Mid-IR Amplification based on a Pr3+:InF3 Optical Fiber in the Range 3.8 − 4.2 μm

In this paper, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a fiber optic amplifier, operating in the middle-infrared wavelength range, has been designed, considering a single mode fluoroindate optical fiber, doped with praseodymium. After the electromagnetic investigation of the fiber, the design of the optical amplifier has been performed via a home-made computer code solver, employing measured spectroscopical parameters. The validated code solves the rate equation and the power propagation equation of the pump, the signal, and Amplifier Spontaneous Emission noise, considering the first and second order phenomena. The designed optical amplifier is very promising, exhibiting high simulated gain G =32.6 dB and a wide -3dB bandwidth of 115 nm with noise figure NF = 6 dB around the central signal wavelength 4 μm, for input pump power Pp = 2 W , input signal power Ps = -30 dBm , and pump wavelength λp = 1.55 μm This work suggests that high-performance Mid-IR optical amplifier could be fabricated considering feasible fluoroindate optical fiber doped with praseodymium providing for the first time the design parameters.