Interferometric noise penalty in 10-Gb/s Ethernet LAN links

The penalty due to interferometric noise in 10-Gb/s Ethernet, single-mode fiber, local area network links is evaluated as a function of receiver and transmitter return losses and other link parameters. Robust link operation was experimentally observed and theoretically confirmed with 12-dB return losses for both the receiver and transmitter and modulation extinction ratios greater than 3 dB, consistent with a low-cost objective.