Application of a Prechirp Technique to 10-Gb/s Transmission at 1064 nm Through 24 km of Photonic Crystal Fiber

The prechirp effect on 10-Gb/s transmission in the 1000-nm band over photonic crystal fiber (PCF) was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. We performed transmission experiments using a 24-km-long PCF whose optical loss and chromatic dispersion were 0.94 dB/km and$-$20 ps/nm/km at 1064 nm, respectively. We confirmed an improvement in the bit-error-rate performance after the transmission, namely a “negative power penalty” of about$-$0.5 dB. Our experimental result and theoretical estimation revealed that the signal degradation induced by the chromatic dispersion can be effectively suppressed by employing the prechirp technique with a conventional$Z$-cut lithium niobate modulator.