16 channel, 10 Gb/s DWDM transmission of directly modulated lasers with 100 GHz channel spacing over 100 km of negative dispersion fiber

Error free uncompensated DWDM transmission over 100 km of MetroCor fiber was demonstrated with a 16 channel DML system with 100 GHz channel spacing in the C-band. The nearly tenfold increase in the uncompensated transmission distance facilitated by the use of MetroCor fiber compared to standard single-mode fibers, using low cost 10 Gb/s directly modulated lasers, is an attractive solution for the development of cost effective metropolitan area networks. In this experiment, a total capacity of 160 Gb/s was demonstrated. Since the C and L bands can accommodate 80 channels with a 100 GHz spacing, these results indicate that a total capacity of 800 Gb/s can be achieved with 10 Gb/s DMLs in metro DWDM networks.