Output power excursions in a cascade of EDFAs fed by multichannel burst-mode packet traffic: Experimentation and modeling

A serious problem facing wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) networks wit h fiber amplifier cascades is transient cross-gain saturation or gain dynam ics of fiber amplifiers. Attention has been focused primarily on circuit-sw itched scenarios. When the number of WDM channels transmitted through a cir cuit-switching network varies, channel addition/removal will tend to pertur b signals at the surviving channel that share all or part of the route, Eve n more serious bit error rate deterioration can arise in WDM packet switche d burst mode networks, In this paper, we present experimental and theoretic al results demonstrating the effect of fast power transients in erbium-dope d fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) on packetized traffic transmitted through a chai n of five EDFAs, Traffic of a local-area network has been transmitted over three channels. The effect of EDFA cross-gain saturation due to the burstin ess of the traffic has been observed in a continuous-wave monitoring channe l. The stabilizing effect of gain clamping of the first EDFA in the cascade has been investigated. The experimental results are extended to eight-chan nel WDM system using a large signal numerical analysis.