PIERS ONLINE, VOL. 3, NO.

6, 2007

940

Investigation of Crosstalk Effects due to Optical Fiber

Nonlinearities in WDM CATV Networks
Rakkappan Balasubramanian1 , Yasumitsu Miyazaki3 , and Masayoshi Kondo2
1

System Engineering Department, Synclayer, Inc., 1-20 Himegaoka, Kani 509-0249, Gifu, Japan
2
Engineering Department, Synclayer, Inc., 1-20 Himegaoka, Kani 509-0249, Gifu, Japan
3
Department of Electronic & Information Engineering, Aichi University of Technology
50-2 Umanori, Nishihasama-cho, Gamagori 443-0047, Aichi, Japan

Abstract Crosstalk due to optical fiber nonlinearities is an important parameter to be considered to determine the performance of WDM based CATV optical networks. In this paper
we present the results of our investigation on the crosstalk due to stimulated Raman scattering
and cross phase modulation. Due to the limited bandwidth availability for the upstream data
communication in the CATV network, WDM technology is widely employed. We considered
different WDM configurations of CATV network and investigated, both numerically and experimentally, the effect of these nonlinear effects with respect to optical power, wavelength spacing,
transmission distance and carrier frequency.
DOI: 10.2529/PIERS060915064142

1. INTRODUCTION

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology has been given wide attention in the broadband optical networks in order to utilize the enormous bandwidth of the optical fiber. However,
when several optical signals are multiplexed, there arise coupling and crosstalk between the multiplexed signals due to different fiber nonlinear effects, and these phenomena limit the ultimate
WDM network performance [13]. Typical wavelength band used in these networks is between
1310 nm and 1550nm. Subcarrier multiplexed optical systems have traditionally been used for
cable television (CATV) distribution, and system operators have deployed video narrow casting
systems to serve different analog contents to different subscribers. More recently, in the access
networks, systems are upgraded to handle two-way communication of voice, data and analog video
overlay through WDM as in the case of Passive Optical Network (PON) system. WDM techniques
have also been employed to effectively use the limited upstream bandwidth of 5 MHz-55 MHz in the
CATV data communications systems. The optical nodes serving the subscribers are segmented and
each node is assigned an unique CWDM wavelength. The multiplexed CWDM signal is then transmitted back to the head-end. The dominant fiber nonlinearities are stimulated Raman scattering
(SRS) and cross phase modulation (XPM). The crosstalk effects in such system are investigated.
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

SRS in WDM systems is due to nonlinear coupling effect through Raman gain and thus the modulated optical signal causes modulation of all other co-propagating signals. XPM effect arises from
the nonlinear refractive index of the fiber material, and thus the power of the modulated channel
induces small change in the refractive index and in turn phase modulation of all other wavelength
channels. In a dual wavelength WDM system, the SRS and XPM induced crosstalk can be investigated by studying the effect of a modulated signal on a CW signal. The interacting signal in this
case is described by the following equations.

1 PCW (z, t)
gR
PCW (z, t)
PMOD (z, t)PCW (z, t) (1)
+
= CW PCW (z, t) +
z
vCW
t
K Aef f

1 PMOD (z, t)
gR
PMOD (z, t)
PMOD (z, t)PCW (z, t) (2)
+
= MOD PMOD (z, t)
z
vMOD
t
K Aef f
Here, the subscripts CW and MOD refers to CW and modulated signal respectively, v is the group
velocity, is the propagation loss, P is the optical power, gR is the Raman gain coefficient, Aef f

PIERS ONLINE, VOL. 3, NO. 6, 2007

941

is the effective fiber core area. For copropagating signals, the optical power of the CW signal can
be derived as,
#
"
p
KgR PMOD Lef f
1+e2z 2ez cos(12 z)
KgR PMOD m
z
p
PCW (z) = PCW (0)e
+

(3)
1+
Aef f
Aef f
2 +(12 z)2
The first and second terms within the bracket correspond to the amplification and the third term
corresponds to the modulation transfer. Eq. (3) is used to calculate the crosstalk due to SRS.
Similar derivation will be presented for the case of XPM induced crosstalk.
Downstream Data
1=1490nm
Downstream Video
2=1550nm

Upstream Data
3=1310nm
| 20km Single Mode Fiber

Figure 1: Typical CATV network using WDM system.

3. NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS

Figure 1 is a typical CATV network used in the CATV network. Fig. 2 shows the Raman amplification of optical signal due to strong pump. The pump signal of 1450 nm induces Raman amplification
on a copropagating signal (tunable wavelength signal in the range of 1300 nm1600 nm is used in this
experiment). Though the peak amplification is at 100 nm on the higher side of pump wavelength,
amplification can be observed over a bandwidth of 1450 nm1600 nm.
10
Pump Power=300 mW

Oprical Power (dBm)

Fiber=30 Km SMF

-10

Pump

-20

Signal

-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
1300

1350

1400

1450

1500

1550

1600

Wavelength (nm)

Figure 2: Signal amplification due to SRS.

We investigated a dual wavelength WDM optical system with transmission distance of 20 km,
where 1490 nm and 1550 nm are used for the downstream data and analog video transmission. The
data signal of wavelength at 1490 nm will act as the pump wave, and when modulated, optical wave
of this wavelength induces crosstalk on the video channel.
We experimentally measured the crosstalk levels at 1550 nm video channel by modulating
1490 nm data channel with the frequency range between 70 to 770 MHz, which is typically used
for CATV video distribution. We compared the measured data with the theoretical prediction and
find good agreement between the results. Different wavelength spacing used in the CATV network,
20 nm and 0.8 nm wavelength spacing for CWDM and DWDM systems respectively. Crosstalk
effects are investigated against the system parameters such as RF frequency bandwidth, optical
wavelength spacing, transmission distance and transmission direction.
The SRS and XPM induced crosstalks were observed to affect the low frequency and high
frequency RF channels respectively, and the total crosstalk will be the sum of these individual
crosstalk mechanisms.

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4. CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, we presented the results of our investigation on the crosstalk mechanism and the effect
of crosstalk on the system performance in the context of WDM systems employed in the CATV
network. Different system architectures are considered for the present investigation and against
system parameters such as RF frequency bandwidth, optical wavelength spacing, transmission
distance and transmission direction.
REFERENCES

1. Agrawal, G. P., Nonlinear Fiber Optics, 3rd ed., Academic Press, San Diego, 2001.
2. Phillips, M. R. and D. M. Ott, Crosstalk due to optical fiber nonlinearities in WDM lightwave
systems, J. Lightwave Technol., Vol. 17, 17821791, 1999.
3. Balasubramanian, R., Y. Miyazaki, and M. Kondo, Performance limitations in CATV networks employing WDM system due to optical fiber nonlinearities, Proc. Progress in Electromagnetic Research Symposium, 253, Tokyo, Japan, 2006.