WDM transmission limitations in non-dispersion shifted and non-zero dispersion shifted fibres

With the global deployment of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), many fibre manufacturers are developing new exotic fibre types. These have been designed to support long haul high bit rate transmission as afforded through optical multiplexing. However, high channel rate NRZ WDM transmission is impaired considerably by both the linear and non-linear fibre effects. These effects are further compounded as the channel rates migrate from 10 Gbps to 40 Gbps. The correct choice of fibre type required to support multichannel high bit rate transmission on such systems becomes of critical importance. We report on the performance of the ubiquitous non-dispersion shifted fibre (NDSF) type, SMF28^TM, and in particular its performance with various dispersion compensation schemes. Furthermore we investigate the implications and performance of NZ-DS fibre types. The NZ-DS fibre types considered comprise the large effective area NZ-DSF and the standard NZ-DSF