Method for optimizing optical amplification in an optical network

The invention relates to a method for optimizing optical amplification in an optical network, said network comprising a plurality of nodes connected by means of optical links, said links comprising a plurality of channels with associated wavelengths, at least one optical amplifier (5,7,9) with a predefined maximum level of output power. The method comprises steps of selecting a transparent path with a corresponding channel between a source network node and a destination network node, determining the level of available output power in the amplifiers of the links along the selected transparent path. It further comprises steps of setting the level of output power of said selected channel in said links along the selected transparent path at a preselected level of output power, estimating the signal transmission quality of the signal transmitted along the selected transparent path at destination network node and, for said links along the selected path, re-adjusting the level of output power of the selected channel in function of the estimated signal transmission quality and the available level of output power of the amplifiers of said links.