Intrinsic Signal Processed Non-Linearity Tolerant Novel 2-Tier Star Constellation

Abstract In coherent optical systems, optical fiber non-linearity is a consistent limiting factor towards the effective signal-to-noise ratio though being mitigated by various digital signal processing based approaches. In this paper, an intrinsic method of signal processing based on the shape of the input constellation is employed to yield a novel non-linearity tolerant geometric constellation. 16-QAM back-to-back coherent system is optimized for minimum value of non-linear interference, and a novel 2-tier star constellation using sequential quadratic programming algorithm is proposed. The values of second and fourth order moments of input obtained for the optimized 2-tier star constellation are 1.19 and 1.70 respectively, resulting in an overall reduction of non-linear interference.