Performance Issues Associated With WDM Optical Systems Using Self-Seeded Gain Switched Pulse Sources Due to Mode Partition Noise Effects

Abstract-Bit-error-rate measurements have been carried out on a four-channel wavelength division multiplexed setup using tunable self-seeded gain-switched pulse sources. These measurements demonstrate the degradation in overall system performance, due to mode partition noise, as the sidemode suppression ratio of the self-seeded gain-switched optical pulse sources is reduced. The results also show that the constraints on the minimum sidemode suppression ratio required increase with the number of channels in the system. Index Terms-Optical fiber communications, optical pulse generation, mode partition noise, semiconductor laser, wavelength-division multiplexing