Back-to-back and single-span transmission

Abstract

This chapter discusses the system performance of high-order modulation formats for back-to back and single-span transmission. The individual strengths and drawbacks of phase and quadrature amplitude modulation formats in relation to important system parameters such as noise performance, optimal receiver filter bandwidths, laser linewidth requirements, chromatic dispersion tolerances and self phase modulation tolerances are identified for systems with direct detection, homodyne differential detection and homodyne synchronous detection. Moreover, the influence of the signal characteristics of different transmitter configurations on system performance is illustrated for NRZ and RZ pulse shapes. Clear performance tendencies are ascertained and help the reader understand the consequences resulting from migration to high-order modulation formats, as well as the impact of the choice of particular system configurations. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.