A passive and adaptive optical equalizer for reconfigurable multiwavelength networks

Summary form only given. We describe a new concept for an equalizer that is scalable in the number of wavelengths, adapts to time variations in the optical power, and does not require an external power reference. It is a filter whose transmission coefficient decreases with increasing power at each of the wavelengths used by the network. Thus, the strongest wavelength output from an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) will be transmitted less than the weaker ones, making the output power from the EDFA more evenly distributed among the wavelengths. Such an equalizer equalizes the output of an EDFA rather than its gain, and will function with changing input powers.