Abstract

Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) capable of a high-output saturation power (>+ 20 dBm) are needed to compensate splitting losses in large-scale subscriber networks. To obtain the requisite high pump power, the only practical means reported to date involves the use of multiple 1480-nm diodes¹ or a miniature diode-pumped Nd⁺³:YAG laser.² We report here a new all-fiber tandem-pumping approach which permits the use of readily available high-power (up to 30 W). multistripe AlGaAs diode lasers operating at 808 nm. The light from the high-power diode is efficiently (~45%) converted into sin le-mode radiation at 1.053 pm using a new cladding-pumped Nd⁺³-doped fiber laser fabricated from compound glass. The 1.053-μm radiation is then used to pump an EDFA co-doped³ with Yb⁺³ to give a small-signal gain of 45dB and an output power in excess of +20 dBm.

© 1992 Optical Society of America