An optical network includes a transmitter portion configured to transmit a digitized stream of symbols over a digital optical link, a mapping unit disposed within the transmitter portion and configured to code the transmitted digitized stream of symbols with a mapping code prior to transmission over the digital optical link, a receiver portion configured to recover the coded stream of symbols from the digital optical link, and a demapping unit disposed within the receiver portion and configured to map the recovered coded stream of symbols into an uncoded digitized signal corresponding to the digitized stream of symbols at the transmitter portion prior to coding by the mapping unit.