Patent ID: 7567593

Claim:
An optical communication system comprising: a gain medium capable of receiving at least one optical signal comprising one or more optical signal wavelengths; one or more pump sources capable of generating at least a first pump signal and a second pump signal for introduction to the gain medium, the first pump signal comprising at least one integer Raman order band of pump wavelengths and the second pump signal comprising at least one fractional Raman order band of pump wavelengths, the at least one integer Raman order band of pump wavelengths comprising a plurality of integer Raman order pump wavelengths, each of the plurality of integer Raman order of pump wavelengths comprising a Raman gain peak that is one stokes shift from at least one of the one or more optical signal wavelengths, the at least one fractional Raman order band of pump wavelengths comprising a plurality of fractional Raman order pump wavelengths, each of the plurality of fractional Raman order pump wavelengths comprising a Raman gain peak that is a non-integer multiple of one stokes shift from each of the one or more optical signal wavelengths, wherein the non-integer multiple of one stokes shift from each of the one or more optical signal wavelengths is greater than 1.1 stokes shifts and less than 1.9 stokes shifts from each of the one or more optical signal wavelengths; and wherein the at least one pump signal interacts with the optical signal as the pump signal traverses at least a portion of the gain medium.