A study on the relationship between DWDM transmission performance and chromatic dispersion

In this letter, we numerically study the relationship between 40-Gb/s-based dense wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) transmission performance and chromatic dispersion in two different transmission lines. We show that the optimum chromatic dispersion region for improving the DWDM transmission performance varies with the type of transmission line. We also show that a hybrid transmission line has a greater potential to resist any change in the dispersion slope compensation characteristics than a single fiber transmission line with a dispersion compensation fiber module. Finally, we show that chromatic dispersion of more than 12 ps/nm/km in a hybrid transmission line is optimum for a 40-Gb/s-based DWDM transmission system by taking the design of a dispersion compensating fiber into account.