Automatic dispersion equalization for installing high-speed optical transmission systems

This paper proposes an optical transmission system with automatic dispersion equalization for exploitation of the fiber capacity without additional installation cost. The system has two operational modes: “measurement-mode” wherein dispersion is measured by phase-to amplitude-modulation conversion, and “data-transmission-mode” for providing telecommunication services. Dispersion equalization is realized by the accompanying use of dispersion compensating devices and wavelength tuning to the zero-dispersion of the optical fibers. Supervisory-channel communication enables remote operation. We demonstrate a simplified system; the dispersion of a 10 Gb/s-1000 km transmission line is successfully equalized in a fully automatic manner. Equalization with the preciseness of 10.1 mn from the zero-dispersion wavelength provides penalty free transmission or better performance with optical input power under the Brillouin threshold