Gain-clamped erbium-doped fibre amplifier for wavelength division multiplexed systems

Amplification of multiwavelength signals by an erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EBFA) is becoming critical, due to the proliferation of wavelength division multiplexed systems. However, when a standard EDFA is employed, dissimilarities between signal gains may prove unacceptable. Thus, a novel gain-clamped EDFA is proposed here to tackle the issue of gain tilt, a measure of maximum gain difference. The suitability of the configuration is then investigated through a numerical model, which is developed based on the standard EDFA and fibre laser models.