It. Monroy et al., Performance of optically preamplified receivers in WDM systems disturbed by interferometric crosstalk, PH NETW COM, 1(4), 1999, pp. 313-322
Interferometric crosstalk is a performance limiting factor of major concern
in all-optical WDM transmission networks. Interferometric crosstalk arisin
g from performance imperfections in optical components may introduce large
power penalties and bit-error rate floors. Optical amplifiers are often use
d to increase the signal level incident on a detector so that high receiver
sensitivity can be obtained. We investigate theoretically and experimental
ly the performance of optically preamplified, direct detection receivers in
the presence of interferometric crosstalk. The model includes an accurate
description of filtered interferometric crosstalk by using a so-called maxi
mum entropy approach. Experimental results, using both directly and externa
lly modulated light sources, are found to be in good agreement with theory.