Sign ambiguity of accumulated chromatic dispersion estimated from intensity waveforms in a fiber optic communications link

摘要

The paper discusses uncertainty in estimation of sign of accumulated chromatic dispersion in an optical fiber communication link where the estimation is based on fitting a model of chromatic dispersion affected optical intensity waveforms to intensity measurement data. The uncertainty is characterized by probability of false readout of accumulated chromatic dispersion sign. Through extensive computations it is shown that despite the sign estimation in the method in question is in general ambiguous the chance for erroneous readout can be engineered to a desired level provided certain conditions are met. For the purpose of the characterization a theoretical model of sign false readout was developed and validated through combined measurements and simulations.