Spectral-linewidth broadening in synchronous Raman fiber amplification caused by cross-phase modulation effects and its suppression

When coherent light is amplified by a synchronous Raman fiber amplifier pumped by output pulses from a high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifier operating in an unsaturated gain regime, the detection efficiency with the heterodyne method is degraded. This degradation is caused mainly by cross-phase modulation effects. It is confirmed that using power-flattened pump pulses can suppress these effects.