Abstract
Raman amplification is a useful tool in extending the span lengths and the capacity of a transmission system.1 An advantage of Raman scattering is that a broad flat gain can be achieved by using pumps at several different wavelengths and optical powers.2,3 This eliminates the need for expensive and loss inducing gain flattening filters. Multiple-wavelength Raman fiber lasers (MWRFL) are potential Raman pump sources.4–7 These lasers simultaneously emit depolarized radiation at several wavelengths from a single cavity, as compared to multiplexing together several semiconductor lasers or Raman fiber lasers. Recently a practical three-wavelength MWRFL (3λRFL) was demonstrated that exhibits a 38% 1100 nm to 14xx nm conversion efficiency.6,7 This device varies the reflectivity of the cavity output coupler (OC) grating by an applied voltage to control the amount of power emitted at a given wavelength. Relative intensity noise (RIN) measurements demonstrated good stability.7 However, the interdependence of the optical powers at different wavelengths in the single cavity laser suggests that proper power partitioning is a potentially complex problem.
© 2002 Optical Society of America
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