LAUSR

Abstract An enhanced triple-pass hybrid optical fiber amplifier in a dual-stage configuration is presented by utilizing a combination of hafnium-bismuth erbium-doped fiber (HB-EDF) and bismuth erbium-doped fiber (Bi-EDF) as gain medium. The total Erbium-doped fiber length was only 199 cm, and both HB-EDF and Bi-EDF were forward pumped by 1480 nm with an optimum pump power of 170 mW and 110 mW, respectively to provide flat gain and wideband amplification. At high input power of -10 dBm, a flat gain of about 19 dB with gain fluctuation of less than 2 dB was observed over wideband ranging from 1555–1600 nm. On the other hand, the noise figure varied from 4.8–9.3 dB within the flat gain region. The triple-pass Erbium-doped fiber amplifier has been enhanced by utilizing distribution pumping scheme in the configuration. This improvised configuration minimised the cost of the amplifier yet having the comparable performance with the dual-pump configuration. A flat gain of 17.2 dB with the corresponding noise figure below 8 dB was obtained within 1555–1600 nm.