High-speed transmission of broad-band thermal light pulses over dispersive fibers

The maximum link length in high-speed transmission of thermal light pulses over fibers is mainly limited by chromatic dispersion. We have experimentally investigated the modulation transfer function (MTF) of standard single-mode fibers (SMF) for intensity modulated light-emitting-diode (LED) signals around 1550 nm. Using a fourth-order high-pass filter, we could fully open the closed eye pattern of 64-nm-wide LED pulses transmitted at 155.52 Mb/s over 9.4-km SMF and achieved BER<10/sup -9/ with a power penalty of 10.7 dB. We attribute the penalty to enhanced receiver noise and propose means to reduce it.