Optimization and Comparison for Different Raman Amplifier Configurations

Gain spectra and corresponding optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) for bi-directional multi-pump Raman amplifiers are optimized and compared. Numerical results exhibit that, for optimizing bi-directional multi-pump configurations, there are multiple global maxima for signal gain spectra, and different bi-directional pump cases have different gain ripple and noise performance. Bi-directionally pumping schemes with suitable pump spectra can obviously decrease the gain ripple and equalize the OSNR tilt in comparison with pure backward pumping schemes.