Performance evaluation and prediction using eye margin characteristics foroptical transmission systems

We have experimentally and theoretically investigated electrical eye margin characteristics as the method of performance evaluation and prediction of high-speed optical transmission systems. This method has been applied to si ngle channel 10 Gbps optical transmission systems using the standard single mode fiber. To investigate the validity of electrical eye margin character istics, electrical eye margin characteristics have been measured and calcul ated for the single channel 10 Gbps optical transmission systems including chirp, extinction ratio, and self-phase modulation. The results suggest tha t the eye margin characteristics can be well estimated and predicted includ ing chirp, extinction ratio, and fiber nonlinearity. Finally, electrical ey e margin characteristics have been calculated for a 32Ch. x 10 Gbps WDM tra nsmission system to show the possibility of extending them to characterize such complicated systems as a system performance. Therefore, eye margin cha racteristics can also be applied to characterize complicated systems. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.