Patent ID: 7511881

Claim:
An amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) reflector-based gain-clamped fiber amplifier, comprising: a gain medium configured to amplify at least the entire range of a C-band optical signal; a laser diode for supplying pump light to perform population inversion of the gain medium, wherein the gain medium is configured to emit the ASE propagating in the direction of the pump light and emit the ASE propagating in the opposite direction of the pump light and having a wavelength different from the C-band optical signal; a coupler for coupling the pump light to the gain medium; and transmission and isolation unit configured to periodically transmit the C-band optical signal provided from the outside to send to the gain medium, and configured to reflect the ASE propagating in the opposite direction of the pump light towards the propagation direction of the pump light and back to the gain medium for amplifying the C-band optical signal in which the reflected ASE and the C-band optical signal are amplified in the gain medium, wherein the transmission and isolation unit comprises: a reflection mirror; and an optical interleaver configured between the reflection mirror and the gain medium to periodically transmit the optical signal isolating the ASE to send to the reflection mirror and sending the ASE reflected by the reflection mirror to the gain medium, wherein the optical interleaver combines the periodically transmitted optical signal with the isolated ASE reflected by the reflection mirror, and wherein the optical interleaver is configured with a wavelength gap characteristic allowing the optical signal intended for amplification to be transmitted, such that the optical signals can be amplified across the entire C-band.