JP2013098413A - Optical amplifier system and optical amplification method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce in the size of an optical amplifier system and reduce costs by reducing the number of components of the optical amplifier system which is comprised of a number of optical components.SOLUTION: An optical amplifier system comprises a plurality of optical amplifiers 31 for amplifying an optical signal in each path branched by a splitter 11d for transferring to other paths in a drop-side WXC provided in a ROADM node 101, an exciting light source 34 which supplies exciting light to the plurality of optical amplifiers 31, an exciting light distribution circuit 71 which distributes the exciting light outputted from the exciting light source 34 to the plurality of optical amplifiers 31, a signal strength monitor 32 which measures a signal strength of an optical signal amplified by one of the optical amplifiers 31, and a gain control circuit 75 which changes output intensity of the exciting light source 34 in accordance with the signal strength measured by the signal strength monitor 32.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical amplifier system constituting an optical node in a photonic network.

  FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the photonic network. As shown in FIG. 4, the photonic network is composed of a plurality of optical nodes and optical fibers connecting the optical nodes. When transferring a client signal via a photonic network, the client signal is converted into an optical signal at the optical node that transmits the signal, and the converted optical signal is transferred from the transmitting optical node to the optical node that receives the optical signal. Then, in the receiving optical node, the optical signal is converted into the client signal. A path through which an optical signal from the transmission node to the reception node passes is called an optical path.

  In the photonic network shown in FIG. 4, a ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add / Drop Multiplexer) node 101 is used as an optical node. The ROADM node 101 branches and inserts an optical signal in units of wavelength from a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) signal transferred from the adjacent ROADM node 101, and transfers the WDM signal to another adjacent ROADM node 101. It is a node that makes it possible to do. The ROADM node 101 includes a 2-degree ROADM that can be connected to two adjacent ROADM nodes, and a multi-degree ROADM that can be connected to three or more adjacent ROADM nodes. With these ROADM nodes 101, it is possible to construct a ring network, a multi-ring network, and a mesh network. Note that “degree” in 2-degree ROADM, Multi-degree ROADM, and the like means the number of routes, and corresponds to the number of adjacent ROADM nodes to which ROADM nodes can be connected.

  FIG. 5 shows a configuration example of a conventional multi-degree ROADM node. As shown in FIG. 5, the multi-degree ROADM node includes a transmitter 14 that converts a client signal into an optical signal and transmits it, a receiver 15 that receives an optical signal and converts it into a client signal, and a path of the optical signal. (For example, Non-Patent Document 1).

  In the configuration example shown in FIG. 5, the splitter 11d, 1 × 9WSS 17, and 9 × 1WSS 16 and 11a are used as the optical path switch for switching the path of the optical path signal. Here, WSS (Wavelength Selective Switch: wavelength selection switch) is a switch that can input / output WDM signals in each input / output port and select an input / output port to be connected in wavelength units as a switch function. A WSS having 1 input port and 9 output ports is 1 × 9 WSS, and a WSS having 9 input ports and 1 output port is 9 × 1 WSS.

  The number of ROADM nodes 101 through which an optical signal passes increases with the expansion of the target area and scale of the photonic network. However, there is an upper limit in the value of the optical signal loss allowed in the optical path between the transmission node and the reception node due to restrictions such as the noise figure of the optical amplifier for optical signal regenerative repeater arranged between the ROADM nodes 101. That is, when an optical path is set in a photonic network, there is a problem that the number of ROADM nodes that can be passed is limited due to loss per ROADM node, noise figure of an optical amplifier for regenerative relay, and the like.

  One of the methods for relaxing the limitation on the number of ROADM nodes passing in the optical path setting described above is a method for reducing the loss per one ROADM node. For example, regarding the splitter 11d configuring the multi-degree ROADM node shown in FIG. 5, the loss of the optical path passing through the ROADM node 101 is reduced by reducing the number of branches of the splitter 11d and reducing the principle loss associated with the optical branching. Is possible. However, the reduction in the number of branches of the splitter 11d leads to a reduction in the number of routes connectable to the ROADM node, which hinders the construction of a multi-ring network or a mesh network. Under such circumstances, the provider of the ROADM node 101 is required to reduce the loss of the optical path passing through the ROADM node 101 while maintaining the number of connection paths.

E. Bert. Basch, et. al, "Architical Tradeoffs for Reconfigurable Sense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing Systems", IEEE J. of selected topics in Quantum electronics. Vol. 12, no. 4, JULY / AUGUST 2006

  A method of inserting an optical amplifier between two optical switches for setting an optical path of a passing signal in the ROADM node 101 as a technique for reducing loss of an optical path passing through the ROADM node 101 (hereinafter referred to as intra-optical node loss). There is. Here, between the two optical switches that set the optical path of the passing signal specifically means a path connecting the splitter 11d shown in FIG. 5 and the 9 × 1 WSS 11a.

  FIG. 6 shows, as an example, a splitter 11d, a WSS 11a, a transmitter 14 and a receiver according to path 1 when an optical amplifier is applied to an optical path of a passing signal between two optical switches in a 4-degree ROADM node 101. 15 connections are shown. Here, the plurality of optical amplifiers are collectively referred to as an optical amplifier system 19 in the ROADM node 101. In the example of FIG. 6, an optical amplifier is also disposed in the drop port connected to the receiver 15.

  FIG. 7 shows functional blocks of an optical amplifier system 19 using the prior art. FIG. 7 illustrates a case where a four-path optical amplifier 31 is targeted as one optical amplifier system. When the prior art is used, at least two signal intensity monitors 32 for measuring the optical signal intensity at one input / output point of the optical amplifier 31 are required for one optical amplifier 31. Therefore, the entire optical amplifier system composed of four optical amplifiers requires four pumping light sources 34 and at least eight signal intensity monitors 32.

8 is for optically connecting the optical amplifier 31, the pumping light source 34, and the monitor PDs (Photodiodes) 42 and 44 for measuring the optical signal intensity, which are necessary for realizing the optical amplifier system 19 shown in FIG. FIG. In addition to the optical components described above, two signal optical couplers 41 and 43 and one signal light / excitation optical coupler 62 are required for each optical amplifier 31. When the optical amplifier system 19 including the four optical amplifiers 31 shown in FIG. 8 is realized, the following optical components are required.
・ Optical amplifier: 4
・ Pumping light source of optical amplifier: 4
Monitor PD: 8
・ Signal optical coupler: 8
・ Signal light / excitation light coupler: 4
The number of optical components and the connection points between the optical components and between the optical components and the optical components increase in proportion to the number of optical amplifiers 31 included in the optical amplifier system 19.

  When the optical amplifier system 19 is realized by a combination of individual optical components, the number of optical components and the number of optical fibers connecting the optical components increase in proportion to the number of optical amplifiers 31 required for the optical node. Therefore, as the size of the ROADM node 101 increases, such as an increase in the number of routes, the size of the ROADM node 101 itself increases, and at the same time, the optical amplifier system reflects the wiring work costs associated with complicating parts costs and optical wiring. There is a problem that the cost of 19 increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and aims to reduce the number of parts of an optical amplifier system composed of a large number of optical parts, and to reduce the size and cost of the optical amplifier system.

  When the drop-side WXC is a splitter, signals with the same number of wavelengths and the same level are equally distributed to the drop path to the receiver 15 and the connection path to the other path. In this case, it is not necessary to individually measure the input / output signals of each optical amplifier. Therefore, in the present invention, a signal strength monitor is installed only in one path in the ROADM node using a splitter on the drop side WXC. As a result, the number of signal intensity monitors can be reduced, and the optical amplifier system can be reduced in size and cost.

  When the drop-side WXC is a splitter, the light intensity of the excitation light to be input to each optical amplifier is equal. Therefore, the present invention provides a common pumping light source for each optical amplifier and supplies pumping light having a light intensity suitable for each optical amplifier by adjusting the output intensity of the pumping light source. This reduces the number of pumping light sources and enables further miniaturization and cost reduction of the optical amplifier system.

Specifically, the optical amplifier system of the present invention includes a plurality of optical amplifiers for amplifying each optical signal branched by a splitter for transfer to the other path in a drop side WXC provided in a ROADM node, and the plurality of optical amplifiers A pumping light source for supplying pumping light to the light source, a pumping light distribution circuit for distributing the pumping light output from the pumping light source to the plurality of optical amplifiers, and a signal intensity of the optical signal amplified by one of the optical amplifiers. A signal strength monitor to be measured;
A gain control circuit that changes the output intensity of the excitation light source in accordance with the signal intensity measured by the signal intensity monitor.

  Since the optical amplifier system of the present invention includes the pumping light source, the pumping light distribution circuit, the signal intensity monitor, and the gain control circuit, the number of signal intensity monitors and the number of pumping light sources can be reduced. As a result, the optical amplifier system of the present invention can reduce the number of components of the optical amplifier system constituted by a large number of optical components, and can reduce the size and cost of the optical amplifier system.

  In the optical amplifier system of the present invention, the pumping light distribution circuit may be a splitter that branches the pumping light from the pumping light source at an equal branching ratio.

  In the optical amplifier system of the present invention, the signal intensity monitor includes a signal optical coupler for branching the optical signal and a light receiver for receiving the signal light branched by the signal optical coupler, and the splitter and the signal light The coupler may be composed of a quartz-based planar lightwave circuit.

  Specifically, the optical amplification method of the present invention is amplified by an optical amplifier inserted in one of the paths branched by a splitter to be transferred to the other path in the drop side WXC provided in the ROADM node. A signal intensity measurement procedure for measuring the signal intensity of the subsequent optical signal, and excitation light having a light intensity corresponding to the signal intensity measured in the signal intensity measurement procedure is output from the excitation light source, and the excitation light from the excitation light source is An optical signal amplification procedure for sequentially distributing the optical signals of the respective paths using the pumping light distributed to the optical amplifiers of the paths;

  Since the optical amplification method of the present invention includes a signal intensity measurement procedure and an optical signal amplification procedure in order, the number of signal intensity monitors and the number of excitation light sources can be reduced. As a result, the optical amplification method of the present invention can reduce the number of components of an optical amplifier system composed of a large number of optical components, and can reduce the size and cost of the optical amplifier system.

  In the optical amplifier method of the present invention, in the optical signal amplification procedure, the excitation light may be distributed to each path using a splitter having an equal branching ratio.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of parts of an optical amplifier system including a large number of optical parts, and to reduce the size and cost of the optical amplifier system.

It is a figure which shows an example of the functional block of the optical amplifier system which concerns on this invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating optical wiring of an optical amplifier system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of integration of the optical wiring of an optical amplifier system, and the splitter which comprises WXC. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a photonic network. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a multi-degree ROADM node. It is a figure which shows the example of application of an optical amplifier. It is a figure which shows the functional block of the optical amplifier system using a prior art. It is a figure which shows the optical wiring of the optical amplifier system using a prior art.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described below are examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. In the present specification and drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same components.

  Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, an optical amplifier system including four optical amplifiers will be described as an example. However, the effect of the present invention is not limited to this example, and the effect of the present invention is increased as the number of optical amplifiers included in the optical amplifier system increases. Become prominent.

  FIG. 1 shows functional blocks of the optical amplifier system of the present invention. The optical amplifier system 19 of the present invention includes four optical amplifiers 31, a pumping light source 34, a pumping light distribution circuit 71, and a gain control circuit 75. The optical amplification method of the present invention includes a signal intensity measurement procedure and an optical signal amplification procedure in this order. In the signal intensity measurement procedure, the signal intensity of the optical signal amplified by the optical amplifier 31 in one of the paths branched by the splitter 11d to be transferred to the other path on the drop side of the ROADM node 101 is calculated. taking measurement. In the optical signal amplification procedure, excitation light having a light intensity corresponding to the signal intensity measured in the signal intensity measurement procedure is output from the excitation light source 34, and the excitation light from the excitation light source 34 is distributed to the optical amplifier 31 in each path. The optical signal is amplified using the distributed excitation light.

  Compared with the functional block of the optical amplifier system according to the prior art shown in FIG. 7, the number of pumping light sources 34 is one and is connected to all the optical amplifiers 31 via the pumping light distribution circuit 71, that is, The functional feature of the present invention is that the pumping light sources 34 of all the optical amplifiers 31 are shared via the pumping light distribution circuit 71.

  Further, the signal intensity monitor 32 connected to the gain control circuit 75 is only the signal intensity monitor 32 of the optical amplifier 31 arranged in any one of the four paths through which the optical signal passes. This is because the optical amplifier system 19 of the present invention is connected to the subsequent stage of the splitter 11 d that functions as an optical path changeover switch constituting the ROADM node 101, and the optical signal input to the ROADM node 101 is the optical amplifier system 19. This is because the configuration is distributed to all signal paths.

  That is, since WDM signals having the same number of wavelengths are input to each path of the optical amplifier system 19, it is not necessary to individually control the pumping light amount of each optical amplifier 31, and it is necessary for the optical amplifier 31 of any one path. The output power of the pumping light source 34 shared by the all-optical amplifier 31 can be determined based on the pumping light power.

  For example, when the splitter 11d constituting the ROADM node 101 branches the input optical signal with equal power (for example, in the 1 × 4 splitter, 25% of the input optical power is distributed to each output), the optical amplifier system 19 Since signals of the same number of wavelengths and the same power are input to each path, a value corresponding to four times the pumping light power required for the optical amplifier 31 of any one path is set as the output value of the pumping light source 34. The equal amount of excitation light may be distributed to each optical amplifier 31 via the excitation light distribution circuit 71.

  When the number of branches of the splitter 11d is M, according to the present invention, the number of the signal intensity monitors 32 can be reduced to 1 / M simultaneously with the reduction of the excitation light source 34. Therefore, according to the present invention, the number of excitation light sources 34 can be reduced to 1 of M. Further, since the monitor PDs 42 and 44 can each be reduced by (M−1), if M is 2 or more, an effect of reducing the number of parts can be obtained.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing optical wiring of the optical amplifier system 19 according to the first embodiment which is an embodiment of the present invention. It is characterized in that a splitter 63 that branches at an equal branching ratio is used as the pumping light distribution circuit 71 and that only one arbitrary path information is input to the gain control circuit 75 as input / output signal intensity monitor information of the optical amplifier 31. It is. With the configuration of this embodiment, the excitation light source 34 can be shared, and the monitor PDs 42 and 44 and the signal light couplers 41 and 43 can be reduced, and the number of parts can be reduced.

  Further, the optical wiring shown in FIG. 2 (excluding the optical amplifier 31, the monitor PDs 42 and 44, and the excitation light source 34) is integrated by a planar lightwave circuit technique represented by a quartz-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC). Is possible. That is, the optical fiber that optically connects each optical component is replaced with a PLC, and the signal light couplers 41 and 43, the signal light / pumping light coupler 72, and the pumping light distribution circuit 71 are integrated in the PLC. Effects such as a dramatic reduction in the number of points and a reduction in connection costs associated with a reduction in the number of optical fiber connection points can be expected.

  In the embodiment described above, among the optical components constituting the optical amplifier system 19, the optical wiring portion that optically connects the components, the signal, except for the optical amplifier 31, the excitation light source 34, and the monitor PDs 42 and 44. It has been described that the optical couplers 41 and 43, the signal light / pumping optical coupler 72, and the splitter 63 can be integrated by using PLC technology. Furthermore, when the splitter 11d that constitutes the multi-degree ROADM node 101 illustrated in FIG. 5 is constituted by a PLC, as shown in FIG. 3, the integrated PLC that constitutes the optical amplifier system 19 of the present invention and the splitter 11d as shown in FIG. It is also possible to integrate the PLCs constituting the.

  In addition, the value shown in embodiment is an illustration and is not limited to the illustrated value.

  The present invention can be applied to the information communication industry.

11: WXC
11a: 9 × 1WSS
11d: splitter 14: transmitter 15: receiver 16: combiner 17: splitter 19: optical amplifier system 31: optical amplifier 32: signal intensity monitor 34: excitation light source 35: gain control circuit 41, 43: signal optical couplers 42, 44 : Monitor PD
62: Signal light / pumping light coupler 63: Splitter 71: Pumping light distribution circuit 72: Signal light / pumping light coupler 75: Gain control circuit 101: ROADM node

Claims (5)

A plurality of optical amplifiers that amplify each optical signal branched by the splitter for transfer to the other path in a drop side WXC (Wavelength Cross Connect) provided in a ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add / Drop Multiplexer) node;
An excitation light source for supplying excitation light to the plurality of optical amplifiers;
A pumping light distribution circuit that distributes the pumping light output from the pumping light source to the plurality of optical amplifiers;
A signal strength monitor for measuring the signal strength of the optical signal amplified by one of the optical amplifiers;
A gain control circuit for changing the output intensity of the excitation light source according to the signal intensity measured by the signal intensity monitor;
An optical amplifier system comprising:   2. The optical amplifier system according to claim 1, wherein the pumping light distribution circuit is a splitter that branches pumping light from the pumping light source at an equal branching ratio. The signal strength monitor is
A signal optical coupler for branching the optical signal;
A light receiver for receiving the branched signal light of the signal light coupler,
3. The optical amplifier system according to claim 2, wherein the splitter and the signal optical coupler are configured by a quartz-based planar lightwave circuit. Signal strength measurement for measuring the signal strength of the optical signal after amplification by an optical amplifier inserted in one of the paths branched by the splitter to be transferred to the other path in the drop side WXC provided in the ROADM node Procedure and
Excitation light having a light intensity corresponding to the signal intensity measured in the signal intensity measurement procedure is output from the excitation light source, the excitation light from the excitation light source is distributed to the optical amplifiers in each direction, and the distributed excitation light is used. An optical signal amplification procedure for amplifying the optical signal of each path;
An optical amplification method comprising:   5. The optical amplification method according to claim 4, wherein in the optical signal amplification procedure, pump light is distributed to each path using splitters having equal branching ratios.

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