Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier

EDFA - Fibotec Fiberoptics GmbH

EDFAs are based on the light amplification in erbium-doped fiber, which are optically pumped by means of 980 nm or 1480 nm light sources. In this way, the light of a larger wavelength within the C or L band applied to the input of the amplifier is amplified, thus widening the range of optical communication links. EDFAs typically operate in saturation and the average signal power determines the average gain. The dynamics of EDFA are unaffected by the sequence and dynamics of a digital signal or channel interaction in DWDM systems. As a result, multiple channels can be bundled within the total erbium spectral amplification bandwidth. However, the total average output power in both cases is determined by the saturation power of the specific EDFA.