Contribution of timing jitter and amplitude distortion to XPM system penalty in WDM systems

We compare the impact of intensity distortion and timing jitter due to cross-phase modulation (XPM) in a wavelength-division-multiplexed system and find that the contribution from intensity distortion is more significant. We then examine the commonly used method of estimating XPM system penalties from the amplitude of XPM-induced intensity modulation of a continuous-wave (CW) probe. Our study indicates that this approach does indeed provide a good estimate of XPM system penalty by comparing simulations, CW probe experimental results, and systems experiment results.