title: Probability of anomalously large bit-error rate in long haul optical transmission.
abstract: We consider a linear model of optical transmission through a fiber with birefringent disorder in the presence of amplifier noise. Both disorder and noise are assumed to be weak, i.e., the average bit-error rate (BER) is small. The probability distribution function (PDF) of rare violent events leading to the values of BER much larger than its typical value is estimated. We show that the PDF has a long algebraic-like tail.
authors.affiliation: Corning Inc., SP-DV-02-8, Corning, New York 14831, USA.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chernyak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chertkov
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kolokolov
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lebedev