Patent ID: 6862135

Claim:
An optical link, comprising: a first set of optical amplifiers that includes a first distributed Raman amplifier having a first gain spectrum with a first gain ripple and a first discreet Raman amplifier having a second gain spectrum with a second gain ripple; and a second set of optical amplifiers that includes a second distributed Raman amplifier having a third gain spectrum with a third gain ripple and a second discrete Raman amplifier having a fourth gain spectrum with a fourth gain ripple, wherein the first set of optical amplifiers is configured such that the first gain spectrum and the second gain spectrum combine to produce a first combined gain spectrum having a first resultant gain ripple over a first wavelength range that is substantially less than the first gain ripple and the second gain ripple over the first wavelength range, and wherein the second set of optical amplifiers is configured such that the third gain spectrum and the fourth gain spectrum combine to produce a second combined gain spectrum having a second resultant gain ripple over a second wavelength range that is substantially less than the third gain ripple and the fourth gain ripple over the second wavelength range.