System performance of new types of dispersion compensating fibres

Summary form only given. The management of dispersion and non-linearities is of prime importance in WDM systems. Dispersion compensating fibres (DCF) are extremely attractive when used in conjunction with standard single mode fibres (SMF). New types of DCFs compensating for the dispersion of SMF in a 1:1 length ratio have been recently presented and intermediate types of DCF (compensating for SMF in a 1:2 or 1:3 length ratio) have also been designed and fabricated. The properties of the various types of available DCFs with dispersion of -17, -40, -54 and -100 ps/(nm.km), corresponding to SMF to DCF length ratios of about k=1 (inverse dispersion fibre - IDF), 2,3 and 6 (conventional DCF) respectively are shown. All these fibres also provide dispersion slope compensation. It can be seen that when the absolute value of the dispersion is reduced from DCF to IDF values, both attenuation and non-linear coefficient are significantly reduced. As all these new fibres are designed to be cabled (therefore the DCF is part of the span length), and as it has also been shown that conventional DCF can be cabled successfully, their use in real systems needs to be compared.