Analysis of repeated unequally spaced channels for FDM lightwave systems

In long-haul optical frequency-division-multiplexing (FDM) systems, transmission characteristics are degraded by four-wave mixing (FWM). To overcome this problem, repeated unequally spaced (RUS) channels have been recently proposed as a new frequency allocation. In this paper, frequency distribution and intensity of generated FWM lights, and a total bandwidth of signal lights of RUS channels are compared with those of already known equally spaced (ES) and unequally spaced (US) channels. It is found that intensities of generated FWM lights of RUS are less than those of ES when the number of channels and a total bandwidth of signals are common in both channels. It is also revealed that RUS has a narrower total bandwidth than US when the number of channels and the minimum channel spacing are common in both channels. Since RUS simultaneously satisfies a low FWM light intensity and a narrow signal bandwidth, it is considered that RUS is suitable for FDM lightwave transmission systems.