A new simple model for EDFA incorporated in the irradiated environment for inter-satellite optical communication

A new simple model for the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) incorporated in the irradiated environment for inter-satellite optical communication is proposed. In the model, all factors caused by irradiation are assumed to be equivalent to a unique factor, which is the reduction number of active Er3+. In this case, one can directly predict the output power of the 1550 nm EDFA and avoid its computing by using only the evolution of 1310 nm absorption similar to the models previously elaborated. Two equivalent EDFAs are irradiated with Co-60 rays at different doses. The experimental and simulation results show that the model can predict the output-power degradation with an accuracy better than 13% under irradiation of 20 krad. Such an accuracy is good enough for inter-satellite optical communication systems on low Earth orbit (LEO).