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Low-complexity subcarrier-merged digital back-propagation for high-symbol-rate subcarrier-multiplexing optical
Optics Express
|August 14, 2026
Summary
A new subcarrier-merged digital back-propagation (SM-DBP) scheme reduces complexity in subcarrier-multiplexing (SCM) systems. This digital back-propagation method effectively compensates for fiber nonlinearity with significantly reduced computational cost.
Area of Science:
- Optical communications
- Nonlinear optics
- Signal processing
Background:
- Subcarrier-multiplexing (SCM) systems face challenges with fiber nonlinearity.
- Digital back-propagation (DBP) is used for nonlinear compensation but can be computationally intensive.
- High-symbol-rate SCM systems require complex nonlinear compensation schemes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and evaluate a novel subcarrier-merged digital back-propagation (SM-DBP) scheme.
- To reduce the computational complexity of nonlinear compensation in SCM systems.
- To maintain or improve the performance of SCM systems while reducing complexity.
Main Methods:
- Developed a subcarrier-merged digital back-propagation (SM-DBP) algorithm.
- Merged interfering subcarrier intensities to simplify nonlinear compensation.
- Numerically and experimentally evaluated SM-DBP in 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) SCM transmission systems.
- Tested systems with varying numbers of subcarriers (4, 8, 16) and distances (up to 480 km).
- Validated performance in distributed Raman amplifier (DRA)-amplified systems.
Main Results:
- SM-DBP achieved significant complexity reduction (up to 85%) compared to traditional SCM-DBP.
- Performance remained comparable to SCM-DBP, with additional compensation gains observed in some cases.
- In 16-subcarrier systems, SM-DBP reduced complexity by 50% and offered a 0.42 dB gain over CB-ESSFM.
- Experimental results showed a 74% complexity reduction with SM-DBP in a 4-subcarrier system.
- DRA-amplified systems also demonstrated significant complexity reduction (up to 80%) with SM-DBP.
Conclusions:
- SM-DBP is an effective and computationally efficient method for compensating fiber nonlinearity in SCM systems.
- The complexity advantage of SM-DBP is particularly prominent in high-symbol-rate systems with numerous subcarriers.
- SM-DBP offers a practical solution for advanced optical communication systems, including those with distributed Raman amplification.
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