IEC 61290-1:2022

IEC 61290-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2022-06
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Optical amplifiers – Test methods –
Part 1: Power and gain parameters

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IEC 61290-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2022-06
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Optical amplifiers – Test methods –
Part 1: Power and gain parameters
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 33.180.30 ISBN 978-2-8322-3847-9

– 2 – IEC 61290-1:2022 RLV © IEC 2022
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope and object . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 6
3.1 Terms and definitions . 6
3.2 Abbreviated terms . 6
4 Optical power and gain test method . 6
5 Optical power and gain parameters . 6
6 Test results . 12
Bibliography . 15

Figure 1 – Typical behaviour of the gain as a function of input signal power . 7
Figure 2 – Typical behaviour of the gain as a function of wavelength . 8
Figure 3 – Typical behaviour of the gain as a function of temperature . 9
Figure 4 – Typical behaviour of the gain as a function of wavelength . 10
Figure 5 – Typical behaviour of the gain fluctuation as a function of time . 10
Figure 6 – Typical behaviour of the output power fluctuation as a function of time . 11
Figure 7 – Typical behaviour of the gain as a function of input signal power . 12
Figure 8 – Typical behaviour of the output power as a function of input signal power . 12

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS – TEST METHODS –

Part 1: Power and gain parameters

FOREWORD
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This redline version of the official IEC Standard allows the user to identify the changes made to
the previous edition IEC 61290-1:2014. A vertical bar appears in the margin wherever a change
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– 4 – IEC 61290-1:2022 RLV © IEC 2022
IEC 61290-1 has been prepared by subcommittee 86C: Fibre optic systems and active devices,
of IEC technical committee 86: Fibre optics. It is an International Standard.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2014. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
a) specification of gain ripple as a new parameter;
b) specification of test method and test report for gain ripple measurements;
c) use of the term “measurement uncertainty” instead of “measurement accuracy”.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
86C/1746/FDIS 86C/1783/RVD
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.
A list of all parts in the IEC 61290 series, published under the general title Optical amplifiers –
Test methods, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The "colour inside" logo on the cover page of this document indicates that it
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contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS – TEST METHODS –

Part 1: Power and gain parameters

1 Scope and object
This part of IEC 61290 applies to all commercially available optical amplifiers (OAs) and
optically amplified subsystems. It applies to OAs using optically pumped fibres (optical fibre
amplifiers (OFAs) based on either rare-earth doped fibres or on the Raman effect),
semiconductors (semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs)), and waveguides (planar optical
waveguide amplifiers (POWAs)). It is specifically directed to single-channel amplifiers. Test
methods for multichannel amplifiers are defined in the IEC 61290-10 series.
This document establishes uniform requirements for accurate and reliable measurements of the
following OA parameters, as defined in IEC 61291-1:20122018, Clause 3:
a) nominal output signal power;
b) gain;
c) reverse gain;
d) maximum gain;
e) maximum gain wavelength;
f) maximum gain variation with temperature;
g) gain wavelength band;
h) gain wavelength variation;
i) gain stability;
j) polarization-dependent gain;
k) gain ripple (SOA only);
l) large-signal output stability;
m) saturation output power;
n) maximum output signal power;
o) maximum total output power.
NOTE 1 The applicability of the test methods described in this document to distributed Raman amplifiers is still
under study.
NOTE 2 All numerical values followed by (‡) are suggested values for which the measurement is assured. Other
values are acceptable if verified.
The object of this standard is specifically directed to single-channel amplifiers. For multichannel
amplifiers, one should refer to the IEC 61290-10 series.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 61290-1-1, Optical amplifiers – Test methods – Part 1-1: Power and gain parameters –
Optical spectrum analyzer method

– 6 – IEC 61290-1:2022 RLV © IEC 2022
IEC 61290-1-2, Optical amplifiers – Test methods – Part 1-2: Power and gain parameters –
Electrical spectrum analyzer method
IEC 61290-1-3, Optical amplifiers – Test methods – Part 1-3: Power and gain parameters –
Optical power meter method
IEC 61291-1:20122018, Optical amplifiers – Part 1: Generic specification
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in IEC 61291-1 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.2 Abbreviated terms
ASE amplified spontaneous emission
FWHM full width at half maximum
OA optical amplifier
OFA optical fibre amplifier
OSA optical spectrum analyzer
POWA planar optical waveguide amplifier
SOA semiconductor optical amplifier
4 Optical power and gain test method
Three commonly practised procedures for quantifying the optical power and gain of an OA are
considered in this standard.
One of the three test methods described in IEC 61290-1-1, IEC 61290-1-2, and IEC 61290-1-3
for quantifying the optical power and gain of an OA shall be followed in this document.
The aim of the first procedure (see The test method described in IEC 61290-1-1) is to
determines the optical power and gain by means of an optical spectrum analyzer test method.
The aim of the
...