30-gb/s signal transmission over 40-km directly modulated DFB-laser-based single-mode-fiber links without optical amplification and dispersion compensation

Based on a recently proposed novel optical-signal-modulation technique of adaptively modulated optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (AMOOFDM), numerical simulations of the transmission performance of AMOOFDM signals are undertaken in directly modulated DFB laser (DML)-based single-mode-fiber (SMF) links without optical amplification and dispersion compensation. It is shown that a 30-Gb/s transmission over a 40-km SMF with a loss margin of greater than 4.5 dB is feasible in the aforementioned simple configuration using intensity modulation and direct detection (IMDD). In addition, the DFB-laser frequency chirp and the transmission-link loss are identified to be the key factors limiting the maximum achievable transmission performance of the technique. The first factor is dominant for transmission distances of < 80 km and the second one for transmission distances of > 80 km. It is also observed that fibers of different types demonstrate similar transmission performances, on which fiber nonlinear effects are negligible.