Effective shooting algorithm and its application to fiber amplifiers

A series of new methods based on the Runge-Kutta (RK) formula are proposed, which not only retain the merit of RK methods, in that the adaptive stepsize is easily implemented, but also dramatically decrease the error under the same conditions. Based on the new methods, an effective shooting algorithm is also proposed. A two-point boundary value problem for the Raman amplifier propagation equations is solved using the proposed algorithm. Our algorithm markedly increases the simulating speed for Raman amplifier propagation equations, as well as improves the accuracy, compared to the traditional algorithm. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.