Reduction of Four Wave Mixing by employing circular polarizers in DWDM optical networks

Next generation optical communication networks demand the use of the lower channel spacing and high input power in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) systems to achieve higher data rates. However, decreasing channel spacing and increasing input power create nonlinear effects including Four Wave Mixing (FWM). In this paper a method has been introduced in which alternative circular polarizers are used to change the polarization of input pulses into right and left handed polarized pulses before multiplexer which results in reduction of FWM. With the help of this technique we can completely eliminate FWM by optimizing optical network´s parameters. Exhaustive set of simulations has been performed in Optisys and system´s performance has been calculated.