Perspectives for direct detection optical fiber transmission systems with electronic pre-compensation

In this paper electronic predistortion (EPD) for chromatic dispersion is studied for direct detection systems based either on an IQ-modulator or a directly modulated laser. When using EPD with an I/Q-modulator for 40 Gbit/s transmission, nearly no penalty in comparison to optical dispersion managed systems occurs. The concept of EPD my be applied even for directly modulated semiconductor lasers enabling transmission distances in excess of 200 km over standard single mode fibers without any need for optical dispersion compensation.