An object is to respectively provide excitations light from a plurality of light sources to an odd number of fiber pairs. Optical amplifiers are disposed in three fiber pairs including two optical fibers through which optical signals are transmitted, respectively. The optical multiplexer/demultiplexer has inputs connected to light sources and three outputs. An optical multiplexer/demultiplexer has inputs connected to light sources and three outputs. In optical multiplexers/demultiplexers, one input is alternatively connected to any one of the three outputs of the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer, the other input is alternatively connected to any one of the three outputs of the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer, one output is alternatively connected to one optical fiber of any one of the three pairs, and the other output is alternatively connected to the other optical fiber of any one of the three pairs.

Systems and methods for a system-level Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) optical amplifier efficiency metric. The efficiency metric is a single metric that summarizes optical amplifier behavior and has a predictable behavior over various different optical amplifier settings. Specifically, the efficiency metric is simple and elegant. The simplicity is based on the fact the efficiency metric is determined from available data in an optical amplifier, not requiring external monitoring equipment, dithering, etc. The elegance is based on the fact the efficiency metric covers different optical amplifier settings, multiple pumps, etc. and is shown to reflect degradation with these differences in real-world systems accurately. Specifically, the efficiency metric is designed to reflect health in a multiple pump optical amplifier, providing a single value that represents the total pump currents across all of the multiple pumps.

An apparatus embodiment includes a remote control interface unit configured to accept an appliance control code carried in a radio frequency signal transmitted from a smart phone, extract the appliance control code from the radio frequency signal, send the extracted appliance control code to an optical frequency interface, and initiate transmission of an optical frequency signal including the appliance control code to an appliance configured to receive signals from an optical remote control.

An apparatus embodiment includes a remote control interface unit configured to accept an appliance control code carried in a radio frequency signal transmitted from a smart phone, extract the appliance control code from the radio frequency signal, send the extracted appliance control code to an optical frequency interface, and initiate transmission of an optical frequency signal including the appliance control code to an appliance configured to receive signals from an optical remote control.

A system and method for applying a time-varying phase shift to an optical signal is described. Such a phase shift results in a frequency shift of the optical signal, which can be useful for instance in sensing applications. The design uses cross phase modulation (XPM) in a nonlinear medium such as optical fiber. The pump producing the XPM experiences a change in energy along the medium, for instance due to loss. The pump and signal have mismatched group velocities such that they walk-off each other in time, and the pump pulse repetition rate is chosen so that it has a specific relationship with respect to the walk-off. The design is compatible with very low signal loss and does not require high fidelity electrical control signals. It is capable of high-efficiency one-directional serrodyne frequency shifts, as well as producing symmetric frequency shifts. It can also be made polarization independent.

An optical network management device (100) which assigns a path from a transmitting node to a receiving node in an optical network system including a multi-core optical fiber, includes at least one processor, the processor being configured to carry out: a core extraction process of extracting a core constituting the path; and a path assignment process of selecting, in accordance with an attribute of the path, a wavelength to which the path is to be assigned, the multi-core optical fiber having an optical amplifier attached thereto, the optical amplifier having an amplification gain that is larger in a first wavelength region than in a second wavelength region, the path assignment process including preferentially assigning, to the first wavelength region, the path having a specific attribute.

A system comprising a recirculating loop configured to store an electromagnetic wave signal, the recirculating loop comprising a transmission medium and a plurality of transceivers configured to introduce the electromagnetic wave signal into the transmission medium and retrieve the electromagnetic wave signal from the transmission medium, and a signal conditioning system comprising a plurality of signal conditioners coupled to the transmission medium, the plurality of signal conditioners configured to amplify or regenerate the electromagnetic wave signal traveling in the transmission medium, one or more pump laser sources, wherein at least one of the one or more pump laser sources is configured to provide a pump laser beam to at least two of the plurality of signal conditioners, and one or more control circuits for controlling the plurality of signal conditioners, wherein at least one of the one or more control circuits is configured to control and monitor at least two of the plurality of signal conditioners, is disclosed.

A system and method for efficient optical signal amplification with system monitoring features are provided. For example, an optical repeater may include two different 4-port thin-film gain flattening filters (TF-GFFs), which may be connected to provide a high-loss loop-back (HLLB) path in the optical repeater for system monitoring. The 4-port TF-GFF may have four different ports and may integrate the functionalities of a conventional GFF and a coupler into a single component, thereby increasing power efficiency of the optical repeater.

To limit the number of excitation laser diodes (LDs) in an optical amplification device provided with a redundant excitation LD configuration, the optical amplification device is provided with: an excitation unit which outputs a plurality of excitation lights generated by a plurality of excitation light sources; a first distributing unit of which inputs are connected to the plurality of excitation light sources and which branches input lights and then outputs branched lights as a plurality of first distributed lights; a plurality of second distributing units of which inputs are connected to the first distributing unit and which combines and branches input lights and then outputs branched lights as a plurality of second distributed lights; and a plurality of gain mediums which are respectively excited by the plurality of second distributed lights.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving a first optical signal from a first optical network via a first port of the wavelength converter, receiving a second optical signal from a second optical network via a second port of the wavelength converter, modulating the first optical signal with the second light signal to generate a third optical signal, eliminating the first light signal from the third optical signal to generate a fourth optical signal, and transmitting the fourth optical signal through the second optical network. The first optical signal can include a first digital signal modulated onto a first light signal of a first wavelength, the second optical signal can include a second light signal can include a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, and the fourth optical signal can include the first digital signal modulated onto the second light signal. Other embodiments are disclosed.