512QAM Nyquist sinc-pulse transmission at 54 Gbit/s in an optical bandwidth of 3 GHz.

We demonstrate for the first time transmission of 54 Gbit/s and 48 Gbit/s over 44 km and 150 km, respectively, utilizing an optical bandwidth of only 3 GHz. We used polarization division multiplexed 512QAM and 256QAM modulation formats in combination with Nyquist pulse shaping having virtually zero roll-off. The resulting spectral efficiencies range up to 18 bit/s/Hz and 16 bit/s/Hz, respectively. Taking into account the overhead required for forward error correction, the occupied signal bandwidth corresponds to net spectral efficiencies of 14.4 bit/s/Hz and 15 bit/s/Hz, which could be achieved in a wavelength division multiplexed network without spectral guard bands.