8-GB/S-130 KM TRANSMISSION EXPERIMENT USING ER-DOPED FIBER PREAMPLIFIER AND OPTICAL DISPERSION EQUALIZATION

We report an 8-Gb/s lightwave transmission system operating at 1.53-mu-m wavelength through 130 km of singlemode fiber having its chromatic dispersion zero at 1.3-mu-m wavelength. A receiver sensitivity of -34.2 dBm (365 photons/bit) was achieved using an erbium-doped fiber preamplifier pumped at 980-nm wavelength. A sensitivity of -31.9 dBm (620 photons/bit) was reached by a preamplifier pumped at 1480-nm wavelength. By employing a Ti:LiNbO3 external modulator and a fiber Gires-Tournois interferometer to equalize fiber chromatic dispersion, the penalty for 130 km transmission was held to only 0.9 dB.