Grating Stabilized High Power 980nm Pump Modules G. Yang, V. Wong, V. Rossin, L. Xu, M. Everett, J. Hser, D. Zou, J. Skidmore, E. Zucker JDSU corp., 80 Rose Orchard Way, San Jose, CA 95134 Email:
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Abstract: We describe the next generation high power, single-mode 980 nm laser diode for EDFA pumping. The FBG-stabilized pump modules produce 0.7 W kink-free power with superior reliability and performance.
©2006 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (140.5960) Semiconductor lasers; (140.3510) Lasers, fiber
1. Introduction Highly reliable single-mode 980 nm pump lasers are the key to the widespread success of erbium-doped optical amplifiers (EDFA) in optical fiber transport systems. Initial adoption over the incumbent 1480 nm technology was driven by EDFA noise figure reduction attainable with 980 nm pumping in the pre-amplification stage. This decade, 980 nm pump proliferation has resulted from demand for agile EDFAs incorporating greater mid-stage functionality, the availability of high power (>400 mW) products at attractive $/mW pricing, and most importantly, industry acceptance that 980 nm pump lasers can be deployed with extremely low field failure rates. Future EDFAs require up to 600 mW of 980 nm power for further performance enhancement, design simplification and cost reduction. Efforts to increase the chip and fiber output power have been reported in recent years [1-3], but the power levels of commercial products lag significantly. To address the need for higher power, a new generation of 980 nm single mode laser diode chip and pump module has been developed. This paper presents a 980 nm pump module able to deliver over 0.7 W of kink-free, fiber-coupled light. By extending the existing diode laser chip and package platform technologies, this output power is achieved with high confidence that the technology is deployable at field failure rates comparable to the
