Scope and object

This International Standard applies to optical fibre amplifiers (OFAs) using active fibres, containing rare-earth dopants, presently commercially available.

The object of this standard is to provide the general background for OFA noise figure parameters measurements and to indicate those IEC standard test methods for accurate and reliable measurements of the following OFA parameters, as defined in clause 3 of IEC 6129-1:

a) noise figure (NF):

b) noise factor (F);

c) multiple with interference (MPI) figure of merit;

d) signal-spontaneous noise figure;

e) (equivalent) spontaneous-spontaneous optical bandwidth (B_sp-sp)

f) Forward amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) power level;

g) Reverse ASE power level;

h) ASE bandwidth.