Effects of laser diode parameters on power penalty in 10 Gb/s optical fiber transmission systems

A composite tradeoff study based on the influence of key laser diode parameters on frequency chirp induced power penalty, extinction induced power penalty, the turn-on delay, and the dispersion transmission limit is presented for 10 Gb/s optical fiber transmission systems. The simulated results reveal that an optimum range of differential gain and nonlinear gain coefficient exists, and it is advantageous to set an extinction ratio that minimizes both the total power penalty and the turn-on delay. In addition, it is shown that a reduction of chirp and maximization of the dispersion transmission limit can be realized by designing the laser diode with a linewidth enhancement factor near -0.8.