IEC 61290-4-2:2011

IEC 61290-4-2 ®
Edition 1.0 2011-07
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Optical amplifiers – Test methods –
Part 4-2: Gain transient parameters – Broadband source method

Amplificateurs optiques – Méthodes d’essai –
Partie 4-2: Paramètres de gain transitoire – Méthode par source large bande

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IEC 61290-4-2 ®
Edition 1.0 2011-07
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Optical amplifiers – Test methods –
Part 4-2: Gain transient parameters – Broadband source method

Amplificateurs optiques – Méthodes d’essai –
Partie 4-2: Paramètres de gain transitoire – Méthode par source large bande

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
CODE PRIX R
ICS 33.180.30 ISBN 978-2-88912-573-9

– 2 – 61290-4-2 © IEC:2011
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope and object . 6
2 Normative references. 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations . 6
3.1 General . 6
3.2 Terms and definitions . 9
3.3 Abbreviated terms . 10
4 Apparatus . 10
5 Test sample . 12
6 Procedure . 12
7 Calculations . 13
8 Test results . 14
Annex A (informative) Comparison between two-wavelength method and broadband
method . 15
Bibliography . 17

Figure 1 – Definitions of rise and fall times for (a) a channel addition event, and (b) a
channel removal event . 7
Figure 2 – OFA transient gain response for (a) a channel removal event, and (b) a

channel addition event . 8
Figure 3 – Transient measurement test set-up for broadband source method . 11
Figure A.1 – Effect of non-flat gain spectrum on gain offset . 15
Figure A.2 – Different transient suppression response for different types of saturating
signals . 16

Table 1 – Examples of “add” and “drop” scenarios for transient control measurement . 13
Table 2 – Typical results of transient control measurement for a C-Band EDFA . 14

61290-4-2 © IEC:2011 – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS –
TEST METHODS –
Part 4-2: Gain transient parameters –
Broadband source method
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
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2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
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3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 61290-4-2 has been prepared by subcommittee 86C: Fibre optic
systems and active devices, of IEC technical committee 86: Fibre optics.
This standard shall be used in conjunction with IEC 61291-1. It was established on the basis of
the second (2006) edition of that standard.
Future standards in this series will carry the new general title as cited above. Titles of existing
standards in this series will be updated at the time of the next edition.

– 4 – 61290-4-2 © IEC:2011
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
CDV Report on voting
86C/957/CDV 86C/991/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A list of all parts of 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 publication will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

61290-4-2 © IEC:2011 – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
This part of IEC 61290-4 is devoted to the subject of optical amplifiers. The technology of
optical amplifiers is quite new and still emerging; hence amendments and new editions to this
standard can be expected.
Each abbreviation introduced in this standard is explained in the text at least the first time it
appears. However, for an easier understanding of the whole text, a list of all abbreviations used
in this standard is given in 3.3.

– 6 – 61290-4-2 © IEC:2011
OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS –
TEST METHODS –
Part 4-2: Gain transient parameters –
Broadband source method
1 Scope and object
This part of IEC 61290-4 applies to optical amplifiers (OAs) and optically amplified elementary
sub-systems. More specifically, it applies to OAs using active fibres (optical fibre amplifiers,
OFAs) containing rare-earth dopants, such as erbium doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs), pre
...