Long-haul 40 Gb/s DWDM transmission with aggregate capacities exceeding 1 Tb/s

We present an experimental investigation of 40 Gb/s transmission technology aimed at an aggregate capacity exceeding 1 Tb/s over multithousand kilometer transmission distances. These studies have been performed using a variety of dispersion management and modulation techniques. The transmission distances investigated range from a minimum of 2000 km, which is considered a regional undersea cable distance, up to a transatlantic distance of 6200 km. Our regional distance experiments were performed using both slope-matched and conventional dispersion maps where the accumulated dispersion becomes large for the edge channels. Dispersion map studies showed that slope-matched fiber performs better than nonslope-matched fiber (NZDSF) beyond 2000 km due to its larger effective area and lower accumulated dispersion slope. The demonstration of 38×40 Gb/s over 6200 km was the first transoceanic length experiment using 40 Gb/s DWDM channels. This was achieved with a relatively simple amplifier chain that uses only C-band EDFAs. Modulation format studies showed that RZ performs better over transoceanic distance, carrier-suppressed RZ performs better with nonslope-matched fiber at a distance of 2055 km, and prefiltered carrier-suppressed RZ is more suited for higher spectral efficiency. Experimental techniques for high bit-rate experiments are presented.