Crosstalk in a bidirectional optical fiber

Abstract

Full-duplex communications in a single optical fiber is both feasible and practical in certain applications. The main problem is crosstalk between the two directions. This paper reviews the sources of crosstalk, gives its magnitude, and describes techniques to reduce crosstalk. An example is a system that requires 75 optical dB of isolation between transmitted and received signals at each terminal. There are two sources of optical crosstalk. The first occurs in components such as couplers and connectors and can be held below 50 dB by careful design. The second is Rayleigh scattering within the fiber, which increases system noise as well as crosstalk between counterdirectional signals.