What is a Fiber Amplifier and how it works?

Why do we require Fiber Amplifier?

Basically, what a fiber amplifier solves is the conventional distance issue as in any long distance telecommunication system like trans-Atlantic link. As optical signals pass through the fiber, the signals become weaker in power.

The further you go, the weaker the signal becomes until it is too weak to be detected properly. Fiber optic communication system solves this issue by using fiber amplifiers along the way. An amplifier or a repeater is inserted into the system at a point where the signal becomes weak, to enhance the test of the signal so it can be transmitted through another length of fiber cable or the Laser source. Many repeaters and amplifiers can be placed in sequence to keep the signal strong along the entire fiber link.

What are the differences between a fiber amplifier and a repeater?

Conventionally, electronic repeaters were utilized for optical signal amplification. A repeater converts weak optical signal into electronic signal, cleans up the electronic signal, and then convert the electronic signal back to the optical signal with a light wave transmitter. The light wave transmitter emits much stronger power than the incoming optical signal and thereby amplifies it.

Nonetheless, this is an inconvenient and expensive procedure and that’s why it has been replaced by the new fiber amplifier technology. The fiber amplifiers or the pump combiner is purely an optical device. It doesn’t transform the incoming optical signal to electronic signal at all. Generally, you may call it a laser source. And a fiber amplifier can simultaneously amplify dozens of optical channels, as they do not transform every channel into electronic signals individually.

What is a fiber amplifier and how it works?

Fiber amplifier is a section of optical fiber that is doped with a rare earth element like praseodymium or erbium. The atoms of the praseodymium or erbium can be pumped by a high power light into an exhilarated state. But they are not stable in the exhilarated state. When the amplified optical signals pass through the fiber, they stimulate the exhilarated erbium atoms. The erbium atoms will shift from the high power level exhilarated into a low power level state, and release their energy as emitted light photons simultaneously. The emitted photons have the same wavelength and phase as the input optical signal, and thereby amplify the optical signal.

This is a very simple form of amplifier for an optical fiber system as it is an in-line amplifier, thereby removes the pump combiner wavelengths and the corresponding optical signal wavelengths are the main parameters for operations of fiber amplifiers. These wavelengths depend on the rare-earth element doped in the fiber and also on the composition on the fiber glass. Another vital term in understanding the fiber amplifiers is its "gain".

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