Analysis of Inter-Core Cross-Gain Modulation in Cladding Pumped Multi-Core Fiber Amplifiers

We numerically investigate pump-induced gain variations in eight-core fiber amplifiers. We compare two fibers with different erbium profiles by varying input power from -25 dBm to 0 dBm in one or four cores. Inter-core cross-gain modulation is <; 0.6 dB.