IEC TR 61292-1:2009

IEC/TR 61292-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2009-04
TECHNICAL
REPORT
Optical amplifiers –
Part 1: Parameters of amplifier components

IEC/TR 61292-1:2009(E)
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IEC/TR 61292-1 ®
Edition 2.0 2009-04
TECHNICAL
REPORT
Optical amplifiers –
Part 1: Parameters of amplifier components

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
PRICE CODE
R
ICS 33.160.10; 33.180.30 ISBN 978-2-88910-480-2
– 2 – TR 61292-1 © IEC:2009(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3
1 Scope and object .5
2 Normative references.5
3 Abbreviations.5
4 OFA components .6
5 Terms and definitions .6
5.1 Active fibre .6
5.2 Pump laser .8
5.3 WDM coupler.11
5.4 Optical isolator .12
5.5 ASE rejection filter.13
5.6 Pump rejection filter.13
5.7 Gain flattening filter (GFF) .14
5.8 Tap coupler .15
5.9 PIN-photodiode (PIN-PD).16
5.10 Variable optical attenuator (VOA).17
5.11 Optical connectors.18
Bibliography .19

Figure 1 – Example of the components inside an EDFA operating in a co-propagating
pumping scheme.6

TR 61292-1 © IEC:2009(E) – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS –
Part 1: Parameters of amplifier components

FOREWORD
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The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
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example "state of the art".
IEC 61292-1, which is a technical report, has been prepared by subcommittee 86C: Fibre optic
systems and active devices, of IEC technical committee 86: Fibre optics.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1998. It is a technical
revision with updates reflecting new technology.

– 4 – TR 61292-1 © IEC:2009(E)
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
86C/853/DTR 86C/871/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the report
on voting indicated in the above table.
A list of all parts of the IEC 61292 series, published under the general title Optical amplifiers,
can be found on the IEC website.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until the
maintenance result 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.
A bilingual version of this technical report may be published later.

TR 61292-1 © IEC:2009(E) – 5 –
OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS –
Part 1: Parameters of amplifier components

1 Scope and object
This part of IEC 61292, which is a technical report, applies to optical components of rare-earth
doped fibre amplifiers. It provides information about the most relevant parameters of optical
components especially for erbium doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs).
The object of this technical report is to provide introductory information for a better
understanding of EDFA operation and applications.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application 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/TR 61931, Fibre optic – Terminology
ITU-T Recommendation G. 650.1, Definition and test methods for linear, deterministic
attributes of single-mode fibre and cable
NOTE A list of informative references is given in the Bibliography.
3 Abbreviations
For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations apply.
ASE amplified spontaneous emission
EDFA erbium-doped fibre amplifier
EDF erbium-doped fibre
OFA optical fibre amplifier
OA  optical amplifier
RMS(r.m.s) root mean square
LD  laser diode
TEC thermo-electric cooler
FBG fibre Bragg grating
FWHM full-width at half maximum
WDM wavelength division multiplexing
GFF gain flattening filter
PIN-PD PIN-photodiode
VOA variable optical attenuator
EDF erbium doped fibre
PDL polarization dependent loss (variation)
PMD polarization mode dispersion
MTBF mean time between failure

– 6 – TR 61292-1 © IEC:2009(E)
FIT  failure in time
4 OFA components
The parameters relevant for a satisfactory understanding of OFA operation are covered by the
following optical component definitions:
– active fibre;
– pump laser;
– wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) coupler;
– optical isolator;
– amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) rejection filter;
– pump rejection filter;
– gain flattening filter (GFF);
– tap coupler;
– PIN-photodiode (PIN-PD);
– variable optical attenuator (VOA);
– optical connectors.
Figure 1 provides an example of the component layout for an OFA.

WDM coupler Active fibre
(Input)
Optical
connector
λ λ λ
(Output)
ASE rejection Pump rejection Gain flattening
Optical
Pump laser
filter* filter* filter*
connector
Tap coupler
dB
Optical Variable
PIN-PD*
isolator* optical
attenuator*
*Optional components (can be placed elsewhere)
IEC  660/09
Figure 1 – Example of the components inside an EDFA operating
in a co-propagating pumping scheme
5 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
5.1 Active fibre
The active fibre is used as gain media in OFA. Rare earth ion is generally doped in the core
3+
region of fibre to produce signal amplification, an Er ion is applied for 1550-nm band OFA
such as an erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA). Erbium doped fibre (EDF) absorbs light with a

TR 61292-1 © IEC:2009(E) – 7 –
wavelength of 980 nm or 1 480 nm for pumping, and emits infrared light with a wavelength in
the 1 550-nm region. Optical amplification is realized utilizing stimulated emission of 1 530-nm
luminescence.
5.1.1
active fibre maximum input signal power
optical power level associated with the input signal above which the active fibre gets damaged,
causing impossibility of normal operation
5.1.2
active fibre insertion loss at out-of-band wavelength
active fibre insertion loss for a signal at out-of-band wavelength
5.1.3
active fibre polarization-dependent gain variation
maximum fibre gain variation due to variation of the state of polarization of the input signal
5.1.4
active fibre PMD
maximum PMD at the signal wavelength which is launched into the input port of the active fibre
and exits from signal output port of the active fibre, expressed in ps (pico second)
NOTE 1 When an optical signal travels through an optical fibre, optical component
...