Perspectives of principal mode transmission in mode-division-multiplex operation.

We investigate the concept of principal modes and its application for mode division multiplexing in multimode fibers. We start by generalizing the formalism of the principal modes as to include mode dependent loss and show that principal modes overcome modal dispersion induced by modal coupling in mode division multiplexing operation, even for multi-mode-fibers guiding a large number of modes, if the product of modulation bandwidth, fiber length and differential group delay is equal or less than one in each transmission channel. If this condition is not sustained, modal dispersion and crosstalk at the receiver limit the transmission performance, setting very high constraints towards modal coupling.

Optimum dispersion mapping of single-channel 40 Gbit/s return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying transmission systems.

We present a numerical study of the performance of 40 Gbit/s return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying (RZ-DPSK) transmission with different dispersion maps. The optimum dispersion mapping for RZ-DPSK format are discussed and compared with those for on-off keying (OOK). Two pseudo-linear transmission systems, one using standard single-mode fiber and the other nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber, are investigated, respectively. In principle, the optimum dispersion mapping for RZ-DPSK format is different from that for OOK and depends on intra-channel four-wave mixing and nonlinear phase noise.

Analysis of nonlinear phase noise in single-channel return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying transmission systems.

Self-phase modulation and intrachannel cross-phase-modulation- (IXPM) induced nonlinear phase noise is investigated by the variational method. IXPM can cause a considerable increase of phase noise. We show, however, that IXPM leads to a partial correlation between the phase noises of adjacent pulses, which tends to reduce the influence of nonlinear phase noise in return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying transmission. In highly dispersive transmission systems, intrachannel four-wave mixing-induced differential phase fluctuations are typically larger than differential nonlinear phase noise. The analysis is validated by Monte Carlo simulation.