PERFORMANCE REDUCTION AND DESIGN MODIFICATION OF ERBIUM-DOPED FIBER AMPLIFIERS RESULTING FROM PAIR-INDUCED QUENCHING

We model the deleterious effect of pair-induced quenching (PIQ) in Erb ium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) and describe it in terms of pump p ower, amplification, and noise factor penalties. Moreover, with a simp le model for how PIQ increases with concentration, we show that to ach ieve a desired amplification, shorter fiber lengths will require highe r pump powers, and that there is a lower length limit with realistic p ump powers. Rate equations for Erbium-ion pairs are formulated with th e assumption of one ion per pair completely quenched. Although our res ults were obtained for EDFA's, the methods and conclusions are also re levant for high concentration erbium doped integrated waveguides.