Implications of Deploying Optical Phase Conjugators (OPCs) to Reduce DSP Overhead in a Dynamic WDM Coherent Optical Network

This paper introduces a novel approach to optimizing dynamic Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical networks by deploying Optical Phase Conjugators (OPCs). Optical networks, central to modern communication infrastructures, face significant challenges in managing signal impairments due to fiber dispersion and nonlinearity. These impairments often require extensive Digital Signal Processing (DSP), increasing operational costs and energy consumption. Our research proposes a new network architecture incorporating OPCs, utilizing mid span spectral inversion (MSSI) to mitigate these impairments effectively. The placement of OPCs is crucial, ideally at the mid-span of the signal path, to ensure complete all-optical dispersion and nonlinearity compensation. However, this presents a challenge in dynamic networks where link routes vary, affecting the distance from the mid-span and the associated equalizer requirements. Addressing this gap, our work provides a comprehensive analysis of a network architecture incorporating OPCs, which is used to reduce digital signal processing overhead while maintaining signal integrity. Through simulations of two network topologies, we explore the practical implications and trade-offs of OPC implementation. Our results highlight the potential of OPCs in enhancing network performance, particularly in reducing operational costs and energy consumption. This paper significantly contributes to the field by showcasing the feasibility and benefits of OPC integration in dynamic optical networks, offering insights into creating more efficient and sustainable communication infrastructures.