OPTICAL AMPLIFIER FOR CONSTANTLY ADJUSTING PER-CHANNEL OUTPUT POWER AND METHOD THEREOF

摘要

An optical amplifier whose output power for each channel is constantly controlled, for amplifying a data channel optical signal when a monitoring channel optical signal and a data channel optical signal comprised of a plurality of channels are input together, the optical amplifier including a channel monitoring unit for separating the monitoring channel optical signal, converting the monitoring channel optical signal into an electrical signal, extracting the number of channels included in the data channel from the converted signal, and outputting the converted signal, an amplification unit for amplifying the data channel optical signal using a predetermined driving source, an amplification control unit for controlling the input of the driving source so that a target output power value of the amplification unit depending on the number of channels is actually equal to a measured output power value of the amplification unit, and a wavelength coupling unit for converting the output signal of the channel monitoring unit into an optical signal and coupling the optical signal to the amplified data channel optical signal. The gain of the optical amplifier is controlled so that a target value of the amplified data channel optical signal corresponding to the number of channels becomes actually equal to a measured value. Thus, the output power for each channel can be constantly controlled.