简介 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED : To provide an optical amplifier which is capable of coping flexibly with changes in specifications, high in degree of freedom of design, reduced in size, and inexpensive.SOLUTION : The optical amplifier is equipped with optical waveguides 3 which are made of material loaded with rare earth elements as an inverted population medium, and the waveguides 3 are arranged in rows on a board 30 of glass or the like to serve as a waveguide array 4. A laser optical source 1 generating exciting light is connected to a multiplexer 2. An optical isolator 8, the multiplexer 2, the waveguide array 4, and an optical isolator 8 are sequentially arranged between an input port 6 and an output port 7; and the waveguides 3 of the waveguide array 4 are selectively interconnected with an optical fiber 5 to constitute a single linked optical path. Therefore, the connected waveguides 3 can be optionally changed in number, so that the single linked optical path can be adjusted in optical characteristics related to the overall length of the waveguides 3 related to induced emission. |