Implication of clipping distortion for compressed digital video transmission

A set of equalized, unmodulated subcarriers were applied to several lasers (including highly linear DFB and ordinary Fabry-Perot types) and the resulting distortion measured. For the carrier-to-nonlinear-distortion (C/NLD) levels required for digital transmission, the distortion was dominated by clipping and was independent of laser type. Inexpensive Fabry-Perot (FP) lasers appear to be completely satisfactory for compressed digital video transmission.<
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