System and process for transmitting optical soliton pulse signals through an optical fiber line

Abstract: The invention relates to an optical soliton transmission system and a process for transmitting optical soliton pulse signals in such a system at a predetermined transmission speed. The system comprises at least one source (1, 2, 3, 4; 28a-28d; 29) of optical soliton pulse signals having a wavelength in a predetermined transmission wavelength band and an optical fibre line (9, 42a-e) into which said signals are launched. The optical-fibre line (9, 42a-e) comprises an optical fibre (9, 42a-e) having a chromatic dispersion increasing with the wavelength wherein said chromatic dispersion exhibits a nominal zero value at a wavelength of greater than 1500 nm and smaller than 1600 nm and lower than the minimum wavelength of said transmission band by such an amount that no local zero value of chromatic dispersion, present in the optical fibre and capable of generating a spectral modification of said optical soliton pulse signals, is included in said transmission band.

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical soliton transmission system and a process for transmitting optical soliton pulse signals at a predetermined transmission speed through an optical fibre line including an optical fibre. In such a system, pulses of a specific power and width are launched into the fibre and propagate as so-called solitons through the fibre with a predetermined shape. Typically, in such a non-linear transmission system the refractive index is changed non-linearly dependent on the power of the launched pulse and the predetermined soliton shape is maintained during propagation if the widening of the pulse due to the chromatic dispersion phenomenon is counterbalanced by the non-linear change of the refractive index. The present application has been divided from Application EP -A-0 717 515. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Generally, in linear and non-linear transmission systems in the most recent telecommunication engineering, it is known the use of optical fibres for sending optical signals of predetermined frequency carrying the information to be remotely communicated. It is also known that the luminous signal sent through an optical fibre undergoes an attenuation during its travel making it necessary to carry out amplifications by means of respective amplifiers disposed at predetermined intervals along the line. For the above purpose, optical amplifiers are conveniently used, by which the signal is amplified while remaining in an optical form, that is in the absence of a detection and regeneration of same. Said optical amplifiers are based on the properties of a fluorescent dopant, such as erbium for example, which, when suitably excited by administration of luminous pumping energy, has a high emission in the wavelength band corresponding to the band of minimum attenuation of the light in the silica-based optical fibres. The optical fibres used for transmission have a chromatic dispersion due to the combination of the features of the material forming them and the features of the refractive index profile, which varies with the wavelength of the transmitted signal and goes to zero at a given value of the wavelength itself. This chromatic-dispersion phenomenon substantially consists of a widening in the duration of the pulses forming the signal during the travel of same through the fibre, which widening is due to the fact that the different chromatic components of each pulse characterized each by its own wavelength, travel in the fibre at different speeds. Following said widening, temporally successive pulses which are well distinct at the emission, can be partially overlapped at the reception, after their travel through the fibre, and they may even be no longer distinguishable as separated values, causing an error in the reception. Fibres of the so-called "Step Index" (or SI) possess such optical features that the chromatic dispersion goes to zero at a wavelength value of about 1300 nm. Therefore SI fibres at wavelengths close to 1500 nm used for telecommunication have an important value of chromatic dispersion capable of constituting a limit to the transmission speed, that is to the possibility of sending a high number of successive pulses in the predetermined unit time without incurring errors at the reception. Also known are the so-called dispersion shifted fibres or DS fibres (that is fibres in which the zero point of the chromatic dispersion is shifted), which substantially are fibres the optical features of which are suitably drawn so as to bring the zero point of the chromatic dispersion to a wavelength value in the range of 1500 to 1600 nm, commonly used for telecommunications. Fibres of this type are defined in the ITU-T G.653 Recommendation of March 1993, in which the chromatic dispersion of the fibre is provided to nominally go to zero at a λo wavelength value of 1550 nm, with a tolerance of 50 nm with respect to the this value. These fibres are available for example from Corning N.Y. (USA) under the trade name SMF/DS (Registered Trademark) and from Fibre Ottiche Sud S.p.A., Battipaglia (IT) under the trade name SM DS. Fibres of the above type are also described in Patents US 4,715,679, US 4,822,399, US 4,755,022, for example. It is also known that the requirement of sending increasingly greater amounts of information over the same transmission line has lead to the necessity to send more transmission channels over the same line, by a so-called "Wavelength Division Multiplexing (or WDM) process according to which more channels consisting of analog or digital signals are simultaneous sent over the line consisting of a single optical fibre and said channels are distinguished from each other in that each of them is associated with its own wavelength in the employed transmission band. This technique enables the number of the transmitted pieces of information per unit time to be increased, said pieces of information being distributed among several channels, the transmission speed on each channel being the same. It has been found however, that a WDM transmission through said dispersion-shifted single-mode optical fibres gives rise to an intermodulation phenomenon between the channels, known as "Four Wave Mixing" or FWM. This phenomenon consists in that, in general, the presence of three optical signals in the fibre gives rise to a fourth signal which can overlap the others, thereby reducing the system performances. This phenomenon is described for example in JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 8, No. 9, September 1990, Pages 1402 , 108; the effect is due to non-linear third-order phenomena than can become very strong due to the high field intensity in the fibre core and at the high interaction lengths between the signals. In greater detail, the same publication points out that, for a particular optical fibre, the greatest generation efficiency of the fourth wave (that is the noise effect in the system) is reduced by increasing the differences between the signal frequencies, the chromatic dispersion or the transmission length, due to the increased phase shift between the signals. In the case in which the optical fibre is a low-chromatic dispersion fibre (the above described DS fibre, for example) and has a small efficient area of interaction between the optical frequencies (single-mode fibre), the non-linearity resulting from generation of the fourth wave can become a limit to transmission, in that the intermodulation products can fall within the receiving band giving rise to a noise source. The solution proposed in the above mentioned publication for planning WDM systems consists in considering the distance between the wavelengths of the different channels and the signal powers. EP 0 626 768 A1 discloses a high capacity optical fiber network operative with wavelength division multiplexing. The invention therein reflects the observation that four photon mixing is a relevant mechanism which must be considered in the design of contemplated WDM systems. Enhanced signal capacity is due to fiber-path design which avoids four photon mixing as the capacity limitation. The document teaches that spans of WDM optical fiber communication systems may be made up of fiber having a chromatic dispersion with an absolute value in the range 1.5-4ps/nm-km. From US 5,327,516 an optical fibre for WDM telecommunication systems is known which has an absolute value of the mean chromatic dispersion at 1550 nm included in a range between 1.5 and 4 ps/(nm.km) and a slope of the lower dispersion curve at 0.15 ps/(nm 2 .km) in a fibre portion not shorter than 2.2 km; as made clear in the text (column 3, lines 1 , 5), these features of the optical fibre substantially introduce a small degree of linear dispersion which produces a phase shift between the optical channels which is sufficient to avoid the above described non-linearity effects. No reference is made in US 5,327,516 to any "local" zero value of chromatic dispersion (different from the average zero value of the fiber, determined for a fiber length of at least 2.2. km), nor to the possibility that any of such "local" zero values may fall within the transmission wavelength band, thereby causing a four wave mixing phenomenon. A paper by Miyata et al., Denshi Joho Tsushin Gakkai Gijutsu Kenkyu Hokoku (Technical Report of the IEICE, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers), 1994-03, Vol. 93, No. 502 (OCS93-73), pp. 13-18, discloses a study in which the effect of FWM (FWM: Four Wave Mixing) during a four-wave WDM transmission was evaluated by a numerical analysis on the assumption that the dispersion distribution of a DSF (dispersion shifted fiber) in the longitudinal direction is a Gaussian distribution. As a result, it was found that the FWM effect depends to a large extent on the value of the zero-dispersion wavelength close to the transmitting side and that the median value of the distribution must be set further apart from the signal bandwidth as the standard deviation of the distribution increases and the channel spacing decreases. Design guidelines were obtained for the dispersion distribution of the DSF in a WDM transmission system. On the basis of these guidelines, it is suggested that a channel spacing of 1 nm is difficult to sustain at regular intervals for the parameters used in the computation. JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 10, No. 11, November 1992, pages 1553 , 1561 reports the existence of another condition at which the efficiency of the fourth-wave generation becomes maximum and points out that it occurs when two of the three optical carriers have wavelengths symmetric with each other with respect to a wavelength of zero dispersion, or when one optical carrier has the same wavelength as the wavelength bringing the dispersion to zero. The same publication mentions the fact that, for disturbance in the line created during the fibre manufacturing process, the wavelength value bringing the dispersion to zero fluctuates along the fibre length; from experiments conducted by varying the luminous pump frequency about the zero dispersion wavelength, together with a test signal at a fixed wavelength of 1557.7 nm, the author has detected different peak values for 2.5 km long fibre portions drawn from a sole preform. This means that the wavelength of zero chromatic dispersion in each of the tested fibres was different even if the fibres have been spun from the same preform. The difference between the detected zero dispersion frequencies is in the order of 100 GHz (corresponding to 0.8 nm wavelength); with 10 km long fibres a quick reduction in the FWM efficiency is pointed out with the increase of the distance between the channel frequencies. As a consequence of the above results, said publication concludes that the manufacture of a uniform fibre is necessary in order that one may be able to operate in a wider wavelength range. JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 1, No. 10, October 1993, pages 1615 , 1621 reports a method and a fibre arrangement capable of eliminating noises resulting from the non-linearity of the transmission system by the use as the transmitting fibre, of speed dispersion fibres of the "normal" group (D<0) and by introducing a short fibre portion of "anomalous" dispersion (D>0) in order to bring the dispersion to zero again over the whole length included between two repeaters; this publication takes into account the case of FWM phenomena between optical channel and amplified spontaneous emission, in single-channel and very long-distance systems. Applicant has found that, for reducing the noise effects due to FWM in a multiwavelength transmission system it is not sufficient to have fibres the nominal (or average) chromatic dispersion value of which is not zero in the transmission signal band, but it is also necessary that the nominal (or average) chromatic dispersion of the fibre becomes zero at a wavelength value which is lower than and sufficiently far from the minimum wavelength value provided for transmission. In addition, Applicant has found that, for increasing the maximum transmission distance, without undergoing penalties from FWM, it is necessary to correspondingly increase the distance between the wavelength value bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero and the minimum wavelength of the transmission channels. Further, Applicant has found that the optical fibres used for transmission can be such selected that the (average) zero value of the chromatic dispersion in the fibres is sufficiently far from the band used for WDM transmission to prevent portions of important length of said fibres from having a local zero value of the chromatic dispersion falling within said transmission band. Working with 980 nm pumped amplifiers, Applicant has observed that the transmission band could extend until about 1530 nm and it was found that the problem was linked not only to the maximum value, but also to the local zero value of the dispersion. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide an optical soliton transmission system and a process for transmitting optical soliton pulse signals at a predetermined speed through such a system under non-linear propagation such that a perturbance of the soliton pulse propagation, in particular an increase of the soliton spectral width as a result of chromatic dispersion effects, during propagation, is minimized. According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an optical soliton transmission system, comprising at least one source of optical soliton pulse signals having a wavelength in a predetermined transmission wavelength band; an optical fibre line into which said signals are launched; and a receiving means for receiving said optical soliton pulse signals from said optical fibre line, characterized in that said optical-fibre line comprises an optical fibre having chromatic dispersion values between 0.7 and 3 ps/nm.km over a transmission wavelength range between 1530 and 1560 nm, the slope of the chromatic dispersion curve being between 0.06 and 0.08 or 0.11 ps/nm 2 .km at an intermediate value of said range comprising a wavelength of 1550 nm, a wavelength of 1520 nm representing the local zero of nominal chromatic dispersion, the width of the wavelength distribution around the local zero being 20 nm, the efficient area being 50-60µm 2 and the transmitted optical signals being separated in wavelength by substantially 0.4nm. Preferably, at least one optical amplifier is coupled into said optical fibre to amplify said optical soliton pulse signals, and said wavelength of said optical soliton pulse signals is in a transmission band included in an amplification band of said optical amplifier. Preferably, said optical amplifier is an erbium doped fibre amplifier. Preferably, at least four optical amplifiers are inserted into said optical line. Preferably, said optical fibre has a length of at least 5 km. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a process for transmitting optical soliton pulse signals at a predetermined transmission speed, comprising the following steps: generating optical soliton pulse signals having a wavelength in a predetermined transmission wavelength band; feeding said soliton pulse signals to an optical fibre line; and receiving said transmitted optical soliton pulse signals through a receiver, characterized in that said optical fibre line comprises an optical fibre having chromatic dispersion values between 0.7 and 3 ps/nm.km over a transmission wavelength range between 1530 and 1560 nm, the slope of the chromatic dispersion curve being between 0.06 and 0.08 or 0.11 ps/nm 2 .km at an intermediate value of said range comprising a wavelength of 1550 nm, a wavelength of 1520 nm representing the local zero of nominal chromatic dispersion, the width of the wavelength distribution around the local zero being 20 nm, the efficient area being 50-60µm 2 and the transmitted optical signals being separated in wavelength by substantially 0.4nm. Preferably, said optical soliton pulse signals are amplified by at least one optical amplifier. Preferably, the predetermined transmission speed is higher than or equal to 10 Gbit/s. Preferably, said optical soliton signals are amplified with four optical amplifiers. Preferably, said optical amplifier is an erbium-doped optical amplifier. Preferably, said optical soliton pulse signals are transmitted over a distance of at least 5 km. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS More details will become apparent from the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an experimental transmitting apparatus; Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the BER (Bit Error Rate) curves measured for different S/N values depending on the power at the reception in a transmission test with the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows the spectrum detected in a four-channel transmission test, with the apparatus of Fig. 1 and a commercial DS fibre; Fig. 4 shows the diagram of a test apparatus for observing the FWM effects in a single fibre; Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the detected FWM efficiency on a commercial 5 km long DS fibre; Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the detected FWM efficiency on a commercial 60 km long DS fibre; Fig. 8 is a diagram showing the detected FWM efficiency on a different commercial 60 km long DS fibre; Fig. 9 is a diagram showing the simulated-FWM efficiency for the fibre shown in Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a calculated diagram of the maximum admissible powers per channel in an 8-channel amplified transmission system, with 100 km long portions, using fibres of the DS type having local λo values distributed among various areas of the spectrum; Fig. 11 shows the detected spectrum using the apparatus of Fig. 1, and a special fibre of Application EP-A-0 717 515. Fig. 12 shows the refractive index profile of the fibre of the spectrum shown in Fig. 11; Fig. 13 shows the fibre dispersion curve of the spectrum in Fig. 11; Fig. 14 depicts an example of an optical transmission system; Fig. 15 depicts an example of an interfacing unit adapted to the system of Fig. 14; Fig. 16 is a diagram of a line amplifier. Whereas the present application relates to optical soliton transmission and has been divided from Application EP-A-0 717 515 , which is related rather to four-wave-mixing and employs a special fibre, it is appropriate to consider the same experiments as in EP-A-0 717 515 for understanding of the present invention. EXPERIMENT 1 An experimental apparatus for detecting four wave mixing (FWM) phenomena in an amplified transmission system and for evaluating the resulting noise effect in the transmission is shown in Fig. 1. This apparatus comprised an externally-modulated laser 1, having a fixed wavelength of 1557 nm; two lasers 2, 3 of a wavelength varying within the range of 1530-1560 nm and an externally-modulated laser 4 of a fixed 1550 nm wavelength; in experiment 1 laser 4 was inactive. Lasers 1, 4 consisted of interfacing devices available from the applicant under the trade name TXT-EM, system T31. Lasers 2, 3 consisted of external-cavity lasers (ECL), model TSL-80™ produced by SANTEC, Micom Valley Thkadai, Kamisue, Komaki, Aichi 485 (JP) and model HP81678A™ produced by HEWLETT PACKARD COMPANY, Rockwell, MD (USA), respectively. Signals generated by lasers 2, 3 of variable wavelength are sent to polarization controllers 5 and attenuators 6, for channel balancing. The polarization controllers 5 consisted each of two elements formed of optical fibre coils, type SM, with a diameter of about 20 to 40 mm, swinging about an axis to maximize the polarizing alignment of the different channels. The three generated carriers are sent to the inlets of a passive optical combiner 1x4 7, by which signals are combined in a single output optical fibre. The adopted combiner was a melted-fibre combiner, model 1x4 SMTC-0104-1550-A-H™ commercialized by E-TEK DYNAMICS INC., 1885 Lundy Ave, San Jose, CA (USA). Signals were fed to a booster 8 and from the booster to an optical line comprising four optical fibre portions 9, each of them being 60 km long, and having three optical line amplifiers 10 interposed therebetween. A pre-amplifier 11 was connected to the end of the last optical fibre portion. The pre-amplifier 11 outlet was connected, through a Fabry-Perot filter 12, to a termination 13 (Philips SDH at 2.5 Gb/s) provided with an error measuring (BER) apparatus 14 and, alternatively to an optical spectrum analyzer 15, of the monochromator type, model MS9030A/MS9701B™, produced by ANRITSU CORPORATION, 5-10-27 Minato-ku, Tokyo (JA). The overall powers sent from the line amplifiers to the individual optical fibre portions were about 13 dBm; the equivalent fibre lengths were about 23 dB (part of the attenuation was introduced through attenuators 16). Booster 8 was a TPA/E-MW model produced by the Applicant. Line amplifiers 10 were a OLA/E-MW model, produced by the Applicant; a more detailed description of the line amplifiers is given in the following. Pre-amplifier 11 was a RPA/E-MW Model, available from the Applicant. The optical fibres 9 used in experiment 1 were dispersion shifted fibres SM-DS produced by FOS, having the following nominal features: Wavelength for bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero λo = 1540 nm; Chromatic dispersion at 1550 nm Dc = 1ps/(nm.km) Slope of the chromatic dispersion curve Dc' = 0.11 ps/(nm 2 .km) Mode diameter MFD = 8.1 µm Cutoff wavelength (LP11 cut-off) λc = 1230 nm. The unitary chromatic dispersion of the fibre was measured following the phase shift technique, according to Recommendation ITU-T G.650 of March 1993 (the adopted fibre length for measurement was 1 to 2 km). By first operating the variable-wavelength lasers 2, 3 and detecting the reception spectrum, a product of considerable FWM was found when one of the external-cavity lasers (2) had been positioned at 1554 nm whereas the other (3) had been kept at 1548 nm. Then the external-cavity laser 2 was maintained to the above wavelength and the other external-cavity laser was moved to 1550.37 nm, so that the FWM intermodulation product could be at a 1557 nm fixed wavelength of the external-modulation laser 1; the spectrum thus obtained is shown in Fig. 5. Under the above conditions, laser 1 was then turned on and connected to the line termination 13 at 2.5 Gb/s, thereby creating a case of complete overlapping between the signal and the FWM intermodulation product, in order to measure the noise amount generated by same. Through filter 12 the BER level was measured so as to check the penalty due to crosstalk with different values of the signal/noise (N/S) ratio, obtained by varying the power values of the input signal, acting on the relative attenuator 6; the obtained result is shown in Fig. 2, reproducing the BER curves 17, 18, 19 detected under conditions in which S/N = 14.7 dB, 13.3 dB and 11 dB respectively, whereas curve 20 was detected in the absence of FWM, as described in the following experiment 8. As can be viewed from Fig. 2, with a S/N ratio = 14.7 dB, at a BER of 10 -9 , the presence of the FWM peak gives origin to a penalty of about 0.8 dB with respect to the case of FWM absence. Crosstalks between curves with S/N = 14.7 and S/N = 13.3 dB are deemed to be caused by FWM swingings due to a variation in the polarization state of the signals during measurement. Should the two carriers generating the FWM carry an SDH frame too at 2.5 Gb/s, even a greater penalty can be expected. EXPERIMENT 2 Using the experimental apparatus described above and shown in Fig. 1, a transmission test was also carried out when in addition to the above three carriers there is a fourth carrier generated by laser 4 at 1550 nm and the receiving spectrum shown in Fig. 3 was detected. In this case one can see that the spectrum contains several peaks, in addition to the signals, due to the FWM effects given by the combination of the cases in which there is one carrier on λo, two carriers symmetric to λo, two carriers having close frequencies. EXPERIMENT 3 In order to examine the effects given by the fibres used for transmission on the FWM phenomenon, a simplified experimental apparatus was prepared, as shown in Fig. 4, formed of an external-cavity laser 1, for generating a fixed-wavelength optical carrier and an external-cavity laser 2 for generating a variable-wavelength optical carrier; the output fibres from both lasers are fed to an optical coupler 21; at the laser 2 outlet there was the polarization controller 5 and attenuator 6 for balancing the optical powers between the two channels. At the optical coupler 21 outlet there was a booster 22, connected to one end of an optical transmission fibre 23 terminating at the entry of the spectrum analyzer 15. The optical coupler 21 was a fused-fibre coupler model 1x2 produced by the above E-TEK. Booster 22 was an AMPLIPHOS (Registered Trademark) model, produced and commercialized by the Applicant, having a saturation power of + 15 dBm. Lasers 1 and 2 were the same ECL lasers of Experiment 1, already described and produced by SANTEC and HEWLETT-PACKARD, respectively; the wavelength of laser 1 was fixed to λ = 1556.54 nm. The spectrum analyzer 15 was the already described monochromator ANRITSU. The optical fibre used in the test was a SM-DS FOS fibre and it was 5 km long. The wavelength generated by laser 2 was caused to vary with steps of 0.1 nm each. The graph shown in Fig. 6 was obtained with the spectrum analyzer 15; it shows the standardized efficiency E = P FWM /P FWM max for generating peak f221 of FWM with a fixed wavelength channel, on varying of the wavelength of the second channel. In particular, in the range included between 1544 and 1547 nm two efficiency maxima were for example detected and they are deemed to be due to the presence of two different λo values in the fibre, at 1544.85 and 1545.55 nm, respectively. EXPERIMENT 4 Following the same modalities as in Experiment 3, but using a 60 km long fibre, another experiment was conducted. Shown in Fig. 7 is the measurement result of power P of the f221 FWM peak on the fibre having a length L = 60 km, obtained with a 1545.2 nm fixed wavelength laser and a variable laser varying with steps of 0.1 nm each in a range included between 1550 and 1557 n. The power measurement is standardized at optical carriers of 1 mW input power, according to the relation P FWM (standard) = P FWM Pin 1 . Pin 2 2 wherein Pin 1 , Pin 2 are power values of the optical input carriers. From the graph one can see the existence of several FWM efficiency peaks that have been given to different λo values locally present along the fibre. EXPERIMENT 5 The same modalities as in Experiment 4 were applied to another experiment carried out using an ECL laser having a 1525 nm fixed wavelength and an ECL laser of variable wavelength, connected to a commercial DS fibre produced by FOS, having the following features: Wavelength bringing the (nominal) chromatic dispersion to zero λo = 1525 nm; Chromatic dispersion at 1550 nm Dc = 3 ps/(nm.km) Slope of the chromatic dispersion curve Dc'= 0.12 ps/(nm 2 .km) Length L = 60 km Fig. 8 shows the power of the FWM peaks P FWM , standardized at Pin = 1 mW, in the band included between 1527 and 1539 nm. This experiment shows that the fibre has FWM efficiency peaks attributable to the presence of several λo values distributed in the 1527 to 1539 nm band, although its nominal λo is at a different (1525 nm) wavelength. EXPERIMENT 6 A simulation test based on a numeral value described in JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 10, No. 11, November 1992, pages 1553-1561, was conducted by simulating an optical transmission fibre similar to the one measured in the preceding experiment, and formed of 30 segments, each of them having a λo value randomly distributed between 1527 and 1539 nm (the same band as that in which FWM peaks attributed to local λo, had been experimentally observed). The calculation data of the fibre was: attenuation α = 0.28 dB/km index of refraction of glass n = 1.45 mode diameter MFD = 8 mm non-linear susceptibility of the third order χ 1111 = 4.26.10 -14 m 3 /J Slope of the chromatic dispersion curve Dc' = 0.12 ps/(nm 2 .km) Length L = 60 km The calculated standardized power of the FWM peaks P FWM at the different wavelengths 1 is shown in Fig. 9. From a comparison between Figs. 8 and 9 a profile of FWM peaks is detected which is quite similar in terms of quality to the peak experimentally detected with a single optical fibre of the commercial type. Such a result makes one think that a distribution of the type assumed for simulation gives results quite similar to those detectable through experiments in the real fibre (in the examined wavelength band). EXPERIMENT 7 Using the same algorithm as above stated, a simulation of an amplified optical line was executed. It consisted of N portions of optical DS fibre, each having a length of 100 km and it was simulated as shown in Experiment 6, related amplifiers being interposed in order to compensate for attenuation, in a system comprising 8 channels spaced apart the same distance from each other, between 1530 and 1545 nm. Curves shown in Fig. 10 represent the maximum transmissible power P for each channel with a S/N ratio ≥ 20 dB, depending on the N number of optical fibre portions and related amplifiers. Curves 24, 25, 26, 27 respectively correspond to fibre simulations having λo values included between 1527 and 1537 nm, 1520 and 1530 nm, 1516 and 1526 nm, and 1512 and 1522 nm. As shown in the figure, with a fibre having λo values included between 1527 and 1537 nm it is not possible, already after one or two fibre portions, to observe the required S/N level without the maximum power going under 2 -3 mW per channel; also with a fibre having λo values included between 1520 and 1530 nm it appears to be impossible to make more than four DS fibre portions each of them being 100 km long and having the related amplifiers interposed, without the maximum transmissible power going under 5 mW/channel. It should be noted that the presence of noise due to spontaneous emission (ASE) in the amplified optical lines imposes, on the other hand, that the transmitted power level be kept sufficiently high in order not to penalize the S/N ratio and this requirement increases with the increasing of the number of amplifiers present; just as an indication, for a system having 6 amplifiers and 100 km long fibre portions at least 3 - 6 mW per channel are required in order not to have important penalties due to ASE 8 (at 2.5 Gb/s). EXPERIMENT 8 A new test was made using the experimental apparatus shown in Fig. 1, in which the commercial DS fibre of Experiment 1 was replaced with a DS fibre having the following features. Wavelength bringing the (nominal) chromatic dispersion to zero λo = 1520 nm; Distribution at 3σ = ± 10 nm Chromatic dispersion between 1530 and 1560 nm Dc = 0.7 to 3 ps/(nm.km) Slope of the chromatic dispersion curve (at 1550 nm) Dc'= 0.11 ps/(nm 2 .km) Efficient area A eff = 50 - 60 µm 2 . The spectrum at reception under the above conditions is shown in Fig. 11, whereas the BER curve measured under the above conditions is curve 20 in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 11, no important FWM peaks appear and the curve of Fig. 2 shows that, with BER of 10 -9 , a power at reception until about -33.3 dBm can be accepted, which power is greatly lower than that required for the same BER level with known fibres. Based on the experiments and simulations carried out, the noise phenomena in the optical fibres of DS type known in the art, due to mixing between the channels, are deemed to result from the fact that said fibres have a wavelength value bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero that does not keep constant in the optical fibre length, even if spun from the same preform, said value being on the contrary subjected to local variations of a far greater amount than stated in the literature, and that these variations are of such an amount that in some fibre portions the local λo value falls within the work band of said erbium-doped amplifiers, so that the transmitted channels are lead to interact with each other and give origin to the observed mixing phenomena. It is therefore possible to make an optical fibre having a shifted zero point of the chromatic dispersion which is adapted to eliminate the non-linearity phenomena due to the FWM and in particular due to the non-linearity of the average index of refraction of the fibre, in connection with signals of high power and high speed. In particular, a fibre having the following features: (nominal) λo = 1520 nm distribution at 3σ = ± 10 nm slope of the dispersion curve at 1550 nm Dc' = 0.06 - 0,08 ps/(nm 2 .km) chromatic dispersion between 1530 and 1560 nm Dc = 0.7 - 3 ps/(nm.km) Efficient area = 50 - 60 µm 2 . Respectively shown in Figs. 12 and 13 is the diagram of the refractive index profile and the chromatic dispersion curve of the optical fibre of Experiment 8. The dispersion curve is substantially linear in the interval between 1200 and 1700 nm. The profile of the refraction index is of the "segmented-core" type. The same results are deemed to be achieved also with fibres of different profiles, obtained following various techniques, well known in the art, such as OVD, MCVD, VAD, provided that the wavelength bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero is selected from the stated ranges. Applicant thus found that it is possible to make an optical-fibre transmission line for a WDM transmission of data at high power and speed in which there is generation of FWM phenomena due to the non-linearity of the refractive index of the used optical fibre and over long distances, the related amplifiers being included, even if optical fibres of the DS type are used, that is fibres having a chromatic dispersion lower than 3 ps/(nm.km) and therefore capable of eliminating or reducing the temporal-widening phenomena of the transmitted pulses. An example of a multichannel WDM telecommunication system is shown in the accompanying figures 14 to 16 and it provides several sources of optical origin signals, four in the example shown, 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, each of said signals, named "external signals" possessing its own transmission features, such as wavelength, type of modulation, power. The signals generated from these sources are fed to a transmission station 29, each of them being sent to a respective interfacing unit 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, adapted to receive the external optical origin signals, to detect them and regenerate them, giving them new features adapted to the transmission system. In particular, said interfacing units generate respective optical work signals of wavelengths λ1, λ2, λ3, λ4 included in the useful work band of the amplifiers disposed in succession in the system. In Patent US 5,267,073 of the same Applicant interfacing units are described which in particular comprise a transmission adapter, adapted to convert an optical input signal to a form suitable to the optical transmission line, and a reception adapter adapted to reconvert the transmitted signal to a form suitable to the receiving unit. For use in the example system, the transmission adapter preferably comprises as the laser generating an output signal, a laser of the external modulation type. A diagram of an interfacing transmission unit, of the type adapted for use in the example system is shown in Fig. 15, in which, for clarity purposes, optical connections are represented in solid line and electrical connections are represented in dotted line. The optical signal from one of sources 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, source 28a for example as shown, is received by a photodetector (photodiode) 31, emitting an electric signal which is fed to an electronic amplifier 32. The outgoing electric signal from amplifier 32 is fed to a piloting circuit 33 of a modulated laser emitter, generally identified by 34, adapted to generate an optical signal at the selected wavelength, containing the information of the incoming signal. Conveniently a circuit 35 for admitting a service channel is further connected to the piloting circuit 33. The modulated laser emitter 35 comprises a laser 36 and an external modulator 37, of the Mach-Zender type for example, piloted by the signal coming out of circuit 33. A circuit 38 controls the length of the emission wave of laser 36 keeping it constant to the preselected value and compensating for possible external perturbations such as temperature and the like. Interfacing units of the type indicated for reception are described in the above patent and put on the market by the Applicant, under the trade name TXT/E-EM. Said optical work signals are therefore fed to a signal combiner 39, adapted to simultaneous send the work signals at the wavelengths λ1, λ2, λ3, λ4 over a single optical output fibre 40. In general, the signal combiner 39 is a passive optical device by which the optical signals transmitted on respective optical fibres are coupled in a single fibre; devices of this type consist for example of fused-fibre couplers in planar optics, microoptics and the like. By way of example, an appropriate combiner is a combiner 1x4 SMTC-0104-1550-A-H™ put on the market by E-TEX DYNAMICS INC., 1885 Lundy Ave, San Jose, CA (USA). Through fibre 40 said work signals, referred to in the following as S1, S2, S3, S4, are sent to a booster 41 that raises the level of said signals until a value sufficient to enable them to travel over the subsequent optical fibre portion before new amplifying means is reached, keeping at the end a sufficient power level to ensure the required transmissive quality. Therefore, a first portion 42a of optical fibre is connected to the amplifier 41 and it usually consists of a single-mode optical fibre of the step index type, inserted in an appropriate optical cable which is some ten (or hundred) km long, 100 km long for example. At the end of said first portion 42a of optical line there is a first line amplifier 43a adapted to receive the signals, attenuated in the fibre path, and to amplify them until a level sufficient to enable them to be fed to a second optical fibre portion 42b of same features as the preceding one. Subsequent line amplifiers 43b, 43c, 43d and respective optical fibre portions 42c, 42d, 42e cover the required overall transmission distance until they reach a receiving station 44 comprising a pre-amplifier 45 adapted to receive the signals and amplify them compensating for the loss due to the following demultiplexing apparatus, until a power level adapted to the sensitivity of the receiving devices. From pre-amplifier 45 the signals are sent to a demultiplexer 46 through which they are separated depending on the relative wavelengths, and then sent to the interfacing units 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d, adapted to receive the optical signals having the characteristics suitable for the transmission system and to regenerate them to the optical origin characteristics or other characteristics, at all events adapted to the respective receiving apparatus 48a, 48b, 48c, 48d. Demultiplexer 46 is a device adapted to distribute among several output fibres, the optical signals fed to an input fibre, separating them depending on the respective wavelengths; this demultiplexer may consist of a fused-fibre divider dividing the input signal into signals on several output fibres, in particular four, each of said signals being fed to a respective bandpass filter centered on each of the wavelengths of interest. For example, a component identical to the already described signal combiner 39 may be used, the same being mounted in an opposite configuration, combined with respective bandpass filters. Bandpass filters of the stated type are for example available from MICRON-OPTICS, INC., 2801 Buford Hwy, Suite 140, Atlanta, Georgia, US; an appropriate model is FFP-100™. The described configuration gives particularly satisfactory results for transmissions over distances in the order of 500 km, at a high transmission speed, for example 2.5 Gbit/s (thereby achieving, with four multiplexed wavelengths, a transmission capacity corresponding to 10 Gbit/s on a single wavelength), with the use of four line amplifiers, one booster and one pre-amplifier. To the ends of the present description and for the above use, the booster 41 is for example an optical fibre amplifier of a commercial type having the following features: input power -5 to +2 dBm output power 13 dBm work wavelength 1530-1560 nm. The booster is devoid of notch filter. An appropriate model is TPA/E-12, put on the market by the Applicant. Said amplifier uses an erbium-doped active optical fibre of the Al/Ge/Er type. By "booster" it is intended an amplifier operating under saturation conditions, the output power of which depends on the pumping power, as described in detail in the European Patent No. EP 439,867, herein incorporated by reference. For use in the present system, by "pre-amplifier" it is intended an amplifier located at the extreme end of the line, capable of raising the signal to be fed to the receiver to a value conveniently higher than the sensitivity threshold of the receiver itself (from -26 to -11 dBm at the receiver inlet, for example), while at the same time introducing the minimum possible noise and maintaining the signal equalization. For example, for making pre-amplifier 45, a line amplifier using the same active fibre as amplifiers 43a-43c described in the following may be employed, or an amplifier may be expressly designed for the purpose, based on specific requirements. An appropriate model is RPA/E-MW, put on the market by the Applicant. The configuration of the above described transmission system is particularly appropriate to supply the desired performances, in particular for a multichannel WDM transmission, in the presence of a particular selection of the properties of the line amplifiers being part of the system, in particular as regards the capability of transmitting the selected wavelengths without some of them being penalized with respect to others. In particular, a uniform behavior for all channels can be ensured in the wavelength band included between 1530 and 1560 nm, in the presence of amplifiers adapted to operate in cascade, using line amplifiers designed to have a substantially uniform (or "flat") response to the different wavelengths, in a cascade operation. b) Line amplifier For the above purpose, an amplifier intended for use as line amplifier, is made according to the diagram shown in Fig. 16 and comprises one erbium-doped active fibre 49 and the respective pump laser 50, connected thereto through a dichroic coupler 51; one optoisolator 52 is placed upstream of fibre 49 in the travel direction of the signal to be amplified, whereas a second optoisolator 53 is located downstream of the active fibre itself. The amplifier further comprises a second erbium-doped active fibre 54 associated with the respective pump laser 55 through a dichroic coupler 56; downstream of fibre 54 there is therefore, another optoisolator 57. Alternatively, the line amplifier can be made in a single-stage configuration (not shown), based on the specific use requirements. The preferred composition and optical features of the active fibres in the line amplifier are summarized in the following table: Al 2 O 3 GeO 2 La 2 O 3 Er 2 O 3 NA λc %wt (%mol) %wt (%mol) %wt (%mol) %wt (%mol) nm 4 (2.6) 18 (11.4) 1 (0.2) 0.2 (0.03) 0.219 911 wherein: %wt = percent content by weight of oxide in the core (average) %mol = percent content by moles of oxide in the core (average) NA = Numerical Aperture (n1 2 - n2 2 ) ½ λc = cutoff wavelength (LP11 cut-off). Analyses of the compositions were carried out on a preform (before the fibre drawing) by a microprobe combined with a scanning electrone microscope (SEM™ Hitachi). The analyses were conducted at 1300 magnifications on discrete points disposed along a diameter and separated from each other by 200 µm. The stated fibres were made by the vacuum plating technique within a tube of quartz glass. In the fibres the incorporation of germanium as the dopant in the SiO 2 matrix in the fibre core was obtained during the synthesis step. The incorporation of erbium, alumina and lanthanum into the fibre core was obtained by the so-called "doping-in-solution" technique, in which an aqueous solution of dopant chlorides is brought into contact with the synthesis material of the fibre core, while this material is in the particulate state, before hardening of the preform. More details concerning the doping-in-solution technique can be found for example in US 5,282,079, which is herein incorporated by reference. The pump lasers 50,55 preferably are lasers of the Quantum Well type, having the following features: emission wavelength λp = 980 nm maximum optical output power Pu = 80 mW. Lasers of the stated type are produced by LASERTRON INC., 37 North Avenue, Burlington, MA (USA), for example. Dichroic couplers of the type stated are known and commercially available and are produced for example by GOULD Inc., Fibre Optic Division, Baymeadow Drive, Gelm Burnie, M.D. (USA), and by SIFAM Ltd., Fibre Optic Division, Woodland Road Torquay Devon (GB). Optical isolators 52, 53, 57 are optical isolators in which the polarization control is independent of the transmission signal polarization and have an isolation greater than 35 dB and reflectivity lower than -50dB. The isolators herein used are a MDL I-15 PIPT-A S/N 1016™ model available from ISOWAVE, 64 Harding Avenue, Dover, New Jersey, USA. In the described system the line amplifiers are provided for operation with an overall optical output power of about 14 dBm, with a gain of about 30 dB. An appropriate model is OLA/E-MW, commercialized by the Applicant. In the present description, when not specified otherwise, by wavelength bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero in the fibre (λo) it was intended the nominal (or average) value that can be measured through the phase shift technique reported as the reference method in the already mentioned ITU-T G.650 Recommendation, obtained by tests on fibres longer than 1 km, based on which the overall chromatic dispersion of the fibre portion under examination can be calculated. In addition, as "local" wavelength bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero in the fibre (local λo) it was intended the value that λo can locally take, following fluctuations in the fibre structure, over fibre portions of limited length, sufficient to cause the generation of FWM peaks in the case in which said peaks are in correspondence or in functional relation with the transmission channels; this length practically depends, among other things, on the optical power present in the fibre for the different channels and on the fact that the FWM peaks may be subjected to amplifications; just as an indication, lengths of some hundred meters can give important effects. Thus it was found that, for reducing the noise effects due to FWM in a multiwavelength transmission system it is not sufficient to have fibres the nominal (or average) chromatic dispersion value of which is not zero in the transmission signal band, but it is also necessary that the nominal (or average) chromatic dispersion of the fibre becomes zero at a wavelength value which is lower than and sufficiently far from the minimum wavelength value provided for transmission. In addition, it was found that, for increasing the maximum connection distance, without undergoing penalties from FWM, it is necessary to correspondingly increase the distance between the wavelength value bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero and the minimum wavelength of the transmission channels. It is also possible to carry out an optical signal transmission in an amplified multichannel WDM transmission line using optical fibres of the DS type, by a process providing the step of establishing the (average) wavelength value for bringing the chromatic dispersion to zero in the fibres and establishing the local zero values of the chromatic dispersion in the same fibres; based on these values the transmission band is then selected, so that it is separated from the average value of the fibre chromatic dispersion by such an amount that none of said local zero values is included in the transmission band itself. Alternatively, the optical fibres used for transmission are such selected that the (average) zero value of the chromatic dispersion in the fibres is sufficiently far from the band used for WDM transmission to prevent portions of important length of said fibres from having a local zero value of the chromatic dispersion falling within said transmission band. Working with 980 nm pumped amplifiers, it was observed that the transmission band could extend until about 1530 nm and it was found that the problem was linked not only to the maximum value, but also to the local zero value of the dispersion. So far there has been described in detail the wavelength division multiplexing technique and the four-wave-mixing phenomenona associated thereto; however, it must be noted that also other non-linear phenomena, associated with the propagation in optical fibers, are similarly influenced by the dispersion value of the fibers and by the constance of its zero value along the fibers length, and accordingly will take benefit from the special fibre described. An example of the above is the high speed optical transmission in non-linear propagation conditions; in particular, in the case of soliton propagation in dispersion shifted fibers it has been observed that when the fiber line along which the soliton propagation takes place includes portions of a given length (of the order of some kilometers, for example 5 km, or more) having negative chromatic dispersion values (normal dispersion), the soliton pulse propagation becomes strongly perturbed, with a significant increase of the soliton spectral width (for example, a significant increase of the soliton spectral width is greater than about 10%). This is due to the fact that, in these fiber portions, the compensation between the dispersion chirping and the phase modulation chirping is missing (the word "chirping" means a variation in the instantaneous frequency of the optical carrier). The pulse degradation which takes place when the solitons are propagated in the so-called "normal" dispersion fibers (i.e. in fibers having a negative dispersion), due to its non-linear nature is only partially recovered in a subsequent propagation in a length of "anomalous" dispersion fibers (i.e. in fibers having a positive dispersion): accordingly, also in this kind of transmission, it is very important that the fibers used in the line have practically no λo values in the wavelength range used for the soliton transmission, as provided for in the present invention. The minimum critical fiber length having normal dispersion beyond which this phenomenon becomes of relevance is reduced with the increase of the signal bit-rate; accordingly, the use of the special fiber will be of particular importance for optical links operating at more than 10 Gbit/s, more in particular at 40 Gbit/s or greater speed, and the tolerances associated thereto will become more stringent. With a special fiber having a nominal λo value in the 1500-1520 nm range, moreover, a soliton transmission can be made using a broad wavelength band, practically extended to the whole available range of the optical amplifiers.

Claims: An optical soliton transmission system, comprising: a) at least one source (1, 2, 3, 4; 28a-28d; 29) of optical soliton pulse signals having a wavelength in a predetermined transmission wavelength band; b) an optical fibre line (9, 42a-e) into which said signals are launched; and c) a receiving means (44) for receiving said optical soliton pulse signals from said optical fibre line (9, 42a-e), characterized in that said optical-fibre line (9, 42a-e) comprises an optical fibre (9, 42a-e) having chromatic dispersion values between 0.7 and 3 ps/nm.km over a transmission wavelength range between 1530 and 1560 nm, the slope of the chromatic dispersion curve being between 0.06 and 0.08 or 0.11 ps/nm 2 .km at an intermediate value of said range comprising a wavelength of 1550 nm, a wavelength (λo) of 1520 nm representing the local zero of nominal chromatic dispersion, the width (±3σ) of the wavelength distribution around the local zero being 20 nm, the efficient area (A eff ) being 50-60µm 2 and the transmitted optical signals being separated in wavelength by substantially 0.4nm. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one optical amplifier (10; 43a-43d; 49, 54) is coupled into said optical fibre to amplify said optical soliton pulse signals, and said wavelength of said optical soliton pulse signals is in a transmission band included in an amplification band of said optical amplifier. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that said optical amplifier is an erbium doped fiber amplifier (49, 54). A system according to claim 2, characterized in that at least four optical amplifiers are inserted into said optical line. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said optical fibre has a length of at least 5 km. A process for transmitting optical soliton pulse signals at a predetermined transmission speed, comprising the following steps: a) generating (1, 2, 3, 4; 28a-28d; 29) optical soliton pulse signals having a wavelength in a predetermined transmission wavelength band; b) feeding said soliton pulse signals to an optical fibre line (9, 42a-e); and c) receiving said transmitted optical soliton pulse signals through a receiver, characterized in that said optical fibre line (9,42a-e) comprises an optical fibre (9, 42a-e) having chromatic dispersion values between 0.7 and 3 ps/nm.km over a transmission wavelength range between 1530 and 1560 nm, the slope of the chromatic dispersion curve being between 0.06 and 0.08 or 0.11 ps/nm 2 .km at an intermediate value of said range comprising a wavelength of 1550 nm, a wavelength (λo) of 1520 nm representing the local zero of nominal chromatic dispersion, the width (±3σ) of the wavelength distribution around the local zero being 20 nm, the efficient area (A eff ) being 50-60µm 2 and the transmitted optical signals being separated in wavelength by substantially 0.4nm. A process according to claim 6, characterized in that said optical soliton pulse signals are amplified by at least one optical amplifier (10; 43a-43d; 49, 54). A process according to claim 6, characterized in that the predetermined transmission speed is higher than or equal to 10 Gbit/s. A process according to claim 7, characterized in that said optical soliton signals are amplified with four optical amplifiers. A process according to claim 7 or 9, characterized in that said optical amplifier is an erbium-doped optical amplifier (49, 54). A process according to claim 6, characterized by transmitting said optical soliton pulse signals over a distance of at least 5 km.

Inventors: GRASSO GIORGIO, MELI FAUSTO, GRASSO, GIORGIO, MELI, FAUSTO
Applicants: CISCO PHOTONICS ITALY SRL
Application year: 1995
Main classification: H04B10
IPC codes: H04B10