The Multi-Span Effects of Kerr Nonlinearity and Amplifier Noises on Shannon Channel Capacity of a Dispersion-Free Nonlinear Optical Fiber
01 January 2001
We present a general treatment of multi-span effects on Shannon channel capacity for dispersion-free nonlinear optical fiber transmission. We have derived a closed-from formula that is exact and applicable for arbitrary input signal power and noise power. The nonlinear interference among the accumulated Kerr nonlinear noises and the amplifier noise along each span will be investigated. The dependence of the channel capacity on various operating conditions and system parameters will be studied. We have found a simple scaling law for the Shannon capacity as given by log sub 2[1 + C N sub c sup (-2/3) N sub s sup (-4/3) gamma sup (-2/3) (sigma sup 2) sup (-2/3)] for N sub s spans and N sub c channels, where gamma is the Kerr nonlinearity coefficient and sigma sup 2 is the average noise power for each amplifier.