A team at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, has developed a fiber-based optical parametric amplifier for use in broadband telecommunications. The device produces an internal fiber gain of 49 dB and a net gain of 38 dB over a 50-nm wavelength range centered at 1562 nm. The researchers reported a sensitivity of -22.5 dBm at 10 Gb/s, but they suggest that the use of a wavelength division multiplexing coupler could increase sensitivity to -32.5 dBm, competitive with that of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers.

Optical parametric amplifiers offer several advantages over other amplifiers because they can be tailored for use at any telecommunications wavelength and are capable of broadband, noise-free operation in a phase-sensitive mode.