Abstract Kerr nonlinearity is particularly detrimental in coherent optical communications over long-haul, sub-sea and transatlantic links. The correct and accurate determination of the penalty due to fiber nonlinearity is critical for estimating the link capacity and optical signal to noise ratio margins. Two distinct approaches for calculating the power in the nonlinear field are proposed. The first approach utilizes the nonlinear variance at the decision gate after coherent detection, while the second attempts to extract the electrical field of the nonlinear interference noise. Subsequently, the power spectral density of the nonlinear interference noise is integrated to estimate the nonlinear power within a pre-defined signal-to-nose ratio criterion. Based on the assumptions in this study, a temporal resolution of 16 samples per symbol or (6.25 ps) is required to achieve a signal-to-noise ratio sensitivity of 40 dB on the nonlinear power estimate for a 10 Gbaud signal. Furthermore, a minimum pattern length of 128 symbols is required to obtain an adequate estimate of the nonlinear noise power within 30 dB signal-to-noise ratio for two adjacent wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) channels. The influence of the pulse shaping roll-off factor and number of WDM channels on the required pattern length and the nonlinear power estimation is also investigated.
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