Horn effect and abnormality in waveform evolution of 10 Gbit/s and 40 Gbit/s modulated optical pulses

Studies on waveform evolution (WE) of 10 Gbit/s and 40 Gbit/s modulated optical pulses in transmission fibre are important because waveform is directly related to detection. The abnormality of WE for 10 Gbit/s and 40 Gbit/s modulated pulses is disclosed in this paper. This abnormality, caused by dispersion rather than optical nonlinearity, is closely related to horn effect (HE), a horn-like shape formed in the WE. The HE makes the pulses more vulnerable to SPM distortion and the idea of waveform management is proposed as an effective way to lessen SPM induced waveform distortion.