Relative Intensity Noise in Optical Single Side Band Systems with Multiple In-Line Amplifiers: Analysis and Validation

Abstract

This article analyzes and validates through simulation the influence of fiber nonlinearity, dispersion, and loss on the Relative Noise Intensity (RIN) spectrum at fiber output in externally modulated optical single side band (OSSB) systems. The analysis includes the RIN generated by the laser source, the effect of the OSSB modulator, and noise generated by the in-line optical amplifiers. The analysis takes into account conversion between phase noise and intensity noise introduced by fiber transmission. It is shown that, depending on the operating conditions, the system performance may be predominantly affected either by the laser RIN or by the noise generated by the in-line optical amplifiers. The impact of the OSSB modulator can be relevant when the RIN of the system is dominated by the laser noise and should therefore be considered.     

Optical Single-Sideband Modulators and Their Applications

We review our recent work in the implementation of optical single-sideband (OSSB) modulation and in the application of this modulation format to microwave photonics and optical testing systems. We have developed an enhanced OSSB modulator for wide-band operation, the so-called bidirectional OSSB modulator, and a simplification of this scheme for narrow-band applications. These OSSB modulators are based on the use of a standard single-electrode Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator (MZ-EOM) and passive fiber-optic components. In both designs, the OSSB operation is shown to be independent of the MZ-EOM bias. Therefore, the optical modulation depth at the output of the device can be enhanced using minimum transmission biasing to provide suppression of the optical carrier. Finally, we demonstrate the application of OSSB modulators to the improvement of microwave/millimeter-wave subcarrier multiplexing fiber-optic links and to narrow-band fiber radio systems. In addition, we analyzed the feasibility and the limitations of an optical vector network analysis technique based on OSSB modulation that can provide sub-picometer wavelength resolution.     

Optical Single-Sideband Modulators and Their Applications

We review our recent work in the implementation of optical single-sideband (OSSB) modulation and in the application of this modulation format to microwave photonics and optical testing systems. We have developed an enhanced OSSB modulator for wide-band operation, the so-called bidirectional OSSB modulator, and a simplification of this scheme for narrow-band applications. These OSSB modulators are based on the use of a standard single-electrode Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator (MZ-EOM) and passive fiber-optic components. In both designs, the OSSB operation is shown to be independent of the MZ-EOM bias. Therefore, the optical modulation depth at the output of the device can be enhanced using minimum transmission biasing to provide suppression of the optical carrier. Finally, we demonstrate the application of OSSB modulators to the improvement of microwave/millimeter-wave subcarrier multiplexing fiber-optic links and to narrow-band fiber radio systems. In addition, we analyzed the feasibility and the limitations of an optical vector network analysis technique based on OSSB modulation that can provide sub-picometer wavelength resolution.     

Reduction of fiber-nonlinearity-enhanced amplifier noise by means of phase-sensitive amplifiers

In optical fiber transmission systems near the zero-dispersion wavelength that use in-line erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's), the enhancement of optical amplifier noise caused by four-wave mixing (FWM) in transmission fibers degrades signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) excessively. We theoretically show that the enhancement of amplifier noise by the FWM in transmission fibers can be effectively eliminated by implementing in-line phase-sensitive amplifiers (PSA's). Small-signal analysis of the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation shows that the transmission distance limited by the SNR of an in-line PSA system is expanded four times more than that of an in-line EDFA system.     

Simulative investigation on the impact of laser-spectral width in single-tone radio-over-fiber transmission system using optical single side-band technique

In this paper, we analyzed the impact of laser-spectral width incorporating dual-electrode Mach–Zehnder modulator (DEMZM) in single-tone radio-over-fiber (RoF) transmission system by simulation setup. It is shown that an improvement in the measurement of received radio frequency (RF) power is achieved by reducing the laser line width from 100 MHz to 100 kHz, which further improves the BER rate and optical link by transmitting the information with low power. The results are calculated for 20 and 50 km optical single sideband (OSSB)–RoF transmission system by varying the chirp from 0 to −3 as it requires less bandwidth than optical dual sideband (ODSB)–RoF system and is tolerable for power degradation due to a chromatic fiber-dispersion, through a standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) carried by a continuous wave (CW) laser at 1550 nm of laser-spectral width varying from 100 MHz to 100 kHz with CW power of 10 mW that modulates a single RF channel of 20 GHz. Further, deployment of such lasers with OSSB scheme helps the telecom industry to reduce the designing cost of RoF communication systems.     

Multiple-Output Fiber-Ring Lasers and Amplifiers in a Hybrid CATV and ADSL Broadcasting Optical Fiber Communication System

In this article we propose two kinds of new fiber ring structure with a semiconductor optical amplifier. The first structure is a one-fiber-ring amplifier with an 8 × 8 fiber coupler and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The second fiber ring structure is a two-fiber-ring laser including an 8 × 8 fiber coupler, a 2 × 2 E/O modulator, and an SOA. The 14-output spectra of the fiber laser are measured. The gain coefficients of each port of the multiple-output-fiber-ring amplifiers are also measured. We apply these two kinds of fiber ring structures in a hybrid CATV and ADSL broadcasting optical fiber communication system. This application can develop a broadcasting system with large coverage area without using many laser diodes and optical amplifiers. The performance of such a system is also analyzed in this article.     

Multiple-Output Fiber-Ring Lasers and Amplifiers in a Hybrid CATV and ADSL Broadcasting Optical Fiber Communication System

In this article we propose two kinds of new fiber ring structure with a semiconductor optical amplifier. The first structure is a one-fiber-ring amplifier with an 8 × 8 fiber coupler and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The second fiber ring structure is a two-fiber-ring laser including an 8 × 8 fiber coupler, a 2 × 2 E/O modulator, and an SOA. The 14-output spectra of the fiber laser are measured. The gain coefficients of each port of the multiple-output-fiber-ring amplifiers are also measured. We apply these two kinds of fiber ring structures in a hybrid CATV and ADSL broadcasting optical fiber communication system. This application can develop a broadcasting system with large coverage area without using many laser diodes and optical amplifiers. The performance of such a system is also analyzed in this article.     

光纤陀螺的噪声及其实验分析

通过对FOG-110-I全光纤陀螺仪样机的研制,分析了光纤陀螺的噪声源,并对信号光背向反馈进入激光器引起的强度噪声和由光纤PZT位相调制器引起的幅度调制对光纤陀螺系统的影响作了重点分析。最后,给出了FOG-110-I全光纤陀螺样机的测试结果和实验分析。     

Coherent transfer of an optical carrier over 251 km

We transfer an optical frequency over 251 km of optical fiber with a residual instability of 6x10(-19) at 100 s. This instability and the associated timing jitter are limited fundamentally by the noise on the optical fiber and the link length. We give a simple expression for calculating the achievable instability and jitter over a fiber link. Transfer of optical stability over this long distance requires a highly coherent optical source, provided here by a cw fiber laser locked to a high finesse optical cavity. A sufficient optical carrier signal is delivered to the remote fiber end by incorporating two-way, in-line erbium-doped fiber amplifiers to balance the 62 dB link loss.     

基于长周期光纤光栅滤波器的掺铒光纤放大器理论和实验研究

从理论和实验上研究了带有高频二氧化碳激光写入的低成本长周期光纤光栅（LPFG）掺铒光纤放大器（EDFA）.结果表明,单波长和多波长EDFA的性能都可以通过在掺铒光纤（EDF）中插入长周期光纤光栅用作自发辐射噪声（ASE）滤波器或增益平坦器来提高性能.优化设计了带LPFG噪声滤波器的线放EDFA,与没有LPFG噪声滤波器相比,线放的噪声和小信号增益分别被减小和提高了约0.5 dB和7 dB。通过在多波长EDFA的EDF中插入一个LPFG增益平坦滤波器的方法,获得了1.5 dB的增益平坦度,与没有LPFG平坦器相比,EDFA的噪声被减小了0.1 dB,增益被提高了1 dB.     

Theoretical Investigations of Third-Order Dispersion Term on Relative Intensity Noise for Dispersive Optical Communication System

In this article we present improved theoretical investigations into relative intensity noise (RIN), including the impact of a third-order dispersion term for dispervive optical communication systems. It has been shown that the third-order dispersion term has no impact on RIN even at high noise frequencies as reported by other authors, but with second-order dispersion compensation, the RIN can be dramatically reduced, thereby improving overall system performance. Further, the impact of fiber length and laser linewidth has been investigated for RIN. It has been shown that, as the fiber length increases, the value of RIN increases but the improvement over RIN with second-order dispersion compensation decreases. Also, with decrease in the value of linewidth, the RIN can be reduced to a great extent.     

Suppression of pump-to-Stokes relative intensity noise transfer in Raman fiber laser by injection of modulated signal

A feasible approach is theoretically demonstrated that suppresses the relative intensity noise (RIN) transfer from pump sources to the proposed Raman fiber laser (RFL) output at the first-order Stokes line. The technique is accomplished by injecting a modulated signal at second-order Stokes shift from the pump wavelength according to the monitored RFL output, which indirectly consumes the pump power fluctuations and results in suppression of the RIN transfer to the RFL output. With the RFL used as a pump source for co-pumped Raman fiber amplifiers, further calculation results show that the Q-factor penalty due to RIN transfer can be dramatically reduced.     

抽运方式对混合拉曼光纤放大器性能的影响

通过实验比较了前向抽运拉曼光纤放大器与掺铒光纤放大器组成的混合放大器、后向抽运拉曼光纤放大器与掺铒光纤放大器组成的混合放大器的性能。实验采用75km标准单模光纤作为增益介质。采用20信道(符合ITU-T建议的波分复用信号)，波长为1537．377～1560．605nm，作为混合放大器的测试信号。20信道总功率-2．86dBm，每一信道用2．5Gb／s、码长2^7-1的非归零码通过电吸收调制器(EA)进行外调制。实验结果表明，前向抽运方式混合放大器的性能优于后向抽运方式的混合放大器，其中噪声系数的改善值为2．28～6．55dB。采用前向抽运时，各信道的增益同后向抽运相比，增加值均大于5dB。但不论采取那种抽运方式，采用混合放大的形式，各信道的光信噪比均大于26．9dB。     

Further Theoretical Investigations for Laser Relative Intensity Noise with Fiber Nonlinearities and Higher-Order Dispersion

In this article, we theoretically investigate relative intensity noise (RIN) in optical communication systems with fiber nonlinearities due to optical Kerr effects and higher-order dispersion. The impact of modulation frequencies, launch power, and laser bias current on RIN has been illustrated. We show that RIN increases with modulating frequencies up to the resonance frequency, launch power, and decrease in the laser bias current. We also show that higher-order dispersion terms have no impact on the RIN, but with first-order dispersion compensation the higher-order dispersion terms have significant impact at high modulating frequencies. The RIN with and without fiber nonlinearities is further investigated. It has been shown that the RIN with fiber nonlinearity is more than the RIN without nonlinearity and the effect of nonlinearity appears at higher modulation frequencies only.     

Generation of linearized optical single sideband signal for broadband radio over fiber systems

We propose a new scheme to generate broadband linearized optical single-sideband （OSSB） signal for radio over fiber systems. By using an unbalanced dual parallel Mach-zehnder modulator （DPMZM） followed by optical filtering, a linearized OSSB signal is obtained. With coherent detection, radio frequency （RF） signal can be recovered with simultaneously suppressed second-order distortion and third-order intermodulation. This scheme can be used to realize broadband systems with wide dynamic range.     

Noise reduction of tunable laser based on mutual injection-locked reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers

A tunable laser source based on mutual injection-locked reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (MIL-RSOAs) using a tunable bandpass filter was investigated to reduce relative-intensity noise (RIN) and improve the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) without additional optoelectronic compensation. Compared with laser based on self-injection-locked RSOAs (SIL-RSOAs), the laser based on MIL-RSOAs reduced RIN by as much as 16 dB and improved CNR by as much as 20 dB. The proposed method improved sensitivity for 1.25 Gb/s transmission by >15 dB compared with using traditional laser based on SIL-RSOAs.     

Further Theoretical Investigations for Laser Relative Intensity Noise with Fiber Nonlinearities and Higher Order Dispersion

In this article, we theoretically investigate relative intensity noise (RIN) in optical communication systems with fiber nonlinearities due to optical Kerr effects and higher order dispersion. The impact of modulation frequencies, launch power, and laser bias current on RIN has been illustrated. We show that RIN increases with modulating frequencies up to the resonance frequency and launch power, and decreases in the laser bias current. We also show that higher order dispersion terms have no impact on the RIN, but with first order dispersion compensation the higher order dispersion terms have significant impact at high modulating frequencies. The RIN with and without fiber nonlinearities is further investigated. It has been shown that the RIN with fiber nonlinearity is more than the RIN without nonlinearity and the effect of nonlinearity appears at higher modulation frequencies only.     

Study of the optical feedback-induced noise in semiconductor lasers and applications to the optic disc system

The dynamics and noise of semiconductor lasers under optical feedback (OFB) have been simulated. The study is performed as applied to an optic-disc system in which laser radiation is reflected by the disc surface and re-injected into the laser cavity. We examine the possibility of suppressing OFB-induced noise in the optic-disc system by the technique of superposition of high-frequency current. The study is based on numerical integration of the time-delay rate equations of semiconductor lasers under OFB. The laser noise is evaluated in terms of the spectral profile of relative intensity noise (RIN). It is shown that RIN is enhanced when states of chaos are generated, and attains minimum levels under continuous-wave operation just before the laser starts the route to chaos. The suppression of RIN in the low-frequency regime is achieved when the superposition-current frequency exceeds the laser resonance frequency by factors of 0.8, 1.0, and 1.1 and when the modulation depth exceeds 0.4.     

Further Theoretical Investigations for Laser Relative Intensity Noise with Fiber Nonlinearities and Higher Order Dispersion

In this article, we theoretically investigate relative intensity noise (RIN) in optical communication systems with fiber nonlinearities due to optical Kerr effects and higher order dispersion. The impact of modulation frequencies, launch power, and laser bias current on RIN has been illustrated. We show that RIN increases with modulating frequencies up to the resonance frequency and launch power, and decreases in the laser bias current. We also show that higher order dispersion terms have no impact on the RIN, but with first order dispersion compensation the higher order dispersion terms have significant impact at high modulating frequencies. The RIN with and without fiber nonlinearities is further investigated. It has been shown that the RIN with fiber nonlinearity is more than the RIN without nonlinearity and the effect of nonlinearity appears at higher modulation frequencies only.     

Tunable 19 × 10 GHz L-band FP-SOA based multi-wavelength mode-locked fiber laser

We present a multi-wavelength mode-locked fiber ring laser incorporating a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and a Fabry-Perot semiconductor optical amplifier (FP-SOA). Because the gain of the SOA is depleted by an external injection optical signal, the SOA acts as a loss modulator. The FP-SOA serves as a tunable comb filter. The presented laser source can generate 19 synchronized wavelength channels with the extinction ratio of about 21 dB, each mode-locked at 10 GHz, and mode-locked pulse width is about 40 ps. Oscillation wavelengths band can be tuned by adjusting the bias current of the SOA, and wavelength spacing also can be changed by using a tunable optical delay line (ODL) or a temperature controller. The polarization-insensitive devices ensure that the output power is rather stable. This fiber laser has potential applications in longer waveband (L-band) within the low-attenuation window.