Kerr nonlinearity mitigation: Mid-link spectral inversion versus digital backpropagation in 5x28-GBd PDM 16-QAM signal transmission

We experimentally investigate Kerr nonlinearity mitigation of a 28-GBd polarization-multiplexed 16-QAM signal in a five-channel 50-GHz spaced wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) system. Optical phase conjugation (OPC) employing the mid-link spectral inversion technique is implemented by using a dual-pump polarization-independent fiber-optic parametric amplifier and compared to digital backpropagation (DBP) compensation over up to 800-km in a dispersion-managed link. In the single-channel case, the use of the DBP algorithm outperformed the OPC with a Q-factor improvement of 0.9 dB after 800-km transmission. However, signal transmission was not possible with DBP in the WDM scenario over the same link length while it was enabled by the OPC with a maximum Q-factor of 8.6 dB.