Analysis of nonlinear optical and dynamic gain effects of moderate-power, pulse-position-modulated, erbium-doped fiber amplifiers for deep-space applications.

Lasers for use in deep-space applications such as interplanetary optical communications employ multiwatt resonantly pumped dual-clad erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and the pulse-position modulation scheme. Nonlinear optical effects and dynamic gain effects often impair their performance and limit their operational range. These effects are analyzed theoretically and numerically with a time-dependent two-level propagation model, respectively. Self-phase modulation and stimulated Raman scattering are found to limit the usable data format space. In operational regimes free from nonlinear effects, dynamic gain effects such as the variation in the output pulse energy and square-pulse distortion are quantified. Both are found to primarily depend on the symbol duration and can be as large as 28% and 21%, respectively.