Abstract-A detailed theoretical analysis of optical amplifier noise in coherent optical communication systems with heterodyne receivers is presented. The analysis quantifies in particular how optical image rejection receiver configurations reduce the influence of optical amplifier noise on system performance. Two types of optical image rejection receivers are investigated; a novel, all-optical configuration and the conventional, microwave-based configuration.The analysis shows that local oscillator-spontaneous emission beat noise (LO-SP), signal-spontaneous emission beat noise (S-SP) and spontaneous-spontaneous beat noise (SP-SP) can all be reduced by 3 dB, thereby doubling the dynamic range of the optical amplifier. A 2.5-dB improvement in dynamic range has been demonstrated experimentally with the all-optical image rejection configuration. The implications of the increased dynamic range thus obtained are also discussed from a systems point of view.

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