A field demonstration of 20-Gb/s capacity transmission over 360 km of installed standard (non-DSF) fiber

We report a field demonstration of 20 Gb/s capacity transmission over a 360-km installed "standard" fiber cable. The system consisted of two 10-Gb/s channels with wavelengths ranging between 1552 and 1558 nm and optical repeaters separated by 120 km. A robust system hardware design and new compact optical repeaters enabled us to achieve "error-free" operation over five consecutive days in the field environment. The wavelength crosstalk and unequal dispersion compensation between the two channels had a negligible effect on the system performance. The result clearly demonstrates that both loss and dispersion of the embedded "standard" fiber can be overcome in multi-channel long-haul transmission systems with 10 Gb/s OC192/STM64 line-rate.<
>