Transmission of 8 DWDM channels at 20 Gb/s over 160 km of standard fiber using a cascade of semiconductor optical amplifiers

Eight DWDM channels in the wavelength region 1558-1570 nm, spaced at 200 GHz, are modulated at 20 Gb/s and transmitted over 160 km of SSMF (four 40-km spans) using four in-line SOA's. Transmitter booster-amplifiers and receiver preamplifiers are also SOA's, Q-factors better than 17 dB, corresponding to a BER of less than 3/spl middot/10/sup -13/, have been measured for all channels.