Design and analysis of high-power segmented-core trench-assisted Yb-free erbium doped fiber amplifier

Limited power handling capacity of single mode fiber compels to design effective-single mode large-core fiber for high power amplifiers. This article proposes a 0.15 NA, large-mode-area, bend-insensitive, Yb-free EDFA for the selective amplification of fundamental mode. The fiber uses a leaky design to ensure fundamental-mode amplification by higher-order mode discrimination. The segmented-core design in the fiber helps in achieving large-mode-area. The annular segments and low index trench in the fiber control the leakage losses and gains of the modes. We show an EDFA design with 811 µm2 mode-area, 0.014 dB bending loss for 10 mm diameter loop at 1530 nm wavelength and highly selective single-mode output. Our calculations also show a linear increase in the output signal power with pump power with a slope efficiency of 52.8%.