Raman transients in transparent dynamically configurable optical networks

We presented a study of power transients in transparent optically amplified networks arising during reconfiguration or protection switching. Besides the well known temporal and spectral EDFA gain dynamics, the stimulated Raman scattering was taken into account. In contrast to the sufficiently fast controllable amplifier gain ultrafast changes of the spectral Raman tilt accumulate along the fiber spans. The resulting uncompensated power spikes limit either the reach of the WDM-system or its dynamics switching capabilities.