Power transfer function–based dispersion monitoring method applicable to signals with different duty cycles and optical signal-to-noise ratio

Abstract

This paper represents a power transfer function (PTF)-based chromatic dispersion (CD) monitoring method applicable to signals with different duty cycles and optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR). Our method relies on phase-mismatched four wave mixing to provide a steep PTF that maps the CD experienced by the signal onto the average power of the output signal. The steep PTF greatly enhances the monitoring sensitivity, thus solves the problem that former PTF-based methods cannot be applied to signals with high duty cycles and low OSNR because of low output contrast. Furthermore, because the optical power required is low, our method is optically efficient and easy-to-implement. Numerical simulations are then used to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of this monitoring method.