Power penalty for burst mode reception in the presence of interchannel crosstalk

A full theoretical analysis considering the impact of interchannel crosstalk arising from wavelength division multiplexing on DC coupled burst mode reception is provided and fundamental penalties are calculated for signal independent and signal dependent noise dominant regimes. The specific context is that of a wavelength division multiplexed passive optical network. The impact of different interchannel crosstalk ratios on the overall penalty, and the difference between this and the sum of the two individual penalties (burst mode and crosstalk), is investigated for different preambles. The difference between the combined penalty and the sum of individual penalties (i.e. the ´extra´ penalty), when the preamble short and the crosstalk ratio poor, can be of similar significance to the separate penalties. The effect is potentially worse when signal dependent noise is dominant. Data within a packet experiencing a different level of crosstalk to that present during the packet`s threshold acquisition preamble, due to the packetized nature of the crosstalk, is also investigated.