Abstract

There is both theoretical and practical interest in understanding the competition between noise and signal in a Raman amplifier. We have previously studied the effect of spatial and temporal noise on the amplification of low-level input Stokes signals in transient Raman amplifiers with pump linewidths comparable to or wider than the gain narrowed Raman linewidth.^[1] Those studies have verified that noise levels exist at one photon per spatial-temporal mode in the vacuum noise field and images with signal-to-noise ratios of unity have been obtained with real input signals near one photon per spatial-temporal mode of the amplifier.

© 1992 IQEC