Abstract
We generalize the concept of degree of polarization of single-mode fields to multi-mode
fields by introducing a new parameter that we define degree of mutual coherence. The new
definition enables characterizing by a single parameter the quality of the signal corrupted by
various linear and nonlinear impairments at the output of an optical transmission system employing
spatial division multiplexing. We propose two workable schemes based on standard optics to measure
the degree of coherence, one valid for generic fields, another applying only to CW fields affected
by ASE noise. We apply the notion of degree of mutual coherence to the characterization of the
nonlinear mode coupling caused by two-pulse collisions in spatially multiplexed WDM systems. We
show that a collision between pulses transmitted in different WDM channels produces nonlinear
power transfer between degenerate spatial modes belonging to the same channel. Finally, we
quantify the effect of multiple collisions in terms of reduction of the degree of mutual coherence
under the assumption that uncorrelated messages are transmitted over different WDM
channels.
© 2013 IEEE
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