An optical amplifier comprising: an optical coupler configured to receive a communication signal and couple said communication signal to an optical connector of a doped optical fibre; and at least one electrical to optical data converter connected to the optical coupler to provide pump radiation thereto.

A multicore optical fiber amplifier according to an exemplary aspect of the present invention includes a multicore optical fiber amplification medium including, in a clad, a plurality of cores doped with a rare earth element; signal light introduction means for introducing, into each of the plurality of cores, signal light with a wavelength included in a gain band of the multicore optical fiber amplification medium; excitation light introduction means for introducing, into the clad, excitation light for exciting the multicore optical fiber amplification medium; and control light introduction means for introducing control light into each of the plurality of cores, wherein the control light introduction means introduces the control light into a non-signal core into which the signal light is not being introduced, among the plurality of cores, only when the excitation light is being introduced.

Various example embodiments for supporting supervision in optical communication systems are presented. Various example embodiments for supporting supervision in optical communication systems may be configured to support supervision of an optical path including a remote optically pumped amplifier (ROPA) and, thus, supervision of the ROPA. Various example embodiments for supporting supervision of an optical path including a ROPA may be configured to support supervision of the optical path including the ROPA based on a pair of optical supervisory paths configured to extract a pair of optical supervisory signals from an optical path in a first direction and to insert the pair of optical supervisory signals into an optical path in a second direction. Various example embodiments for supporting supervision of an optical path including a ROPA may be configured to support supervision of the optical path including the ROPA based on a pair of optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) paths.

It is difficult to construct an optical fiber transmission system enabling relay optical amplification using a coupled multi-core optical fiber as an optical transmission path; therefore, an optical amplification device includes first optical spatial layout converting means for converting a spatial layout of a plurality of optical signal beams propagating through each of a plurality of cores, from a coupled state in which optical signal beams interfere between a plurality of cores to a non-coupled state in which optical signal beam interference is reduced between a plurality of cores; optical amplifying means for amplifying, in the non-coupled state, the plurality of optical signal beams with the non-coupled state and generating a plurality of amplified optical signal beams; and second optical spatial layout converting means for converting a spatial layout of the plurality of amplified optical signal beams from the non-coupled state to the coupled state.

An optical power limiter, a method of fabricating the optical power limiter, a method of limiting optical power, a method of upper bounding information leakage in quantum cryptography, and a quantum cryptography system. The optical power limiter comprises an optical input port; an optical output port; an effective medium disposed between the input port and the output port; and a diaphragm disposed between the effective medium and the output port; wherein the effective medium has a thermo-optic coefficient such that a light beam entering the effective medium from the direction of the input port experiences a refractive index gradient in a direction perpendicular to a propagation direction in the effective medium as a result of absorption; and wherein the diaphragm is disposed in a path of the light beam for limiting how much of the light beam reaches the output port.

There is the problem that, in a multicore optical fiber amplifier based on a clad excitation method, it is difficult to suppress the occurrence of an optical surge due to input of signal light into a core with no signal light, without the occurrence of fluctuation in the gain of a core into which signal light is inputted; therefore, a multicore optical fiber amplifier according to an exemplary aspect of the present invention includes a multicore optical fiber amplification medium including, in a clad, a plurality of cores doped with a rare earth element; signal light introduction means for introducing, into each of the plurality of cores, signal light with a wavelength included in a gain band of the multicore optical fiber amplification medium; excitation light introduction means for introducing, into the clad, excitation light for exciting the multicore optical fiber amplification medium; and control light introduction means for introducing control light into each of the plurality of cores, wherein the control light introduction means introduces the control light into a non-signal core into which the signal light is not being introduced, among the plurality of cores, only when the excitation light is being introduced.

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.

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.

The optical transmission system of the present invention includes a multi-core transmission path which includes a plurality of cores, and in which optical signals propagate through the plurality of cores, a first optical repeating means for amplifying the optical signals by individually exciting first multi-core optical amplification mediums, and a second optical repeating means for amplifying the optical signals by collectively exciting second multi-core optical amplification mediums, wherein the first optical repeating means is positioned spaced apart from the second optical repeating means by a distance determined on the basis of either a first transmissible distance due to the first optical repeating means and a second transmissible distance due to the second optical repeating means.

An optical signal amplification apparatus and a related optical communication device. The apparatus may include a pump light source, a combiner assembly, a doped optical fiber, and an optical filter. The pump light source may be configured to emit a pump beam. The combiner assembly is configured to combine a signal beam and the pump beam and couple a combined beam into the doped optical fiber. The doped optical fiber is configured to amplify the signal beam under excitation by the pump beam. The signal beam includes one or more single-wavelength signals. The optical filter is disposed between two ends of the doped optical fiber and configured to transmit the signal beam and filter out a first beam in the doped optical fiber. The first beam includes a beam of some wavelengths or all wavelengths generated by spontaneous emission in the doped optical fiber.