Optical amplification performance of erbium doped zirconia-yttria-alumina-baria silica fiber [Invited]

The suitability for optical amplification in the C + L band of a new zirconia-yttria–alumina-baria silica glass fiber is evaluated. The gain and noise figure are characterized using this fiber as the gain medium. A flat gain of 25 dB with a variation of less than 3 dB in the range of 1525 to 1565 nm with a significantly low noise figure less than 4.2 dB at small signal input power, are achieved using a short length of fiber with only 1 m. The performance of the amplifier can be improved with higher pump powers and longer fiber lengths.