This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a cladpumped Chromium doped fiber amplifier (CDFA) module that will provide full-spectrum optical amplification ranging from 1270 nm to 1610 nm for coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) network systems. A single crystal with certain spectral gain that traditional glass fibers and semiconductor amplifiers cannot offer is transformed to be integrateable with single-mode fiber-optic components. This novel combination of conventional bulk crystal technology, contemporary fiber optics technology, and advanced fiber laser technology may be disruptive and may result in many discoveries and applications.
If successful the outcome of this project would not only provide full-spectrum amplification for current CWDM systems, but also provide the path to ultra-high capacity wideband dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. In addition, this platform technology has other applications such as tunable lasers for test and measurement, and CWDM transponders.
