All-fiber dynamic gain equalizer based on a twisted long-period grating written by high-frequency CO2 laser pulses

A novel dynamic gain equalizer for flattening Er-doped fiber amplifiers based on a twisted long-period fiber grating (LPFG) induced by high-frequency CO2 laser pulses is reported for the first time to our knowledge. Experimental results show that its transverse-load sensitivity is up to 0.34 dB/(g center dot mm(-1)), while the twist ratio of the twisted LPFG is similar to 20 rad/m, which is 7 times higher than that of a torsion-free LPFG. In addition, it is found that the strong orientation dependence of the transverse-load sensitivity of the torsion-free LPFG reported previously has been weakened considerably. Therefore such a dynamic gain equalizer based on the unique transverse-load characteristics of the twisted LPFG provides a much larger adjustable range and makes packaging of the gain equalizer much easier. A demonstration has been carried out to flatten an Er-doped fiber amplifier to +/- 0.5 dB over a 32 nm bandwidth. 2007 Optical Society of America