Characteristic comparison of single-pumped L-band erbium-doped fiber amplified spontaneous emission sources

We experimentally investigate the single-pumped L-band (1570–1610 nm) erbium-doped fiber amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) source in four configurations with single-pass forward, single-pass backward, double-pass forward (DPF), and double-pass backward structures. The characteristics are examined and compared in terms of the output power, mean wavelength, spectral linewidth, and pumping conversion efficiency. Among them, only DPF configuration is satisfied, and other configurations are intrinsically hard to be an L-band ASE source for applications. Such results are significantly different as compared with their corresponding C-band counterparts.