Pump interactions in a 100-nm bandwidth Raman amplifier

A design for a 100-nm bandwidth Raman amplifier is presented. The amplifier is pumped with eight, 130-mW lasers with wavelengths ranging from 1416 to 1502 nm. The peak-to-peak gain ripple is 1.1 dB. A new model was developed for this design that includes pump-to-pump and signal-to-signal interactions in addition to double Rayleigh scattering and amplified spontaneous emission. An understanding of the interactions among these various effects was essential to this design. These modeling results are based on measurements of the physical characteristics of the transmission fiber.