Absorbtion of Energy:

The electrons in an atom are circling the nucleus in many different orbits.These
orbits have different energy levels of the atom.If we apply some heat to an atom,
we might expect that some of the electrons in the lower-energy orbitals would
transition to higher-energy orbitals farther away from the nucleus.

Absorption of energy:
An atom absorbs energy in the form of heat, light, or
electricity. Electrons may move from a lower-energy
orbit to a higher-energy orbit.

Stimulated emission:

Definition: a quantum effect, where photon emission is triggered by other photons

The stimulating agent is a photon whose energy (E3-E2) is exactly equal to the
energy difference between the present energy state of the atom, E3 and some
lower energy state, E2. This photon stimulates the atom to make a downward

transition and emit, in phase, a photon identical to the stimulating photon. The
emitted photon has the same energy, same wavelength, and same direction of
travel as the stimulating photon; and the two are exactly in phase. Thus,
stimulated emission produces light that is monochromatic, directional, and
coherent. This light appears as the output beam of the laser.
Spontaneous emission:

Definition: quantum effect, causing the spontaneous decay of excited states of atoms or
ions

An atom in an excited state is unstable and will release spontaneously its excess
energy and return to the ground state. This energy release may occur in a single
transition or in a series of transitions that involve intermediate energy levels. For
example, an atom in state E3 of Figure 8 could reach the ground state by means
of a single transition from E3 to El, or by two transitions, first from E3 to E2 and
then from E2 to E1. In any downward atomic transition, an amount of energy
equal to the difference in energy content of the two levels must be released by
the atom.

In ordinary light sources, individual atoms release photons at random. Neither the
direction nor the phase of the resulting photons is controlled in any way, and
many wavelengths usually are present. This process is referred to as
"spontaneous emission" because the atoms emit light spontaneously, quite
independent of any external influence. The light produced is neither
monochromatic, directional, nor coherent.

LASER:
A laser is a device that controls the way that energized atoms release photons. "Laser" is an
acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, which describes very
succinctly how a laser works.

Einstine Equation:

hf=E2-E1

h is Planck's constant, f is the freq. of the incident photon, E2-E1 is difference of energy between orbits
Three-Level Laser:

Here's what happens in a real-life, three-level laser.

TYPES OF LASERS:
(45) Lasers may be classified according to the type of active medium,
excitation mechanism, or duration of laser output. We dicuss there only
HeNe gas LASER.

GAS LASERS:

• Helium- neon (HeNe) LASER:

Laser (most frequently use) with its familiar red beam (Fig.6).
The laser medium is a mixture of helium and neon gases. An
electrical discharge, in the form of direct current or radio
 frequency current, is used to excite the medium to a higher
energy level. The pumping action takes place in a complex and
indirect manner. First the helium atoms are excited by the
discharge to two of the excited energy levels (Fig.7). These two
levels happen to be very close to the 3s and 2s levels of the
neon atoms. When the excited helium atoms collide with the
neon atoms, energy is exchanged, pumping the neon atoms to
the respective levels. The atoms at the neon 3s level eventually
drops down to the 2p level, as a result of stimulated emission,
and light of wavelength 632.8 nm is emitted. The atoms at the
2s level, on the other hand, drops to the 2p level by emitting
light at 1.15 nm. However , the atoms at the 3s level may
instead drop down to the 3p level, by emitting light at 3.39 mm.
632.8nm is in the visible range.

Figure 6 : He-Ne Gas Laser

Semiconductor LASER:

Laser Diodes:

Light emitters are a key element in any fiber optic system. This component
converts the electrical signal into a corresponding light signal that can be
injected into the fiber. The light emitter is an important element because it is
often the most costly element in the system, and its characteristics often
strongly influence the final performance limits of a given link.

Figure 1 - Laser Diodes Convert an Electrical Signal to Light

 Laser Diodes are complex semiconductors that convert an electrical current
into light. The conversion process is fairly efficient in that it generates little
heat compared to incandescent lights. Five inherent properties make lasers
attractive for use in fiber optics.
1. They are small.
2. They possess high radiance (i.e., They emit lots of light in a small area).
3. The emitting area is small, comparable to the dimensions of optical fibers.
4. They have a very long life, offering high reliability.
5. They can be modulated (turned off and on) at high speeds.

Table 1 offers a quick comparison of some of the characteristics for lasers

and LEDs. These characteristics are discussed in greater detail throughout
this article and in the article on light-emitting diodes

Table 1 - Comparison of LEDs and Lasers

Characteristic LEDs Lasers
Linearly proportional to drive Proportional to current above
Output Power
current the threshold
Drive Current: 50 to 100 mA Threshold Current: 5 to 40
Current
Peak mA
Coupled Power Moderate High
Speed Slower Faster
Output Pattern Higher Lower
Bandwidth Moderate High
Wavelengths Available 0.66 to 1.65 µm 0.78 to 1.65 µm
Narrower (0.00001 nm to 10
Spectral Width Wider (40-190 nm FWHM)
nm FWHM)
Fiber Type Multimode Only SM, MM
Ease of Use Easier Harder
Lifetime Longer Long
Cost Low ($5-$300) High ($100-$10,000)

Laser diodes are typically constructed of GaAlAs (gallium aluminum

arsenide) for short-wavelength devices. Long-wavelength devices generally
incorporate InGaAsP (indium gallium arsenide phosphide).

Structure And Operation:

Laser Diode Performance Characteristics
Several key characteristics lasers determine their usefulness in a given
application. These are:

Peak Wavelength: This is the wavelength at which the source emits the most
power. It should be matched to the wavelengths that are transmitted with the
least attenuation through optical fiber. The most common peak wavelengths are
1310, 1550, and 1625 nm.

Spectral Width: Ideally, all the light emitted from a laser would be at the peak
wavelength, but in practice the light is emitted in a range of wavelengths
centered at the peak wavelength. This range is called the spectral width of the
source.

Emission Pattern: The pattern of emitted light affects the amount of light that
can be coupled into the optical fiber. The size of the emitting region should be
similar to the diameter of the fiber core. Figure 2 illustrates the emission pattern
of a laser.

Power: The best results are usually achieved by coupling as much of a source's
power into the fiber as possible. The key requirement is that the output power of
the source be strong enough to provide sufficient power to the detector at the
receiving end, considering fiber attenuation, coupling losses and other system
constraints. In general, lasers are more powerful than LEDs.

Speed: A source should turn on and off fast enough to meet the bandwidth
limits of the system. The speed is given according to a source's rise or fall time,
the time required to go from 10% to 90% of peak power. Lasers have faster rise
and fall times than LEDs.
Figure 2 - Laser Emission Pattern

Linearity is another important characteristic to light sources for some applications.

Linearity represents the degree to which the optical output is directly proportional to the
electrical current input. Most light sources give little or no attention to linearity, making
them usable only for digital applications. Analog applications require close attention to
linearity. Nonlinearity in lasers causes harmonic distortion in the analog signal that is
transmitted over an analog fiber optic link.
Lasers are temperature sensitive; the lasing threshold will change with the
temperature. Figure 3 shows the typical behavior of a laser diode. As operating
temperature changes, several effects can occur. First, the threshold current
changes. The threshold current is always lower at lower temperatures and vice
versa. The second change that can be important is the slope efficiency. The
slope efficiency is the number of milliwatts or microwatts of light output per
milliampere of increased drive current above threshold. Most lasers show a drop
in slope efficiency as temperature increases. Thus, lasers require a method of
stabilizing the threshold to achieve maximum performance. Often, a photodiode
is used to monitor the light output on the rear facet of the laser. The current from
the photodiode changes with variations in light output and provides feedback to
adjust the laser drive current.

Figure 4a shows the behavior of an LED, and Figure 4b shows the behavior of a laser diode. The plots show
the relative amount of light output versus electrical drive current. The LED outputs light that is
approximately linear with the drive current. Nearly all LED's exhibit a "droop" in the curve as shown in
Figure 4b. This nonlinearity in the LED limits its usefulness in analog applications. The droop can be caused
by a number of factors in the LED semiconductor physics but is often largely due to self-heating of the LED
chip.

OUTPUT COUPLER:
The output coupler allows a portion of the laser light contained between the two mirrors to leave
the laser in the form of a beam. One of the mirrors of the feedback mechanism allows some light
to be transmitted through it at the laser wavelength. The fraction of the coherent light allowed to
escape varies greatly from one laser to another--from less than one percent for some helium-neon
lasers to more than 80 percent for many solid-state lasers.

Laser-to-Fiber Coupling:
The Laser-to-Fiber Coupling System consists of the FiberBench Base, a LaserPort and a
FiberPort, with one output FiberCable with cleaved distal end . The Laser-to-Fiber Coupling
System is "empty" (containing no Optical Component Modules), and is used for directly coupling a
diode laser output into a fiber.
LaserPorts are available for the following laser types: 5.6 mm, 9.0 mm or TO3.

Fiber amplifiers

Definition: Optical Amplifiers with doped fibers as gain media

Fiber amplifiers are optical amplifiers based on optical fibers as gain media. In most
cases, the gain medium is a fiber doped with rare-earth ions such as erbium (→ EDFA =
erbium-doped fiber amplifier), neodymium, ytterbium (→ YDFA), praseodymium, or
thulium. This active dopant is pumped (fed with energy) with light from a laser, such as
e.g. a fiber-coupled laser diode; in almost all cases, the pump light propagates through the
fiber core together with the signal to be amplified. A special breed of fiber amplifiers are
Raman amplifiers .

Gain and Output Power

Due to the possible small mode area and long length of an optical fiber, a high gain of
tens of decibels can be achieved with a moderate pump power, i.e., the gain efficiency
can be very high. The high surface-to-volume ratio and the robust single-mode guidance
also allow for very high output powers with diffraction-limited beam quality, particularly
when double-clad fibers are used. However, high power fiber amplifiers usually have a
moderate gain in the final stage, partly due to power efficiency issues; one then uses
amplifier chains where the preamplifier provides most of the gain and a final stage the
high output power.

Fig.: Schematic setup of a simple erbium-doped fiber amplifier. Two laser diodes (LDs)
provide the pump power for the erbium-doped fiber. Two pig-tailed optical isolators
strongly reduce the sensitivity of the device to back reflections.
Raman Amplification:
Raman amplification is based on stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), a nonlinear
effect in fiber-optical transmission that results in signal amplification if optical
pump waves with the correct wavelength and power are launched into the fiber.

Erbium Fiber Amplifiers:

Fiber amplifiers based on erbium-doped single-mode fibers (acronym: EDFAs) are

widely used in long-range optical fiber communications systems for compensating the
loss of long fiber spans. The best gain efficiency (order of 10 dB/mW) and lowest noise
figure is achieved for pumping at 980 nm, while pumping at 1450 nm can lead to a higher
power efficiency. The maximum gain typically occurs in the wavelength region around
1530-1560 nm, but this depends on parameters like fiber length, erbium concentration,
and on pump and signal intensity; such parameters are used to optimize EDFAs for a
particular wavelength region, such as e.g. the telecom C or L band. A good flatness of the
gain in a wide wavelength region (→ gain equalization) can be obtained by using
optimized glass hosts (e.g. tellurides, or some combination of amplifier sections with
different glasses) or by combination with appropriate optical filters.

A high gain in a shorter length can be achieved with ytterbium-sensitized fibers. In

addition to the erbium dopant, these contain some amount of ytterbium (typically much
more ytterbium than erbium). Ytterbium ions may then be excited e.g. with 1064-nm or
980-nm pump light and transfer their energy to erbium ions. For a proper choice of the
material composition of the fiber core, this energy transfer can be rather efficient. One
can also use double-clad fibers of this type for very high output powers.

Hybrid (EDF and Raman) amplification:

Hybrid (EDF and Raman) amplification has been used successfully in recent
designs to obtain the necessary optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) for highcapacity
dense wavelength division multiplexing systems (DWDM) or to achieve
very large amplifier spacing in, for example, festoon applications. Figure 5 shows
a possible design of a hybrid EDF/Raman amplifier. The doped fiber is pumped
remotely via the transmission fiber where Raman amplification occurs.
Figure 5. Hybrid EDF/Raman Amplifier

The transversal power distribution of the signal over an amplified fiber span is
strongly dependent on the applied amplification scheme and can be controlled by
the Raman pump power and pump direction. Figure 6 shows the transversal
span power profile employing different hybrid EDF/Raman amplification
schemes.
Figure 6. Span Power Profile for EDFA–Based Systems (1),
System Using Hybrid Schemes with Backward Raman
Amplification Only (2), and Bidirectional Raman Amplification
(3)

By properly selecting pump laser wavelengths, transmission fiber lengths, and

types, many optimization targets can be reached—flattening of the EDFA gain
through an optimized design of the frequency-dependent Raman gain, for
example. Optimization can be achieved using numerical simulation.
Erbium-Doped Fiber versus Raman Amplification:
Table 1. Comparison of Raman and Doped-Fiber Amplifier
Characteristics