Pulse pump–quasi-CW probe technique to measure the gain recovery time of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier

Abstract A two-wavelength pump–probe technique to measure the gain recovery time of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier is reported. In the measurement, pulse fields and quasi-continuous-wave fields generated from a single-distributed-feedback laser array are respectively used as the pump and probe light. To distinguish the probe field from spontaneous emissions from the amplifier, a circulator and fiber Bragg grating are incorporated in the experimental setup.