Optimal design of flat-gain wide-band fiber Raman amplifiers

We present a novel method for designing multiwavelength pumped fiber Raman amplifiers with optimal gain-flatness and gain-bandwidth performance. We show that by solving the inverse amplifier design problem, relative gain flatness well below 1% can be achieved over bandwidths of up to 12 THz without any gain equalization devices. This constitutes a substantial improvement in gain flatness compared to the existing wide-band optical fiber amplifiers.