Abstract

The performance of digital back-propagation (DBP) for distributed Raman amplified optical communication systems is evaluated through analytical models and numerical simulations, and is compared with conventional lumped amplifier solutions, such as EDFA. The complexity of the DBP algorithm including the characteristic signal power profile of distributed Raman amplifiers is assessed. The use of full-field DBP in distributed Raman amplified systems leads to 1.3 dB additional gain with respect to systems employing lumped amplification, at the cost of only a 25% increase in complexity. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.