Patent ID: 7139478

Claim:
An optical communication system, comprising: an optical regenerator, including a nonlinear optical fiber that has a non-linear response to at least some input optical pulses, resulting in the spectral broadening of at least some such pulses, and including an output filter coupled to the nonlinear optical fiber; a wavelength-selective detector configured to make measurements indicative of spectral broadening in the input optical pulses that have passed through the nonlinear optical fiber, wherein, for at least some pulses whose enemy is distributed into a central wavelength band and plural wavelength sidebands, at least a portion of the detector is configured to detect optical power in a respective sideband or group of sidebands exclusive of the central band; and a device or circuit, in receiving relationship to the detector, configured to provide a diagnostic signal or feedback signal, in response to the detected sideband optical power, in the course of operation of the system.