After reviewing models and mitigation strategies for interchannel nonlinear
interference (NLI), we focus on the frequency-resolved logarithmic perturbation
model to study the coherence properties of NLI. Based on this study, we devise
an NLI mitigation strategy which exploits the synergic effect of phase and
polarization noise compensation (PPN) and subcarrier multiplexing with
symbol-rate optimization. This synergy persists even for high-order modulation
alphabets and Gaussian symbols. A particle method for the computation of the
resulting achievable information rate and spectral efficiency (SE) is presented
and employed to lower-bound the channel capacity. The dependence of the SE on
the link length, amplifier spacing, and presence or absence of inline
dispersion compensation is studied. Single-polarization and dual-polarization
scenarios with either independent or joint processing of the two polarizations
are considered. Numerical results show that, in links with ideal distributed
amplification, an SE gain of about 1 bit/s/Hz/polarization can be obtained (or,
in alternative, the system reach can be doubled at a given SE) with respect to
single-carrier systems without PPN mitigation. The gain is lower with lumped
amplification, increases with the number of spans, decreases with the span
length, and is further reduced by in-line dispersion compensation. For
instance, considering a dispersion-unmanaged link with lumped amplification and
an amplifier spacing of 60 km, the SE after 80 spans can be be increased from
4.5 to 4.8 bit/s/Hz/polarization, or the reach raised up to 100 spans (+25%)
for a fixed SE.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Lightwave Technolog
