SPECTRUM-SLICED FIBER AMPLIFIER LIGHT-SOURCE WITH A POLARIZATION-INSENSITIVE ELECTROABSORPTION MODULATOR

Abstract

We report the measured SNR of both polarized and unpolarized ASE light of an EDFA spectrum-sliced with various optical bandwidths. The results were in a good agreement (<1 dB) with the theoretically calculated values. We also compared the BER performance of these light sources. When an unpolarized ASE source was used with a polarization-insensitive electroabsorption modulator, the equivalent optical bandwidth needed for error-free transmission of 1.7-Gb/s data was only 0.68 nm.