Error Probability of DPSK Signals with Intrachannel Four-Wave-Mixing in Highly Dispersive Transmission Systems

A semi-analytical method evaluates the error probability of DPSK signals with intrachannel four-wave-mixing (IFWM) in a highly dispersive fiber link with strong pulse overlap. Depending on initial pulse width, the mean nonlinear phase shift of the system can be from 1 to 2 rad for signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) penalty less than 1 dB. An approximated empirical formula, valid for penalty less than 2 dB, uses the variance of the differential phase of the ghost pulses to estimate the penalty.