Patent ID: 7027735

Claim:
A method of suppressing intra-channel four wave mixing for improved transmission performance in a time division multiplexing system for transmitting a portion of N signals in the same bit period T of transmitting one signal, the method comprising the steps of: converting N synchronous data streams, each having a reduced data pulse width within a bit slot timing interval T/N, from parallel to serial form, for bit interleaving the N synchronous data streams into the optical communication link at a nominal bit slot delay between sequential N synchronous data streams related to a multiple of the bit slot timing interval T/N to provide a frame of serial data sequence of short pulses having an equal bit slot delay between sequential pulses; and varying a sequential bit slot delay between two of the short optical pulses in the frame to provide an unequal bit slot delay between sequential pulses within the serial data sequence of short pulses to improve transmission performance by suppressing intra-channel four wave mixing.