The pump power for the pre-amp stage is minimized, and all of the gain compression occurs in the second stage. Minimum pump power and the corresponding amplifier fiber length needed to achieve a predetermined optimum amount of small signal gain required in a given amplifier application may be achieved in variations of the design.