Optimal input signal distribution and per-sample mutual information for nondispersive nonlinear optical fiber channel at large SNR

Abstract: We consider a model nondispersive nonlinear optical fiber channel with additive white Gaussian noise at large $\mathrm{SNR}$ (signal-to-noise ratio) in the intermediate power region. Using Feynman path-integral technique we for the first time find the optimal input signal distribution maximizing the channel's per-sample mutual information. The finding of the optimal input signal distribution allows us to improve previously known estimates for the channel capacity. The output signal entropy, conditional entropy, and per-sample mutual information are calculated for Gaussian, half-Gaussian and modified Gaussian input signal distributions. We explicitly show that in the intermediate power regime the per-sample mutual information for the optimal input signal distribution is greater than the per-sample mutual information for the Gaussian and half-Gaussian input signal distributions.