Feed-Forward Control of Transient Gain Dynamics of an EDFA for Optical Burst Networks

In this paper, the authors explain a technique for suppression of transients in output bursts of an Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) in an optical burst network. To suppress the transients, the EDFA is forward-fed by non-fluctuating input utilizing a power-modulated burst control packet channel. Using the technique, they obtained a maximum 1.7 dB reduction in gain transient in the EDFA output, and they transmitted 9.953 Gbps data bursts and 2.488 Gbps burst control packets stably. Optical Burst Switching (OBS) has been studied as a practical alternative to direct migration from optical circuit switching networks into eventual high-speed optical packet switching networks.