Comparison of PAM and CAP modulations robustness against mode partition noise in optical links

Mode partition noise (MPN) of the laser employed at the transmitter can significantly degrade the transmission performance. In the paper, we introduce a simulation model of MPN in vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and simulate transmission of pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and carrierless amplitude phase (CAP) signals in multimode fiber (MMF) link. By turning off other effects, like relative intensity noise (RIN), we focus solely on the influence of MPN on transmission performance degradation. Robustness of modulation and equalization type against MPN is studied.