Abstract

High bit-rate fiber transmission systems operating away from the zero-dispersion wavelength require transmitters with very low frequency chirp, such as those realized using lithium niobate waveguide electrooptic modulators [1], It has been proposed that waveguide Mach-Zehnder amplitude modulators may be operated in a perfectly chirpless mode and recently devices designed to operate chirp-free have been reported [2,3]. However, the lowest fiber dispersion penalty is generally not obtained for a frequency chirp parameter identically equal to zero [2], Indeed, it is expected that choosing a non-zero value for the chirp parameter, α, depending on the fiber dispersion coefficient and distance, so as to provide some amount of pulse compression, can be advantageous.

© 1991 Optical Society of America