Raman amplifier and raman amplifier adjustment method

This application is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 10/882,266, filed Jul. 2, 2004, and incorporated by reference herein.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a Raman amplifier amplifying multiple-wavelength light, a wavelength multiplex transmission apparatus or a wavelength multiplex transmission system employing it, and a Raman amplifier adjustment method for adjusting the Raman amplifier.

2. According to a wide spread of the Internet, an amount of information to be transmitted via the network increases. Therefore, it is an essential issue to achieve increase in a capacity of the network and a long-distance data transmission system.

As a core technology for achieving long-distance data transmission and large-capacity data transmission, a Raman amplifier has been studied to be put into a practical use. The Raman amplifier is an amplifier which utilizes an optical fiber connecting medium as an amplification medium by supplying pumping light thereto.

In the Raman amplifier, as shown in FIG. 1, when pumping light having a wavelength is supplied to an optical fiber, a Raman gain is generated in a wavelength zone corresponding to the pumping light wavelength. There, difference between the pumping wavelength and the wavelength at which the Raman gain has a peak is approximately 100 nm.

In order to obtain the gain throughout a wide wavelength band, it is necessary to provide pumping light in a plurality of different wavelengths. In an example shown in FIG. 1, pumping light 1 through pumping light 3 having mutually different wavelengths are used. When such pumping light in a plurality of wavelengths is supplied to an optical fiber, a Raman gain is generated for pumping light in each wavelength. In the example shown in FIG. 1, Raman gains 1 through 3 are generated by means of the pumping light 1 through pumping light 3. Accordingly, by appropriately controlling power of each pumping light, it is possible to obtain a substantially flat gain throughout a wide wavelength band.

For this purpose, in the Raman amplifier, normally, light power in input multiple-wavelength light is monitored, and the power of each pumping light supplied is adjusted so that the light power thereof may be kept in a predetermined level. Further, in the Raman amplifier, since ASS (Amplified Spontaneous Scattering) noise is inevitably generated, a function of subtracting the ASS noise component from a received light power value is needed. Thereby, light power of multiple-wavelength light can be detected properly.

Such a Raman amplifier may involve the following problems:

1) The Raman gain depends on optical characteristics of the fiber connecting medium (transmission path) applied. Thereby, due to variation in the optical characteristics in the fiber connecting medium, a desired Raman gain may not be obtained. As a result, a substantially flat gain may not be obtained, as shown in FIG. 3, for example. For example, even when the pumping light power is adjusted for obtaining a substantially flat gain assuming standard optical characteristics, actually, a non-flat gain such as that shown in FIG. 3 may be obtained in a case where a new data transmission system is built and actual optical characteristics of an actual fiber connecting medium differ from the standard ones.

2) Since the above-mentioned ASS noise is in proportion to the Raman gain, the ASS noise varies when the optical characteristics in the fiber connecting medium vary. Therefore, it is difficult to properly estimate the ASS noise, due to variation in the optical characteristics in the fiber connecting medium. As a result, it becomes not possible to properly detect input power of multiple-wavelength light itself. For example, in a case where the optical characteristics in the fiber connecting medium vary while received light power (sum total of multiple-wavelength light power and noise component) is same, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, power of the multiple-wavelength light itself (power of signal light obtained from excluding the noise component) actually differs. If the power of the multiple-wavelength light cannot be detected accurately, accuracy in detection of ‘input interruption’ which may occur due to a trouble in an upstream station, a cable break or such, may be degraded accordingly. ‘Input interruption’ means a state in which multiple-wavelength light cannot be received at the relevant Raman amplifier due to a case such as that mentioned above.

Accompanying the above-described problems, the following negative effects may also appear:

1) At a time of installation of the Raman amplifier, when the optical characteristics in the fiber connecting medium are actually measured, and the output of the pumping light source is adjusted manually according to the thus-obtained characteristics, a very large labor and a long time are required.

2) Since the Raman gain characteristics fluctuate depending on aging of the fiber connecting medium, the ambient temperature or such, the Raman amplifier should be designed to have a margin considering the fluctuation. Accordingly, the efficiency in the Raman amplifier cannot be kept high enough in design.

3) In an optical amplifier having an EDFA (Erbium added fiber amplifier) provided subsequent thereto, a gain in the EDFA is controlled in a condition in which the ASS noise amount includes error. Thereby, quality in data transmission characteristics may be degraded.

The variation in the optical characteristics in the fiber connecting medium occurs mainly due to the following causes:

1) An optical loss may occur due to contamination in a connecting point between optical fibers (for example, between a fiber connecting medium and an intra-station fiber, for example) or a bending loss in the optical fiber. Such optical loss may be controlled less than 0.5 dB in a station building in a good condition, while it may amount to more than 2 dB in a station building in a bad condition.

2) Fabrication variation may occur in characteristics (loss coefficient, effective cross-sectional area or such) of the fiber connecting medium itself. Especially, influence by the loss coefficient is serious. For example, the loss coefficient of an optical fiber in a good condition is controlled less than 0.21 dB/km while the same in a bad condition may amount to more than 0.25 dB/km. Accordingly, assuming that the length of a fiber connecting medium is 50 km for example, a variation of more than 2 dB may occur in the bad condition.

3) Generally speaking, a fiber connecting medium is produced by splicing a plurality of optical fibers for every kilometers. A loss inevitably occurs at each splicing point. Such a loss in each splicing point is less than 0.1 dB in a better condition, while it may amount to more than 0.5 dB in a worse condition. In this connection, it is noted that intervals of splicing points and the number of splicing points provided between adjacent stations depend on a particular network system.