Abstract

In very long span optical transmission systems the phenomenon of nonlinearity in fiber propagation determines limitations and penalty in the system performances. These require a realistic estimate of the information carrying capacity of this class of transmission systems. Several theoretical studies on signal degradation from nonlinear effects in coherent optical transmission systems have been reported. The main studies on the nonlinear degradation have been expressed in terms of eye diagrams¹ which allow one to understand heuristically the limitation from nonlinear effects. However, to quantify the penalty induced by the nonlinear effects, the system error probability must be evaluated taking into account the nonlinear propagation effect and the correct statistic of the decision variable.

© 1992 Optical Society of America