Theory and measurement techniques for the noise figure of optical amplifiers

The theoretical basis for the noise figure of optical amplifiers is reviewe d, and a consistent approach to determining the noise figure of cascaded co mponents is developed, It is shown that when the noise figure is defined in terms of the input and output signal-re-noise ratios, the formulation prov ides a consistent theoretical formulation for measurement techniques using optical and optoelectronic measurement methods. The paper concludes with a review of measurement techniques for characterization of the noise figure. (C) 2000 Academic Press.