A consideration on single-mode fibers for frequency-division-multiplexing transmission systems

Dispersion-shifted (DS) and non-dispersion-shifted (NDS) fibers are investigated from the viewpoint of crosstalk restriction due to fiber nonlinearities such as simulated Brillouin scattering and four-wave mixing processes in a frequency-division-multiplexing (FDM) transmission system. The applicability of the two fiber types is discussed, taking account of channel frequency separation, total channel numbers, input signal power, transmission length, and receiver sensitivity degradation. It is noted that NDS fibers operated at λ=1550 nm can be widely deployed in multichannel systems both for the long haul and information distribution transmissions if the signal waveform distortion due to fiber chromatic dispersion is precluded. The DS fibers can also be widely deployed by increasing channel frequency separation in FDM systems toward higher information capacity and longer repeaterless spans