Raman Amplifiers

for Long Haul

Transmission
Presented By:
George Harris
Mike McDonough
Introduction
Raman amplifiers are being used
in almost every new long-haul
and ultra-long-haul fiber-optic
transmission system, making
them one of the first widely
commercialized nonlinear optical
devices in telecommunications.
Raman Scattering
Raman amplifiers take advantage of
stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), a
nonlinear process that occurs in all optical
fibers.
SRS can be used to amplify an optical
signal at a certain wavelength by the use
of a strong radiation at a lower
wavelength, called the pump.

Raman Scattering (Contd)
Raman scattering is the interaction
of a photon with an optical phonon.
The phonon releases energy that
creates one or multiple phonons with
the difference energy and
momentum.
Raman Amplifiers
Raman amplifiers provide a simple, single
platform for long-haul and ultra-long-haul
amplifier needs.
Raman amplifiers are broad-band and
wavelength independent.
Raman amplifiers can serve as low-noise
preamplifiers, or they can meet the full
amplifier needs in all-Raman systems.
Raman amplifiers can be distributed,
lumped or discrete, or hybrid.

Advantages of Raman Amplifiers
First, Raman gain exists in every
fiber, which provides a cost-effective
means of upgrading from the
terminal ends.
Second, the gain is nonresonant,
which means that gain is available
over the entire transparency region
of the fiber ranging from
approximately 0.3 to 2 m.
Advantages of Raman Amplifiers
A third advantage of Raman
amplifiers is that the gain spectrum
can be tailored by adjusting the
pump wavelengths. For instance,
multiple pump lines can be used to
increase the optical bandwidth, and
the pump distribution determines the
gain flatness.
Advantages of Raman Amplifiers
Another advantage of Raman amplification
is that it is a relatively broad-band
amplifier with a bandwidth > 5 THz, and
the gain is reasonably flat over a wide
wavelength range.
Raman amplifiers have a distributed
nature rather than being lumped such as
EDFAs, and can be used to keep the signal
power in a fiber approximately constant.
Challenges for Raman Amplifiers
Compared to the erbium-doped fiber
amplifiers (EDFAs), Raman amplifiers
have relatively poor pumping
efficiency at lower signal powers.
Although a disadvantage, this lack of
pump efficiency also makes gain
clamping easier in Raman amplifiers.
Challenges for Raman Amplifiers
Raman amplifiers require a longer
gain fiber.
This disadvantage can be mitigated
by combining gain and the dispersion
compensation in a single fiber.

Hybrid Amplifier System
It is also possible to combine EDFAs
and Raman amplifiers into a hybrid
amplifier system, where the Raman
amplification in the transmission
fiber serves as a low-noise pre-
amplifier and an EDFA as a booster.
Distributed Raman Amplification
In todays long-haul and ultra-long-
haul networks, distributed Raman
amplification (DRA) has
demonstrated its ability to enable
greater span distances without
electrical regeneration.
In DRA, the transmission-line fiber
serves as the gain medium.
Distributed Raman Amplification
By reverse pumping at the tail-end, the
fiber induces a Raman gain that achieves
an equivalent SNR over a longer
transmission distance.
Using distributed Raman amplifiers, which
are powered by 500- to 600-mW pumps at
each tail-end site, the head-end can
transmit a lower-power signal, improving
the SNR by approximately 5-6 dB in each
span.
Distributed Raman
pump at the tail-end
Discrete Raman Amplifiers
Discrete Raman amplifiers refer to a
lumped element that is inserted into
the transmission line to provide gain.
Unlike a DRA, all of the pump power
is confined to the lumped element.
The primary use for discrete Raman
amplifiers is to open new wavelength
bands in fused silica fibers.
S-band, C-band and L-band
Opening Up the S-Band
The S-band has comparable or better
attenuation characteristics in standard
single-mode fibers (SMFs) than the L-
band.
Also, the S-band has far less sensitivity to
attenuation caused by bending during
cabling and installation than the L-band.
In addition, the S-band has better
dispersion characteristics in standard
SMFs than C- and L-band.
Opening Up the S-Band
Adding S-band channels can significantly
reduce the overall cost of expanding a
network versus lighting new fiber.
The capacity of most fibers can almost be
doubled by opening up the S-band, which
is inaccessible by EDFAs.
Raman amplifiers are the only fused-silica-
based amplifier solution for the S-band.

Summary
Raman amplifiers provide a simple single
platform for long-haul and ultra-long-haul
amplifier needs.
The noise performance of a typical Raman
amplifier is excellent, translating into
larger achievable bit rates and error-free
transmission distances.
Raman amplifiers are an important
enabling technology for the future and
should see a wide range of deployment in
the next few years.