High-power EDFA applied in distributed optical fiber Raman temperature sensor system

In this paper, a high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for the temperature sensor system is theoretically designed and experimentally demonstrated. It consists of an erbium-doped fiber that is pumped bidirectionally with two 980-nm high-power laser diodes (LDs). At the EDFA input, an optical isolator (ISO) is used to ensure that the signal pulse transmits forward only. After that, a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) is employed to combine the forward pump laser (980 nm) and incident optical pulse (1550 nm) into the erbium-doped fiber for direct amplification in the optical domain. At the EDFA output, another WDM couples the backward pump laser (980 nm) into the erbium-doped fiber and outputs the amplified optical pulse (1550 nm) with an ISO followed to isolate the backscattering light. According to this structure, we carried out the experiment in the condition as follows. For 980 nm pump LD, the operating current is 590 mA, and the setting temperature is 25°C. For EDFA, the length of erbium-doped fiber is 12. 5 m, and the power of 1550 nm input signal is 1. 5mW. As a result, the power of pump LD is 330mW, and the power uncertainty is 0. 5%. The power of EDFA output at 1550 nm is 300mW, and the power uncertainty is ± 3mW. © 2009 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH.