Experimental demonstration of performance enhancement in non-linearity limited optical fibre systems

Abstract

This thesis presents a study of the nonlinear limits of coherent, long-haul, optical fibre transmission systems and studies the capabilities of digital and all-optical nonlinearity compensation techniques to enhance their performance. By deriving the theoretical description of optical fibre nonlinear Kerr effects, this thesis presents theoretical, numerical, and experimental evidence showing that the compensation efficiency of deterministic nonlinear impairments in OPC assisted transmission system is highly dependent on the span length. This document shows that the deployment of multiple OPCs, in a system limited by deterministic signal-signal nonlinear interactions, can negate the performance enhancement achieved by a single OPC. I have derived, and verified by simulations, closed form equations that accurately represent the ultimate nonlinear threshold of the nondeterministic nonlinear signal-noise interaction limit in discretely amplified and quasi-lossless Raman optical fibre transmission systems. This nondeterministic nonlinear threshold can be unveiled when deploying ideal nonlinearity compensation techniques and can be minimised by deploying multiple OPCs.In this thesis, I have experimentally shown that the performance enhancement achieved bymid-link OPC when deployed in discretely amplified transmission system is highly dependent on the bandwidth of the signals propagating along the system. The experimental results have shown that the OPC enhances the reach of discretely amplified transmission system by 43%,32%, and 24% for 2x28Gbaud, 4x28Gbaud, and 8x28Gbaud of PM-QPSK signals,respectively. Also, I have experimentally demonstrated the highest reported reach enhancement of 72% (compared to EDC system) for 3.6Tbps (30x30Gbaud PM-QPSK, spectral efficiency of 3.6bps/Hz); when deploying a mid-link OPC in distributed Raman system.