Dispersion-Managed Transmission Lines
with Reverse-Dispersion Fiberby Kazunori Mukasa *, Ryuichi Sugizaki *, Shuhei Hayami *2 and Satoru Ise *2

As a new-generation means to enable large-capacity wavelength division multiplexed transmission over long distances, Furukawa Electric has proposed links
consisting of a combination of conventional single-mode fibers (SMF) and reverse-dispersion
fibers (RDF). By optimizing the refractive index profile, it has been possible to produce RDFs thatgive substantially flat dispersion over a wide range of wavelengths, while maintaining low nonlinearity, low loss and low polarization mode dispersion (PMD). It has also been possible to fabricate a submarine unit of the currently-used tight-buffering type, and to confirm its satisfactory performance.

ABSTRACT1.

INTRODUCTION

Recent years have seen the full implementation of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology in longhaul submarine telecommunications, and dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) of various profiles has been used as thetransmission medium. Even with such DSF, however, it
has not been possible to realize the improvements interms of dispersion flatness over a wide range of wavelengths and the increases in Aeff required for suppressionof nonlinearity that will be needed to meet expecteddemand for long-haul, high bit-rate transmission.
A few years ago, in a program to upgrade existing 1300nm SMF lines, 1550-nm WDM transmission was begun
using dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF) modules.
These modules feature a dispersion slope compensation
technology that almost completely cancels dispersion overa wide range of wavelengths. Because of the strong
demand for compact design (the modules are installedinside the repeater stations) they were designed to provide maximum dispersion in a short length: i.e., by the useof fibers with an extremely high relative refractive index
difference (delta value) to achieve large negative dispersion. On the other hand they were heavily germaniumdoped, so that transmission loss and nonlinearity werehigh and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) deterioration
readily occurred.
Thus if DCF is used without modification for dispersionmanaged links, it can easily be connected with SMF toprovide flat dispersion, but transmission losses in the link
as a whole will be much higher than with conventional
DSF. There are also a number of problems that arise**2

Optical Fiber Development Center, Optical Fiber Div.
Engineering Sec., Chiba Fiber Production Dept., OpticalFiber Div.

when DCF is used in high-capacity WDM transmission,
including limitations on optical power input due to nonlinearity, and signal distortion due to high PMD.
In an effort to overcome these problems, the authors
investigated refractive index profiles and have developed
a link using RDF optimized for transmission lines. These
offer low loss, low nonlinearity and low PMD, yet keep thedispersion characteristic almost entirely flat. 1)-2) This paper
describes the profile design and transmission characteristics of the RDF, WDM transmission experiments, and thecharacteristics of prototype RDF units.

2.

RDF DESIGNIn large-capacity WDM transmission, it is necessary tominimize wavelength dispersion in the link over a wide
range of wavelengths. To realize a dispersion managed
link in which RDF and SMF are connected, the overall dispersion characteristic and dispersion slope of the linktaken as a whole are of greater importance than those of
the RDF alone. To evaluate the flatness of dispersion in
the link as a whole, a dispersion compensating rate R is in
general use, defined by the equation

R (%)=S RDF D RDF
DPS RDF
×100=
×100
/
S SMF D SMF
DPS SMF(1)

where:
S is slope,
D is dispersion, andDPS is dispersion divided by slope.
The closer the dispersion compensating rate is to 100%
the easier it is to realize a transmission link with zero dispersion over a wide range of wavelengths. Since the dispersion compensating rate is 100% only if the DPS of the5

Bending loss at φ 20 mm (dB/m)

50

∆1

∆2

a
b

-10

6.1

-20

5.9

-30

5.7

-40

5.5

-50

5.3

-60

5.1

-70

4.9

-80

4.7

-90

1.4

1.6

1.8

-100
2.0

Center core delta value ∆1 (%)

Figure 2

Relationship of dispersion and MFD to center core
relative refractive index difference

RDF and SMF are equal, DPS is widely used as an index
showing the dispersion compensation capacity of the fiberalone.
Since a dispersion-managed link is characterized by its
broadband dispersion compensation characteristics, themost important objective of RDF design is to have the dispersion compensating rate when connected with SMF
equal 100%, or in other words for its DPS to be equal tothat of the SMF. The W-shaped profile shown in Figure 1
has been most investigated in DCF design for several reasons: its structure is comparatively simple, it is easy tofabricate, and it achieves a dispersion compensating rateof close to 100%. 3)-5) The W-shaped profile was therefore
adopted for the RDF as well, and optimization was carriedout.
By optimizing W-profile parameters it is fully possible toachieve high dispersion compensation, but for high bitrate, large-capacity transmission an equally important
point is the suppression of signal distortion due to the nonlinear phenomena. One of these nonlinear phenomena--

6

R ∆ = -0.35

10

Figure 3

Dispersion (ps/nm/km)

MFD (µm)

W-shaped profile

6.3

1.2

20

0.35

0.45

0.55

Ra

0

1.0

R ∆ = -0.40
R ∆ = -0.30

0
0.25

6.5

4.5
0.8

R ∆ = -0.45

30

R∆ =∆ 2 /∆ 1

Ra=a /b

Figure 1

R ∆ = -0.50
40

Relationship of bending loss to Ra for selected values of R∆

four-wave mixing (FWM)--is conspicuous where local dispersion is small, and exerts a particularly strong influencein the vicinity of zero dispersion. Fibers like SMF and
DCF, however, have large local dispersion, and are therefore advantageous with respect to the suppression of
FWM.
Conventional DCF, on the other hand, inherently has asmall MFD and large center core delta value, so that it ishighly subject to waveform distortion due to self-phasemodulation (SPM) and cross-phase modulation (XPM).
This is a major difficulty when it comes to use in transmission lines. Waveform distortion caused by SPM and XPM(φNL) may be expressed by

φ NL =(n 2 /A eff )×L eff ×(P 1 +P 2 +P 3 +...+P n )(2)where:
n2 is the nonlinear refractive index,
Aeff is the effective core area,
n2/Aeff is the nonlinearity constant,
Leff is the effective length and
P is input optical power.
From Equation (2) it can be seen that the most effectivemeans of suppressing wavelength distortion is either toincrease Aeff (which is proportional to the square of MFD),
or to reduce n2 (which basically increases with the centercore delta value).
RDF is designed, through optimization of its refractive
index profile, to reduce nonlinearity. The center core delta
value (∆1) has an especially strong effect on nonlinearity,and this relationship is shown in Figure 2.
As can be seen from Figure 2, setting ∆1 at the low
side--say 1.0 to 1.2%--increases MFD and reduces thenonlinear refractive index, thereby achieving low nonlinearity. Generally, however, reducing ∆ 1 results in an
increase in bending loss so that center core shape, Ra
and R∆ were optimized, thereby preventing an increase inbending loss while maintaining a high compensating rate.
Figure 3 shows fluctuations in the bending loss characteristic at a dispersion compensating rate of 100% and varying values of Ra and R∆.

Furukawa Review, No. 19. 2000

Characteristics of prototype reverse-dispersion fiber

1.5

Typical value

Item

125.0±1.0

Cladding diameter (µm)
Cladding non-circularity (%)

0.1

Core concentricity error (µm)

0.1Transmission loss (dB/km) @ 1550 nm

0.24-20±5.0

Dispersion (ps/nm/km) @ 1550 nm

DSF

1.0
0.5

FF+RDF

0.0
-0.5
-1.0

DPS (nm) @ 1550 nm

350

-1.5

Dispersion compensating rate (%) @ 1550 nm

94

-2.0
1530

λ c (nm)820

MFD (µm) @ 1550 nm

5.6(µm2) @ 1550 nm

24Nonlinearity constant (1/W)

12.4x10-10

Aeff

Figure 4

0.07

Screening level>1.0%

Characteristics of positive-dispersion fibers
Dispersion

DPS

Loss

Aeff

(ps/nm/km)(nm)(dB/km)

(µm2)

SMF

16.6

286

0.195

75

CSF

18.5

308

0.189

83

FF

18.5

330

0.172

Type of fiber73
λ =1550 nm

Table 3

1550

1560

1570

1580

Wavelength (nm)_Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) (ps/√ km)

Table 2

1540

Wavelength dispersion characteristic of conventional
DSF and FF+RDF

1020-mm bend (dB/m) @ 1550 nm

Characteristics of transmission lines as a whole
Average loss

Dispersion slope(dB/km)(ps/nm2/km)

SMF+RDF

0.213

0.005

CSF+RDF

0.210

0.003

FF+RDF

0.201

0.001

DSF

0.215

0.070

Low-slope DSF

0.220

0.035
λ =1550 nm

3.

2.0

Dispersion (ps/nm/km)

Table 1FIBER CHARACTERISTICS

The fabrication of prototypes was then begun based on
the design described above. RDF was fabricated with arefractive index profile indicated by simulation results, by
establishing the optimum fabrication and drawing conditions. Table 1 shows the characteristics, demonstratingthat low loss and low PDM were achieved while maintaining an extremely high dispersion compensating rate. With
respect to the crucial characteristic of nonlinearity, a valueof approximately 12.4 x 10 -10 l/W was achieved--only
about 60% of the value for conventional DCF.

4.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRANSMISSION LINK USING RDF

The primary feature of RDF is that it can be used, in combination with positive-dispersion fiber, to configure links
having a flat dispersion characteristic. Thus RDF performance is determined by its overall characteristics in thetransmission link incorporating SMF. Accordingly evaluations of overall transmission line characteristics were carried out using Furukawa Electric's conventional SMF, germanium-doped cut-off shifted fiber (CSF), and fully fluorine-doped fiber (FF).
Table 2 shows the characteristics of positive-dispersion
fibers used as paired with RDF.
Table 3 shows the total loss and dispersion slope whenthe various fibers and RDF were connected at optimum
length. It can be seen that for each link, a flat dispersion
characteristic was obtained at extremely low loss.
Dispersion slope is about 0.07 ps/nm2/km for conventional DSF and that, even for much-studied DSF with
reduced dispersion slope, reaches only 0.03-0.04
ps/nm2/km. It is therefore noteworthy that for links combining positive dispersion fiber and RDF, values an order ofmagnitude lower were obtained.
Figure 4 compares the wavelength-dispersion characteristic for an FF+RDF link and conventional DSF. The
remarkable flatness of the characteristic demonstrates
conclusively the suitability of such links for broadband
WDM transmission. Although at longer wavelengths asmall negative slope can be discerned, this does not present a problem in actual use. It is also possible, for example, by using a fiber with a positive dispersion slope as adispersion compensator, to obtain perfect dispersion flatness even at longer wavelengths, making possible WDM
transmission using both the C and L bands. 6)
Just as important as dispersion flatness across wavelength, however, is the flatness of the wavelength-loss
characteristic (attenuation spectrum). Figure 5 shows theattenuation spectrum of FF+RDF, and it can be seen that
it is also flat.
Next let us examine nonlinearity. Although RDF offers
about 60% lower nonlinearity than conventional DCF used7

Table 4

0.30
0.29

Fusion splice loss between RDF and selected positive-dispersion fibers

Loss (dB/km)

0.28

Before improvement

0.27

After improvement

(dB)

(dB)

SMF

0.70

0.20

0.24

CSF

0.73

0.23

0.23

FF

0.65

0.17

0.26
0.25

0.22
0.21

25

0.20
1520

1530

1540

1550

1560

1570

1580

1590

Attenuation spectrum of FF+RDF

T

R

X

X

Optical Power (5 dB/div)

Figure 5

Electrical SNR (dB)

Wavelength (nm)BER=1x10-9

20

15
1542

1546

1550

1554

1558

λ (nm)

Figure 7

EDFA

Figure 6

SMF

RDF

EDFA

Typical WDM transmission link consisting of SMF
and RDFfor short lengths, the nonlinearity constant is still about anorder of magnitude greater than that of conventional SMF.
This is because the W-shaped profile used to obtain thenegative dispersion slope makes it much more difficult toincrease MFD than the conventional profile used for SMF.
Figure 6 shows a typical WDM transmission link consisting of a combination of SMF and RDF. SMF has extremely low nonlinearity, and to make effective use of this, it isdesirable to provide a pre-stage immediately after erbiumdoped fiber (EDF) amplification as shown in Figure 6, for
the injection of high power. As described above in Section
2 "RDF Design", signal distortion due to nonlinearity
occurs easily when input optical power is high. Optical signal strength is obviously greatest immediately after the
optical amplifier, after which it decreases exponentially
due to transmission loss in the pre-stage fiber (SMF in thissystem). Thus when the attenuated signal is then input tothe post-stage fiber, there is less tendency for signal distortion due to nonlinearity to occur, even in RDF having
highly nonlinear characteristics.
Further, when we consider a system consisting of different types of fibers, as described above, another point thatmust be taken into account is splice characteristics. The
greatest advantage of RDF is that its ∆1 is small while
MFD is larger than in conventional DCF, although only
about half the value of ordinary SMF. This means that8

Optical spectrum of a 10-Gbps x 16-ch x 9412-km
WDM transmission system using SMF and RDF 8)

connecting SMF and RDF poses a major problem. If ordinary fusion splicing is used, splice loss will reach 0.8-1.0
dB.
Accordingly the question of optimizing fusion conditions
so as to minimize splice loss was investigated, and thiswas accomplished by a state-of-the-art technique involving the use of thermal diffusion of the germanium layer.
Table 4 compares the fusion splice loss between RDF andselected positive-dispersion fibers before and after
improvement. It was thus confirmed that this improvement
made possible fusion splicing with loss levels of 0.30 dB
or less for all RDF-positive dispersion fiber combinations.
A variety of transmission experiments have been carriedout using links connecting one of the above positive-dispersion fibers and RDF. Outstanding transmission characteristics have been reported, and these links have showed
excellent promise for the achievement of higher bit-rates
and larger capacities for both WDM and TDM. 7)-9)
Figure 7 shows the optical spectrum of one of theexperiments for WDM transmission, demonstrating its feasibility for high bit-rate, large capacity transmission overlong distances.

5.

UNIT CHARACTERISTICS

As has been pointed out above, RDF is a cable-type dispersion compensating fiber, so that its characteristics after
cabling must be equivalent to conventional submarine
cable. Accordingly a prototype of the tight-buffering unit
used in Japan was fabricated and its characteristics evaluated.

Furukawa Review, No. 19. 2000

Loss fluctuation (dB/km)

0.03

Figure 8

Cross-section of prototype RDF unit

0

-0.03
-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Temperature (°C)

Table 5Results of environmental tests on RDF units

Test

Test conditions

Loss fluctuation

Temperature cycling-20~+50°C<±0.004 dB

Lateral force

0~50 N/cm<±0.002 dB

Water pressure

0~10 MPa/cm2<±0.01 dB

The fiber used in the evaluation had a coating diameterof 400 µm--as is currently used for submarine cables--andthe prototype unit consisted of 8 cores with an outer diameter of 2.5 mm (cross-section shown in Figure 8).
The RDF for this prototype had typical characteristics asshown in Table 1.
There was no difference between before and after unit
fabrication in any of the fibers with respect to any of thetest items--transmission loss, dispersion characteristics,
PMD, etc. As an environmental test for the RDF unit tocheck for fluctuation in characteristics under ambientchanges, the temperature-loss characteristic was evaluated, and lateral force and water pressure tests were also
carried out. 10) Table 5 shows the tests performed and theresults obtained. In all characteristics evaluated, performance was equivalent to ordinary submarine units. Figure
9 shows the temperature-loss characteristic. Lossdecreased at low temperatures and increased at elevatedtemperature, in the same way as for ordinary submarine
units, and the degree of change was equivalent to that ofconventional products. This demonstrates that RDF is fully
practicable for use in submarine cables.
While it is not possible to go into detail here, prototypes
were also fabricated for tape-slotted and loose-tube
cables, and were confirmed to have satisfactory characteristics.11)

6.

CONCLUSIONS

By optimizing the W-shaped profile, RDF with low nonlinearity, low loss and low PMD was developed for use incombination with SMF. It was also confirmed that by combining RDF with SMF or other positive-dispersion fibers it
was possible to configure transmission links having
extremely flat dispersion and low loss. Large numbers ofexperiments involving long-haul, large-capacity transmission in systems using such links have been reported, andtransmission characteristics have proved to be very good

Figure 9

Temperature-loss characteristic of RDF unit

indeed.
RDF unit characteristics were confirmed assuming use
as submarine cables, and excellent results obtained.

REFERENCES

1) K. Mukasa, Y. Akasaka, Y. Suzuki and T. Kamiya: Novel network fiber to manage dispersion at 1.55 µm with combination of
1.3 µm zero dispersion single mode fiber, Proceeding of
ECOC'97, (1997), MO3C-127
2) K. Mukasa, Y. Akasaka, and Y. Suzuki: Development of line
type low nonlinearity DFCF, Society Conference of IEICE,(1997) C-3-76 (in Japanese)
3) Y. Akasaka, R. Sugizaki, A. Umeda, I. Oshima and K. Kokura:
Dispersion-compensating fiber with W-shaped index profile,
OFC'95 Technical Digest, (1995) ThH3
4) R. Sugizaki, Y. Akasaka, S. Arai, K. Furukawa, Y. Suzuki, T.
Kamiya and H. Hondo: High-reliability dispersion compensatorusing negative slope DCF, IWCS'96, (1996) pp.888-891
5) Y. Akasaka, R. Sugizaki and T. Kamiya: Dispersion compensating technique of 1300nm zero-dispersion SM fiber to get flat
dispersion at 1550 nm range, Proceeding of ECOC'95, (1995)
We.B.2.4
6) K. Fukuchi, M. Kakui, A. Sasaki, T. Ito, Y. Inada, T. Tsuzaki, T.
Shitomi, K. Fujii, S. Shikii, H. Sugahara, A. Hasegawa: 1.1-Tb/s(55 x 20-Gb/s) dense WDM soliton transmission over 3,020-km
widely-dispersion-managed transmission line employing
1.55/1.58-µm hybrid repeaters, Proceeding of ECOC'99 (1999)
PD2-107) K. Yonenaga, A. Matsuura, S. Kuwahara, M. Yoneyama, Y.
Miyamoto and K. Hagimoto: Dispersion-compensation-free 40
Gbit/s x 4-channel WDM transmission experiment using zerodispersion-flattened transmission line, OFC'98 Technical Digest(1998), PD208) Murakami, Maeda and Imai: 16 x 10 Gb/s wavelength-multiplexed long distance transmission based on higher-order fiber
dispersion management, Society Conference of IEICE, (1998)
B-10-167 (in Japanese)
9) T. Yamamoto, E. Yoshida, K.R. Tamura and M. Nakazawa:
Single-channel 640 Gbit/s TDM transmission over 100 km,
Proceeding of ECOC'99 (1999) We C1.4
10) Edited by Oyama and Kuwabara: Optical submarine cables communication, KEC (1991), 81 (in Japanese)11) M. Morimoto, I. Kobayashi, H. Hiramatsu, K. Mukasa, R.
Sugizaki, Y. Suzuki, Y. Kamikura: Development of Dispersion
Compensation Cable Using Reverse Dispersion Fiber,
Proceedings of APCC/OECC'99 (1999) C6.8 pp.1590-1593
Manuscript received on November 9, 1999.

9