Effects of filtering on Gordon–Haus timing jitter in dispersion-managed systems

Abstract

The effects of filtering on the Gordon–Haus timing jitter of chirped optical pulses in dispersion-managed communication systems with lumped and distributed amplification are studied in detail. Evolution equations for the average frequency and time delay are derived and solved analytically. Distributed amplification produces less timing jitter than lumped amplification. For short distances the timing jitter depends explicitly on the chirp, whereas for long distances it does not. The implicit chirp dependence that remains is inherited from the soliton energy. Simple formulas are derived for the asymptotic rates at which timing jitter grows. Numerical examples are described for 10-Gb/s systems and their relevance to 40-Gb/s systems is discussed. Although filtering limits the timing jitter in dispersion-managed systems, it precludes the reduction of timing jitter by dispersion postcompensation.