Multichannel amplification in strongly pumped EDFAs

Multichannel erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are analyzed based on a rate-equation model. Forward pumping is considered and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) as well as scattering loss are taken into account. An analytical approximation to calculate the amplification in high-power multichannel EDFAs is also introduced in this paper. Results for both the numerical and approximate analytical models are derived and discussed; It is shown that under the considered conditions, the analytical solutions provide a good approximation to the exact numerical solution and thus may be used for the design of such amplifiers.