Abstract

As the installation of 10 Gbit/s optical systems (OC192) is anticipated to commence by the end of 1996, research into the provision of the next generation high capacity systems has already attracted considerable effort in major laboratories worldwide. In this paper, we focused on the performance potential of an external modulation/direct detection TDM system operating at 40 Gbit/s, in particular the transmission characteristics over a distance of 560 km. Numerical simulations incorporating the nonlinear characteristics, and chromatic dispersion of the fiber were performed, taking into consideration the effects of modulator chirp, optical amplifier output power, and noise figure, fiber, and subsystem PMD, and the dispersion-zero wavelength (λ₀) distribution of the system fiber. A 560-km experimental testbed with 70-km amplifier spacing was implemented with dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) to verify the validity of the predicted performance.

© 1996 Optical Society of America