Microwave-domain analog predistortion based on chirped delay lines for dispersion compensation of 10-Gb/s optical communication signals

Optical chromatic dispersion compensation is achieved by analog predistortion of the signal in the microwave domain exploiting at the transmitter a chirped delay line. We designed a microwave device that guarantees high compactness of the solution and increased performance in terms of uncompensated propagation reach. Error-free, 10-Gb/s transmission over 225 km of uncompensated fiber is experimentally demonstrated without the use of coherent detection, digital equalizers, or optical dispersion compensators.