Efficient use of hybrid Genetic Algorithms in the gain optimization of distributed Raman amplifiers

In this paper, we propose an efficient and accurate method that combines the Genetic Algorithm (GA) with the Nelder-Mead method in order to obtain the gain optimization of distributed Raman amplifiers. By using these two methods together, the advantages of both are combined: the convergence of the GA and the high accuracy of the Nelder-Mead. To enhance the convergence of the GA, several features were examined and correlated with fitting errors. It is also shown that when the right moment to switch between methods is chosen, the computation time can be reduced by a factor of two. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.