Patent · US Expired

In-line optical amplifier

US5703711A · kind A · utility

37Cited by
4References
36Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJun 7, 1996
Grant dateDec 30, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 7, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B2210/08
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An in-line optical amplifier includes a pumping source, a rare-earth element doped fiber amplifier, a gain regulator and a noise detector. An input power and an output power of the in-line optical amplifier are detected from the input optical signal and the output optical signal, respectively, and then they are used to detect a resultant gain of the in-line optical amplifier. The gain regulator controls the pumping light emitted by a pumping source such that the gain of the rare-earth element doped fiber amplifier is increased and a gain deviation of the resultant gain from a predetermined gain is reduced. The noise detector detects an internal noise or a noise figure based on the gain deviation, for example, by detecting the intensity of the pumping light or the magnitude of drive current of the pumping source.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.