TECHNIQUE FOR IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN AN OPTICAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

摘要

The effects of polarization dependent hole burning are reduced by simultaneouslylaunching a first optical signal carrying information and having a first characteristic wavelength and a second optical signal carrying different information and having a second characteristic wavelength, where the first and second optical signals have substantially orthogonal relative polarizations, into the same transmission path as a combined optical signal. The launched optical signals have equal optical power levels. Thus, the noise associated with one optical signal cannot be preferentially enhanced with respect to the information carried by the other optical signal. Furthermore, because the combined optical signal is created by coupling two highly-polarized signals, the poor noise and dispersion characteristics normally associated with non-polarized light sources are avoided. As a result, the effects of PDHB are minimized (FIG. 1)