Glasses for Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers: A Comparison Based on the Ultimate Spectral Efficiency of Information Transmission

摘要

A new figure of merit---the ultimate spectral efficiency of information transmission in the regime of unsaturated gain in the case of a quasi-two-level scheme of pumping--is proposed to compare host glasses for erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) that are considered as a constituent of an optical communication system. It is shown that the amplifiers based on silicate glasses possess the best characteristics, whereas the amplifiers based on phosphate and tellurite glasses have somewhat worse and substantially worse characteristics, respectively.