Patent ID: 7233724

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a light source; a long period Bragg grating that is optically coupled with the light source via a first optical splice; and an amplification fiber that is optically coupled with the long period Bragg grating via a second optical splice; wherein the light source and the amplification fiber are arranged in a forward pumped broadband fiber source configuration without an optical multiplexer between the light source and the amplification fiber; wherein the light source sends one or more pump optical signals to the long period Bragg grating; wherein the long period Bragg grating transmits the one or more pump optical signals to the amplification fiber; wherein the amplification fiber absorbs a subset of the one or more pump optical signals and emits one or more output signals toward the light source; wherein the long period Bragg grating attenuates the one or more output signals.