A novel multicore Er/Yb co-doped microstructured optical fiber amplifier with peanut-shaped air holes cladding
Zhang Yifan,
Zhao Yifei,
Fang Ziwei,
Liu Jiantao,
Xia Changming,
Hou Zhiyun,
Zhao Xuesong,
Tan Zhongwei,
Dong Yi,
Zhou Guiyao,
Yuan Jinhui
Affiliations
Zhang Yifan
Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Special Fiber Photonic Devices and Applications, School of Information Optoelectronics Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong510006, China
Zhao Yifei
Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Special Fiber Photonic Devices and Applications, School of Information Optoelectronics Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong510006, China
Fang Ziwei
Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Special Fiber Photonic Devices and Applications, School of Information Optoelectronics Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong510006, China
Liu Jiantao
Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Special Fiber Photonic Devices and Applications, School of Information Optoelectronics Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong510006, China
Xia Changming
Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Special Fiber Photonic Devices and Applications, School of Information Optoelectronics Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong510006, China
Hou Zhiyun
Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Special Fiber Photonic Devices and Applications, School of Information Optoelectronics Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong510006, China
Zhao Xuesong
Key Laboratory of Photonic Information Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Optics and Photonics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing100081, China
Tan Zhongwei
Key Laboratory of Photonic Information Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Optics and Photonics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing100081, China
Dong Yi
Key Laboratory of Photonic Information Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Optics and Photonics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing100081, China
Zhou Guiyao
Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Special Fiber Photonic Devices and Applications, School of Information Optoelectronics Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong510006, China
Yuan Jinhui
State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing100876, China
The multicore fiber amplifier, as a key component in spatial division multiplexing (SDM) communication systems, presents higher technical difficulty compared to traditional multi-channel single core fiber amplifiers, which has sparked widespread attention. To achieve balance, efficiency, miniaturization, and cost-effectiveness in the performance of multi-core optical fiber amplifiers, we propose an innovative triple cladding 13-core Er/Yb co-doped microstructured fiber (13CEYDMOF). The proposed fiber features an outer cladding with peanut-shaped air holes, which enables uniform excitation of the 13 cores using a single multimode laser pump source within the inner cladding. This approach also prevents damage or aging of the fiber’s outer coating due to the pump laser. Furthermore, the design of Peanut-Shaped Air Holes effectively increases the numerical aperture (NA) of the inner cladding while reducing the outer diameter of the fiber, enhancing the fiber’s mechanical flexibility. To address the coupling difficulties caused by air holes, we bi-directionally pump the 13CEYDMOFA by utilizing a combined technique of the side winding and end pumping. The experimental results show that the 13CEYDMOFA can achieve an average gain of 23.8 dB, a noise figure (NF) of ∼4.6 dB, and an inter-core gain difference of less than 2 dB in the wavelength range of 1529–1565 nm. The in-line amplified transmission experiment demonstrates that the 13CEYDMOFA is well suited for the 13 spatial channels transmission. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to realize high performance telecommunication band amplification in a multicore microstructure fiber.
