Demonstration of an electronic dispersion compensator in a 100-km 10Gb/s ring network

We experimentally demonstrate that an electronic dispersion compensator (EDC) can substantially improve the performance of a metropolitan area network. In our experimental testbed, the optical path varies in length from 20 to 80 km. Using an EDC increased the networkʹs tolerance of transmitter impairments, and removed the need for other dispersion compensation.