Optical transmission equipment includes an optical transceiver circuit that transmits and receives signal light and supervisory light, a forward Raman amplifier provided at a transmitter end of the optical transceiver circuit, a backward Raman amplifier provided at a receiver end of the optical transceiver circuit, and a processor that controls the forward Raman amplifier and the backward Raman amplifier. When a counterpart backward Raman amplifier or a counterpart forward Raman amplifier provided at an opposite side through a fiber-optic transmission line is started up, the processor turns off a power of the forward Raman amplifier or the backward Raman amplifier according to a supervisory signal received from the fiber-optic transmission line, and releases an off state of the forward Raman amplifier or the backward Raman amplifier after a predetermined period of time.

Disclosed are a control method and an optical fiber amplifier. The optical fiber amplifier is configured to execute the control method. The method comprises: initially correcting a target gain on the basis of a first compensation gain to obtain an initially corrected target gain; when the actual power of the pump laser reaches target power determined on the basis of the initially corrected target gain obtaining, on the basis of a first signal optical power and a second signal optical power, a second compensation gain and a first compensation slope through calculation; correcting the initially corrected target gain again according to the second compensation gain to obtain a corrected target gain; and correcting a target slope according to the first compensation slope to obtain a corrected target slope. This solution can provide high precision control for the gain and the slope of the optical fiber amplifier.

A light amplification device according to an example aspect of the invention includes a wavelength demultiplexing unit configured to demultiplex the wavelength division multiplexed signal light into a plurality of wavelength bands; a plurality of light amplification media configured to amplify the plurality of pieces of demultiplexed multiplex signal light; a wavelength multiplexing unit configured to multiplex the amplified demultiplexed multiplex signal light; a plurality of excitation energy supply units configured to supply excitation energy to each of the plurality of light amplification media; and a control unit, wherein the control unit includes a wavelength multiplexing/demultiplexing control unit configured to control the wavelength demultiplexing unit and the wavelength multiplexing unit in such a way that a starting wavelength and a wavelength number become an optimum starting wavelength and an optimum wavelength number when a sum of power consumption of the plurality of excitation energy supply units is minimized.

An optical receiver includes an optical amplifier that amplifies a received optical signal containing multiple wavelengths, a monitor circuit that monitors light intensities of the demultiplexed optical signal, a processor, and a memory having information representing a relationship between a total incident light intensity of the optical signal incident onto the optical amplifier and gains of the optical amplifier for the respective wavelengths. The processor repeats first calculation for determining the gains of the respective wavelengths from the memory, based on a drive current for driving the optical amplifier and an estimation value of the total incident light intensity of the optical signal, second calculation for calculating the incident light intensities of the respective wavelengths of the optical signal based on the gains and the monitored light intensities, and third calculation to calculate the total incident light intensity of the optical signal, until the total incident light intensity converges.

A light amplification device according to an example aspect of the invention includes a wavelength demultiplexing unit configured to demultiplex the wavelength division multiplexed signal light into a plurality of wavelength bands; a plurality of light amplification media configured to amplify the plurality of pieces of demultiplexed multiplex signal light; a wavelength multiplexing unit configured to multiplex the amplified demultiplexed multiplex signal light; a plurality of excitation energy supply units configured to supply excitation energy to each of the plurality of light amplification media; and a control unit, wherein the control unit includes a wavelength multiplexing/demultiplexing control unit configured to control the wavelength demultiplexing unit and the wavelength multiplexing unit in such a way that a starting wavelength and a wavelength number become an optimum starting wavelength and an optimum wavelength number when a sum of power consumption of the plurality of excitation energy supply units is minimized.

A high speed satellite-based laser communications system and method for communications between a satellite-based transmitter system and a ground-based receiver over a free space optical link. The satellite-based transmitter system includes an encoder to encode data, a polarization modulator to linearly polarize the encoded data, one or at least two transmitters to transmit the laser beam, and a quarter-wave optical wave plate to circularly polarize the signal to be transmitted. The ground-based receiver includes an automatic gain control to apply AGC to the received data before the polarizations are reversed and the data is decoded. The system enables an increased data throughput and reduces or eliminates the effects of signal fading.

A controller for a front-exciting Raman-amplifier that amplifies an optical signal transmitted from one end of an optical fiber to other end by inputting an excitation light to the one end, the controller includes a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to acquire communication-related information regarding communication of the optical signal in the optical fiber, when the acquired communication-related information does not indicate the communication of the optical signal, set a Raman gain of the front-exciting Raman amplifier based on a first light intensity of an amplified spontaneous scattered light of the excitation light, and when the acquired communication-related information indicates the communication of the optical signal, set the Raman gain based on a second light intensity of the optical signal output from the optical fiber.

Example fiber amplifiers and gain adjustment methods for the fiber amplifiers are described. One example fiber amplifier includes a first power amplifier, a wavelength level adjuster, and a controller, where the first power amplifier is connected to the wavelength level adjuster. The controller includes a first input end and a control output end. The first input end is configured to receive an input optical signal, and the control output end is configured to output a first amplification control signal to the first power amplifier, and output an adjustment control signal to the wavelength level adjuster. The wavelength level adjuster is configured to perform power adjustment on each wavelength in a separate manner based on the adjustment control signal.

An optical transmission device includes a reception unit that receives a first signal light and a second signal light, the first and second lights having power levels that respectively correspond to transmission distances and being transmitted; an amplification unit that amplifies the first signal light and the second signal light in accordance with a signal light having a high power level from among the received first signal light and second signal light; and a transmission unit that performs transmission of the amplified first signal light and second signal light.

A controller for a front-exciting Raman-amplifier that amplifies an optical signal transmitted from one end of an optical fiber to other end by inputting an excitation light to the one end, the controller includes a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to acquire communication-related information regarding communication of the optical signal in the optical fiber, when the acquired communication-related information does not indicate the communication of the optical signal, set a Raman gain of the front-exciting Raman amplifier based on a first light intensity of an amplified spontaneous scattered light of the excitation light, and when the acquired communication-related information indicates the communication of the optical signal, set the Raman gain based on a second light intensity of the optical signal output from the optical fiber.