Gain equalization multiwavelength lightwave systems using acoustooptic tunable filters

An acoustooptic tunable filter is used to compensate for the gain spectrum variations in multiwavelength lightwave systems containing cascaded fiber amplifiers. Demonstrations of such systems using a circulating loop containing a fiber amplifier and an acoustooptic tunable filter have shown that differential gain compensations of up to 14 dB can be achieved for two arbitrary injected wavelengths.<<ETX>>