Product Description
This item consists of two rack modules (2U in height) connected by a multi-pin cable on the rear of the units. Both units are marked ‘Amoco Laser Company’, and ‘Optical Fiber Amplifier’. The lower unit in the photo is the power supply module – it contains two similar power supplies for the diode pumped laser pair in the upper module. There is also a control knob for setting the optical gain of the laser output along with a digital display of the gain, but in what units I am not certain. All power for the Gain Module is supplied by the Power Supply Module (110v line input).
The upper unit contains two diode-pumped lasers, one of which was marked – 2 Watts maximum output from 938 – 1138nm, and 5 Watts maximum output from 798 – 818nm. There are also two LED indicators for the laser pump activation status. There are two fiber optic cables that terminate in Diamond connectors, each about 6 feet in length. One is marked ‘Optical Input’, the other ‘Optical Output’. The input fiber has a spliced section near the termination coupler. Between the two lasers is a nested coil of optical fiber, the interior of which there is no easy access – I am assuming there are some active gain elements within the stack. I did place an optical power meter to the output of the gain module, and by turning the gain knob on the lower unit, I was able to see an approximate 60dB gain in output power, but that was without any input. The digital display goes from zero to 1000, but did not correlate with the output power meter we used to monitor the output.
I could find absolutely nothing about this unit on the WEB, and other than the specifications on the lasers themselves, am pretty much at a loss. On the back of the unit was an additional laser warning label that stated 500mW maximum output from 930 – 1130nm, and 1500 – 1620nm. So I am guessing the output laser differs from the ‘input’ laser.
I have no idea what the bandwidth of the system is, but it does seem to be functional as far as we could test. This listing includes both modules and the connection cable. The fiber optic cables are captive to the gain module.
Amoco Laser Company seems to have become ATX Telecom Systems in early 1995, and was thereafter purchased by Scientific Atlanta. In 2006, Scientific Atlanta was in turn purchased by Cisco. Amoco Laser Company was a pioneer in the development of optical amplifiers for long cable distances. They provided high-performance fiber optic link and amplifier systems for CATV, long-distance carrier, local-exchange carrier, wireless and government/military applications. If anyone can enlighten us in regards to this particular system and its capabilities we would be most appreciative