Performance assessment of high density wavelength division multiplexing systems with dispersion supported transmission at 10 Gbit/s

This paper presents a simulation methodology for performance assessment of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems using directly modulated quantum-well lasers and optically preamplified direct detection receivers. The methodology is based on a pure semi-analytical method which combines noiseless WDM transmission simulation with noise analysis in those systems. Using this approach, we discuss the performance implications of single-cavity, double-cavity and three-mirror Fabry-Perot (FP) demultiplexers for dispersion supported transmission (DST) of three WDM channels separated by 1 nm. Assuming that a three-mirror filter is used as demultiplexer, the performance of a 40 Gbit/s capacity four-channel WDM-DST system is assessed for 0.5 nm channel spacing. The robustness of the multichannel DST method against pattern dependencies is also investigated for this channel spacing.