Abstract: A system and method that effectively measures the polarization dependent gain of an optical amplifier without significantly introducing error into that measurement is provided. A saturating optical signal source generates an optical signal capable of saturating the optical amplifier. A slow polarization scrambler then randomly polarizes the optical signal to yield a polarized optical signal, which is used as an input signal of the optical amplifier. The output signal of the optical amplifier is then transferred to a fast polarization scrambler, resulting in a PDG measurement signal, which is then presented to an optical signal analyzer that measures the intensity level of each channel of the PDG measurement signal. Alternately, a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) polarization mixer is employed to mix the polarization states of WDM channels of the polarized optical signal from the slow polarization scrambler with respect to each other, yielding the input signal for the optical amplifier under test.

Abstract: A method and system for measuring in-band crosstalk in an optical amplifier, such as a Raman amplifier, in which a modulated optical signal is generated using an input modulator. The extinction ratio of the input optical modulator is measured. The modulated optical signal is passed through the optical amplifier to obtain a first output optical signal, the power level of which is measured when the input modulator is in its off-state. The modulated optical signal is then attenuated by a factor equal to the extinction ratio of the input modulator to obtain an attenuated modulated optical signal which is passed through the optical amplifier to obtain a second output optical signal. The power level of the second output optical signal when the input modulator is in its on-state. The in-band crosstalk is calculated by subtracting the power level of the second output optical signal from the power level of the first output optical signal. The input and output modulators may be acousto-optic modulators.

Abstract: A system and method that effectively measures the polarization dependent gain of an optical amplifier without significantly introducing error into that measurement is provided. A saturating optical signal source generates an optical signal capable of saturating the optical amplifier. A slow polarization scrambler then randomly polarizes the optical signal to yield a polarized optical signal, which is used as an input signal of the optical amplifier. The output signal of the optical amplifier is then transferred to a fast polarization scrambler, resulting in a PDG measurement signal, which is then presented to an optical signal analyzer that measures the intensity level of each channel of the PDG measurement signal. Alternately, a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) polarization mixer is employed to mix the polarization states of WDM channels of the polarized optical signal from the slow polarization scrambler with respect to each other, yielding the input signal for the optical amplifier under test.