Perfomance evaluation of maximum likelihood sequence estimation receivers in lightwave systems with optical amplifiers

Abstract

Maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) has been proposed in earlier literature to combat the e®ects of nonlinear dispersion in intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) optical channels. In this paper, we develop a theory of the bit error rate (BER) of MLSE-based IM/DD receivers operating in the presence of nonlinear dispersion and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise. We focus on long haul or metro links spanning several hundred kilometers of single model fibers with optical amplifiers. Numerical results show a close agreement between the predictions of the theory and computer simulations.