title: Performance of two-stage discrete fiber Raman amplifiers with and without all-optical gain clamping.
abstract: Using numerical simulations, we analyze the properties of two-stage discrete fiber Raman amplifiers without and with all-optical gain clamping. In both cases a two-stage amplifier can be designed to have the same gain characteristics as a single-stage amplifier with improved noise performance by use of either the same total length of gain fiber (but with increased pump power) or total pump power (but with increased total length of gain fiber).
authors.affiliation: Photonic Systems Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7, Canada.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gryspolakis
authors.forename: Lawrence R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Theodore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zambelis