Analysis of gain and noise performance of bidirectionally pumped Pr3+-doped fluoride fibre amplifier configurations with unbalanced pumping

This paper presents a numerical study of the performance of asymmetric bidi rectionally pumped and reflective-type amplifier configurations in the unsa turated and saturated regions. The dependences of the optimum relative back ward pump power on the fibre parameters and on the amplifier's working cond itions for each configuration are analysed. This study has been made in the framework of the European Project COST 241: Characterization of Active Fib res for the Photonic Network.