1580-NM BAND, EQUALLY SPACED 8X10 GB S WDM CHANNEL TRANSMISSION OVER 360 KM (3X120 KM) OF DISPERSION-SHIFTED FIBER AVOIDING FWM IMPAIRMENT/

Optically repeated wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) transmission over dispersion-shifted fibers (DSF's) in the novel 1580-nm wavelength band is reported, WDM systems operating on DSF's are severely impaire d by nonlinear crosstalk caused by four-wave mixing (FWM). We avoid th is impairment by using novel 1580-nm band instead of the conventional 1550-nm band, Newly developed erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) f or 1570-1600-nm wavelength band (gain-shifted EDFA's) are used as pre- and post amplifiers as well as in-line amplifiers, We demonstrate, for the first time, that long in-line amplifier span (120 km, span loss s imilar to 30 dB), high-bit rate (10 Gb/s), optically repeated WDM tran smission over a 360 km (3 x 120 km) DSF is possible by using 1580-nm b and channels without FWM impairment.