The effect of four-wave mixing in fibers on optical frequency-division multiplexed systems

The limiting effects of four-wave mixing on optical frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems are described. The optical nonlinearity in a single-mode fiber imposes a fundamental limitation on the capacity of optical frequency-division multiplexed systems. In particular, four-wave mixing (FWM) crosstalk may severely degrade the system performance when the fiber input powers are large and/or the channel spacing is too small. Theoretical and experimental results of the effects of FWM in OFDM systems are presented. The theoretical results demonstrate the dependence of FWM on various system parameters. An analysis of FWM in both undirectional and bidirectional transmission systems is included. The receiver sensitivity degradation from FWM crosstalk is measured in a 16-channel coherent system.<
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