30-GBaud DP 16-QAM transmission in the E-band enabled by bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers

Abstract

We report the transmission of five 30-GBaud dual polarization 16-QAM signals over 160 km of standard single-mode fiber in the E-band (1410-1460 nm). The transmission line consists of two 80-km spans and three independent bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers. The developed amplifiers feature a maximum gain of 27.3 dB, 33.8 dB, and 28.3 dB with a minimum noise figure of 4.8 dB, 4.7 dB, and 5.3 dB, respectively. The maximum signal Q² factor penalty is 4.5 dB, and the overall performance of the system is above the pre-forward-error-correction (FEC) threshold for a 10^-15 post-FEC bit error rate. To the best of our knowledge, this is the record experimentally demonstrated transmission length for a coherent detection signal in the E-band.