Contents 1 Introduction
The rapid developments in optical fiber amplifier technology are currently having a major impact on the design of high capacity telecommunications networks. Although the higher achievable amplifier gains and broader bandwidths permit significant increases in system capacity, it has become necessary to carefully consider the nonlinear and dispersive interactions which occur during amplification, as these can lead to undesirable pulse distortions which are particularly detrimental for chirped RZ systems [1]. Developing techniques to control or compensate these effects in high gain amplifiers is thus an essential step for the deployment of the next generation of lightwave systems.
