Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is currently one of the most effective ways to increase the transmission capacity of optical lines. Four-wave mixing (FWM) is the major factor which limits the potential of the WDM approach. This limitation is due to the nonlinear interaction of neighboring frequency channels which leads, in particular, to the generation of Stokes and anti-Stokes sidebands (FWM-components), that play the role of an extra noise source and lead to signal deterioration. Dispersion management is a powerful technique of fiber optic telecommunication. There is strong evidence that dispersion management helps also to suppress the FWM and, hence, makes it possible to realize the true potential of WDM. The goal of this paper is to study theoretically FWM-characteristics of systems based on the return-to-zero signal format in the presence of a dispersion map. Based on this study, we propose a way to minimize FWM-imposed limitations on data streams by choosing an optimal dispersion map.
展开▼
