On multi-channel operation of phase-preserving 2R amplitude regenerator

We analyze multi-channel operation of a phase-preserving amplitude regenerator based on a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) with a dispersion-managed nonlinear medium. We show that, under the conditions similar to those of the previously studied multi-channel Mamyshev regenerator, the multi-channel performance of the NALM-based regenerator with phase-encoded signals is considerably worse than that of Mamyshev regenerator with on-off-keying signals. This is explained by a weaker, compared to a timing jitter׳s, dependence of nonlinear phase jitter on the inter-channel spacing. We show that the multi-channel NALM performance can be significantly improved by using the dispersion map that includes a larger number of fiber sections separated by periodic group-delay devices.