Impact of crosstalk in all optical networks

摘要

All optical networks have emerged as a solution to constantly increasing throughput demands. Here, optical data are transmitted over long distances without the need for optical-electrical-optical conversion. The major limitation with all optical networks is crosstalk, which results from the leakage of signals routed in optical switches with the desired signal. Optical components such as cross-connectors, routers, and add-drop multiplexers are prone to crosstalk. Intra-channel crosstalk results from the leakage of signals with the same wavelength as the transmitted signal. Furthermore, crosstalk can also be classified as coherent and incoherent depending on the laser phase noise of the signal and interferers. Inter-channel crosstalk occurs when both the transmitted signal and interferers have different wavelengths. Routing and adding-dropping signals in optical networks are a key factor to get high flexibility and transparency of the system. The effect of crosstalk in optical components is explained in this paper and, in particular, optical crosstalk regarding cross connectors and add-drop multiplexers is presented. An improved expression for Bit Error Rate as a function of input power is proposed