Dependence of self-phase modulation impairments on residual dispersion in 10-Gb/s-based terrestrial transmissions using standard fiber

We carry out, by computer simulation, an extensive investigation of the impact of residual dispersion on power margins induced by self-phase modulation in typical 5x100-km-long terrestrial transmission systems at 10 Gb/s, using standard single-mode fiber and modular dispersion compensation. We show that the most performing compensation technique is postcompensation, with positive residual dispersion, and that precompensation must be avoided in case of dual-stage amplification. We also propose a design rule to perform optimal dispersion compensation in multichannel transmissions.