Archived — Active Components

EDFAs consist of erbium-doped fiber having a silica glass host core doped with active Er ions as the gain medium. Erbium-doped fiber is usually pumped by semiconductor lasers at 980nm or 1480nm.   Basic elements of an EDFA are shown in the figure above. The gain medium in the amplifier is a specially fabricated optical fiber with its core doped with erbium(Er). The erbium-doped fiber (EDF) is pumped by a semiconductor laser, which is coupled by using a wavelength selective coupler, also known as a WDM coupler, that combines the pump laser light with the signal light. The pump light

What is a media converter? As its name implies, a media converter makes the conversion from one network media type (defined by cable and connector types and bandwidth) to another media type. By making this transition, media converters allow organizations to extend old legacy networks with the latest technology, instead of being tied to what the network was started with. Or even worse, throwing out the old network and starting from scratch. For example, fiber optic media converters allow standard copper based Cat5 and Cat6 LAN networks to work with a fiber optic back bone which provides much higher bandwidth.