Effect of four-wave mixing on WDM optical systems: a statistical analysis

The dense wavelength-division-multiplexed system design requires an accurate knowledge of the four-wave mixing (FWM), which gives rise to intermodulation effects, especially when using very low-dispersion fibers. In this letter, a statistical analysis is presented that takes into account both the effect on the FWM intermodulation products due to dispersive propagation, and the statistics of such intermodulation terms, which must be considered as random processes. In particular, the autocorrelation function of the FWM process is calculated for the independent wavelength-division-multiplexing optical channel.