BACK REFLECTION
Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers at AT&T Bell Labs: a Paced Odyssey BY EMMANUEL DESURVIRE FOREWARD BY JOSÉ CHESNOY
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hree inventions have made possible the advent of long-haul optical communications: fused-silica fibers, semiconductor lasers, and last but none the least, Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA). The EDFA is one of the most revolutionary discovery in applied physics of the last three decades. It has enabled our present world of long-distance WDM fiber optics, and especially that of submarine cables. The global internet could not exist without EDFA. Few technical breakthrough had such an impact in the life of our generations!* The topic of EDFA being of such a paramount importance, we shall dedicate two articles to their advent in two successive “Back Reflection” issues of SubTel Forum magazine, the first one here concerning the genesis of the EDFA, and the second one about its introduction in our submarine cable world. To reveal the genesis of EDFA, we have the honor to host Emmanuel Desurvire, co-inventor of the Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier with Randy Giles, David Payne and Masataka Nakazawa. After his Ph.D. in Nice University in 1983, on the subject of Raman fiber amplifiers, Emmanuel Desurvire initiated the EDFA investigation in AT&T Bell Labs. Then he moved to Columbia University, Alcatel, and Thales, where he is now in charge of technology watch and corporate expertise. Few researchers have been honored by such recognition awards
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everal decades past, I can still remember my first interviews at the (hence) legendary AT&T Bell Labs (BL), first at Murray Hill (MH), then Crawford Hill (HOH). The second site looking modest and decrepit in view of MH with its magnificent pyramidal entrance and hall of fame. Big scale, or small scale?... My choice was rapidly made. I wanted Ivan Kaminow for my Dept. Head. Like Ivan the telecom veteran, his boss the young, enthusiastic Lab. Head1 Paul Henry, had made a big impression on me. Deal!... Three months later, I had driven all the way
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as Emmanuel, citing the major ones: the 1994 Prize of the International Commission for Optics, the 1998 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering (together with D. Payne), the 2005 William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award, the 2007 IEEE/LEOS John Tyndall Award, and the 2007 France-Telecom Prize of the French Académie des Sciences. He is also Laureate of the 2008 Millennium Technology Prize (together with R. Giles and D. Payne), and of the 2011 European Inventor Award. E. Desurvire, also Sc.D. from Nice University (1998) is the author of over 200 publications, five textbooks, holds 39 patents and is also IEEE, Bell Labs and Thales Fellow. *An updated text book of submarine cable technology can be found in the reference book “Undersea fiber communication systems 2nd Ed, Elsevier, José Chesnoy editor”.
José Chesnoy, PhD, is an independent expert in the field of submarine cable technology. After Ecole Polytechnique and a first 10 years academic career in the French CNRS, he joined Alcatel’s research organization in 1989, leading the advent of amplified submarine cables in the company. After several positions in R&D and sales, he became CTO of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks until the end of 2014. He was member of several Suboptic Program Committees, then chaired the program committee for SubOptic 2004, and was nominated Bell Labs Fellow in 2010. José Chesnoy is the editor of the reference book “Undersea Fiber Communication Systems” (Elsevier/ Academic Press) having a new revised edition published end 2015.
through the US from very first optically-amplified California to New Jersey, recirculating loop [1], made got my badge, my office, me a natural resident alien an empty laboratory in the HOH place. Unlike space, and could not besupervised post-docs, lieve my luck!... This was full-hire people joined in June 1986, I was only here to try things at their 30 years old (Figure 1). own risks, preferably a few Ph.D. credentials gained topics at the same time to at Thomson-CSF (France), Figure 1 - First days at AT&T Bell Labo- keep themselves on the ratories, Crawford Hill, NJ, June 1986 from my know-how about lucky side. At HOH, my a weird topic regarding main mission was made “Raman amplification in single-mode fibers” clear from the inception: achieving transto a Post-Doc at Stanford’s Ginzton parent and up-scalable LAN (so-called Labs, where I demonstrated & patented the “star networks”), by means of optical am-