High-Performance Distributed Raman Amplification Systems with Limited Pump Power

Abstract

We have clarified both theoretically and experimentally the basic performance of distributed Raman amplification (DRA) transmission systems in trunk networks with DSF or SMF spans with limited pump power where the pump power is limited by practical considerations. The gain and noise characteristics of a fiber span with splice loss are accurately determined by employing three approximation models. A novel pumping scheme called band enhanced pumping (BEP) is proposed that improves the DRA gain and optical SNR (OSNR) by 1.5 and 0.55 dB, respectively, compared with those of a conventional pumping scheme, under typical system conditions. We show that a DRA system with a DSF span has OSNRs that are 2.1 and 2.9 dB higher than those of a system with an SMF span at limited pump powers of 200 and 400 mW, respectively, as typical examples.