Choice of MUX/DEMUX filter characteristics for NRZ, RZ, and CSRZ DWDM systems

This paper investigates the influence of filter bandwidth and flank steepness of both multiplexing and demultiplexing filters in dense wavelength division multiplexed systems (spectral efficiency 0.8 b/s/Hz) in the presence of coherent wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) crosstalk. Using a recently introduced technique for the statistically reliable performance prediction of systems impaired by coherent WDM crosstalk, this paper presents numerical results for nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ), 33% duty-cycle return-to-zero (RZ), and 67% duty-cycle carrier-suppressed return-to-zero signals. This paper confirms that steep filter flanks are generally preferable, both in terms of optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty and in terms of filter bandwidth tolerance.