Abstract
We have tackled the technical challenge of how to mitigate fiber nonlinearity effects in our high-speed optical communication systems. Over the last decade, we have improved the tolerance to nonlinearity by 30 dB by developing numerous technologies that can be categorized into four types:(1) new design of optical fibers to reduce nonlinearity, (2) transmission and signal amplification technologies that reduce signal power level without optical SNR degradation, (3) dispersion management techniques to reduce the nonlinear interactions, and (4) new modulation formats and forward-error-correction techniques. We believe that a deeper understanding of fiber nonlinearity effects will make it possible to realize more cost effective and transparent optical networks in the near future.
