Trade‐off between single and double pass amplification schemes of 1480‐nm pumped EDFA

Abstract A practical comparative analysis of single‐pass and double‐pass amplification schemes of 1480‐nm pumped Er 3+ ‐doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is presented in this paper. This comparison is carried out with an input signal from 0 dBm to −40 dBm at 140‐mW pump power. The critical input power of −25 dBm is obtained in order to determine the optimized performance between single‐pass and double‐pass amplifiers. The double‐pass EDFA gives a better performance for small signal powers of less than −25 dBm, while the single‐pass EDFA performs better for higher signal powers of greater than −25 dBm. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 43: 38–40, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20368