All-optical synchronization of a 40 GHz self-pulsating distributed Bragg reflector laser to return-to-zero 10, 20 and 40 Gbit/s data streams

This paper presents experimental investigations of the all-optical synchronization of a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser self-pulsating at 40 GHz on various injected bit-rate signals. Even though there is no modulation applied to this laser, it exhibits a modulation of its output emission, measured at 39.7 GHz with a linewidth of 30 MHz. Such performance is exploited in all-optical clock recovery for a return-to-zero data stream at 40 Gbit/s. The SP-DBR laser wavelength and the injected signal wavelength are 10 nm apart. All-optical synchronization is demonstrated at 40 Gbit/s with a linewidth of less than 20 MHz for injected signals at 10 and 20 Gbit/s, respectively. Thus the SP-DBR laser proves to be very versatile and can be synchronized on various bit-rate data signals.     

Impact of channel baud-rate on logarithmic digital backward propagation in DP-QPSK system with uncompensated transmission links

We numerically investigate the impact of channel baud-rate on the performance of logarithmic step-size based spilt-step Fourier method (SSFM). This algorithm is used to implement digital backward propagation (DBP) to efficiently compensate fiber chromatic dispersion (CD) and non-linearities (NL). The DBP method is implemented in N-channel dual-polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) transmission over 2000 km standard single mode fiber (SMF) with no in-line optical dispersion compensation. We investigate the same-capacity and same-bandwidth transmission systems with 56 Gbit/s/ch (14 GBaud), 112 Gbit/s/ch (28 GBaud) and 224 Gbit/s/ch (56 GBaud). Each system has the bandwidth occupancy of 500 GHz with a total transmission capacity of 1.12 Tbit/s. Moreover, we have also compared the multiple channel transmission performance with single channel transmission to quantify the impact of inter-channel (cross-phase modulation ‘XPM’ and four-wave mixing ‘FWM’) and intra-channel (self-phase modulation ‘SPM’) non-linearities. The logarithmic step-size based DBP algorithm (L-DBP) depicts efficient mitigation of CD and NL impairments. The benefit of the logarithmic step-size is the reduced complexity and computational time for higher baud-rate transmission systems.     

Performance enhanced down-stream signalling for next generation long-reach 10 Gbit/s passive optical networks

In this paper, we have analyzed the signal processing methods both in digital and optical domain to enhance the transmission performance of downstream signalling in long reach passive optical networks (LR-PONs). The impact of non-linear (NL) equalization through signal processing, i.e. Volterra Equalization (VE), Digital Backpropagation (BP) and Optical Phase Conjugation with Non-linearity Module (OPC-NM) is investigated, in 10 Gbit/s (XG) DP-QPSK long-reach wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) PONs without midspan repeaters over 120 km standard single mode fibre (SMF) link for down-stream signals. Due to the compensation of optical Kerr effects, the sensitivity penalty is reduced to 2 dB by BP algorithm, 1.5 dB by VE algorithm and 2.69 dB by OPC-NM. Moreover, with the implementation of NL equalization technique we are able to get the transmission distance of 126.6 km SMF for the 1:1024 split-ratio at 5 GHz channel spacing in the non-linear region. Furthermore, the concept of super passive optical network (S-PON) is also evaluated, which involves a repeater stage consisting of optical amplifiers, to study the feasibility for receiver side signal processing and simplification.     

Optical 3R regeneration of 40 Gbit/s degraded data signals

A 40 Gbit/s optical 3R regenerator is proposed and demonstrated. The 3R regenerator consists of a dual-ring injection mode-locked fiber ring laser as the clock recovery module and an electroabsorption modulator (EAM) as the decision gate. The clock recovery module extracts the optical short pulse clock with low timing jitter from degraded 40 Gbit/s optical data streams, while the decision gate restores their signal quality. A numerical model describing the cross-absorption modulation effect in a bulk EAM is developed to explore the operating conditions, such as bias voltage, pump signal power. The timing jitter tolerance for the EAM optical gate is also investigated. Significantly improvement of BER is obtained from 40 Gbit/s RZ signals which are degraded by polarization mode dispersion or chromatic dispersion.     

Absolute polar duty cycle division multiplexing over wavelength division multiplexing system

The performance of absolute polar duty cycle division multiplexing (AP-DCDM) over wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system is presented based on the simulation results. The AP-DCDM signal has narrower bandwidth than conventional time division multiplexing (TDM) signal, which makes its implementation in WDM system advantageous. In this paper, characteristics of AP-DCDM and TDM signals in WDM system are compared at the speed of 40 Gbit/s per channel, for the minimum allowed channel spacing and the chromatic dispersion tolerance. The results clearly show that AP-DCDM performs significantly better than TDM. By using AP-DCDM, 1.28 Tbit/s (32 × 40 Gbit/s) was successfully transmitted over 320 km standard single mode fiber. Spectral efficiency of 0.64 b/s/Hz was achieved by using 10 Gbit/s transmitters and receivers without polarization multiplexing.     

Robustness estimation of software-synchronized all-optical sampling for fiber communication systems

The robustness of the software-synchronized all-optical sampling for optical performance monitoring is estimated for 10-Gb/s fiber communication systems. It reveals that the software-synchronized algorithm is sensitive to the signal degradation caused by chromatic dispersion and nonlinearity in optical fibers. The influence of timing jitter and amplitude fluctuation of the sampling pulses is also investigated. It is found that stringent requirements are imposed on the quality of the sampling pulse and the tolerance of 1-dB Q penalty is measured. Considering the practically available optical sampling pulse sources, the results indicate that the amplitude fluctuation of the sampling pulses has the dominant impacts on the software-synchronized method.     

Performance improvement and wavelength reuse in millimeter-wave radio-over-fiber links incorporating all-fiber optical interleaver

Simultaneous downlink performance improvement and uplink wavelength reuse in a full-duplex millimeter-wave (MMW) radio-over-fiber (RoF) system by using a simple and cost-effective all-fiber optical interleaver are proposed and demonstrated. The MMW RoF downlink performance improvement is based on suppressing optical carrier-to-sideband ratio (OCSR), with which the mechanism is confirmed by theoretic analysis and derived experimental results. Measured results show that, by suppressing OCSR using a fabricated all-fiber optical interleaver, the downlink optical receiver sensitivity is improved about 2.1 dB. The downlink data rate is 1.25 Gbit/s and the carrier frequency is 58.1 GHz; the link consists of 6 km optical single-mode fiber and 1 m wireless connection. On the other hand, with the interleaver suppressing downlink OCSR, simultaneously an optical carrier is recovered from the RoF downlink and is reused for RoF uplink transmission. The uplink is operated at 62.9 GHz and the data rate is the same 1.25 Gbit/s. With the recovered optical carrier, a laser-free remote access point is achieved. The principle, structure, and fabrication of an all-fiber optical interleaver are also presented in this paper.     

Numerical study of an optical regenerator exploiting self-phase modulation and spectral offset filtering at 40 Gbit/s

In this work, we numerically investigate the performances of optical regenerators based on self-phase modulation and spectral offset filtering at 40 Gbit/s. We outline the different effects affecting the device performances and explain the choice of the optimal working power. The impact of the regenerator on the output signal is also analysed through a statistical approach. Both single- and double-stage configurations are investigated.     

High speed optical sampling covering C band and L band using CPPLN waveguide

Two means of high speed optical sampling covering C band and L band based on sum frequency generation (SFG) in chirped periodically poled LiNbO₃(CPPLN) waveguide are studied in this paper. For the first method, arbitrary waveband inside C and L band can be sampled by tuning pump wavelength and the bandwidth is controllable by choosing suitable waveguide length and chirped coefficient of CPPLN waveguide. For another, the broad bandwidth covering C band and L band can be obtained with a fixed pump. The numerical simulations based on coupled-wave equations are carried out. The NRZ sequences of 10 Gb/s and 640 Gb/s transmission rate are sampled in simulation. Distinct eye diagrams and quality factors (Q) are obtained by software-synchronized algorithm. The results show that the two means of the optical sampling both can cover C band and L band. SFG in CPPLN waveguide used for optical sampling system has a broad bandwidth and more flexible selectivity.     

Analysis and experiment of all-optical time-interleaved multi-channel regeneration based on higher-order four-wave mixing in a fiber

Simultaneous all-optical multi-channel regeneration based on second-order four-wave mixing (FWM) in a single highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) is studied. Interchannel crosstalk, especially cross gain saturation and generation of interchannel FWM, is avoided by properly time-interleaved channels. Preliminary experiment of 2 ch × 10 Gbit/s operation shows simultaneous noise reduction of the two channels and good agreement with numerical analysis. Numerical investigation on 2 ch × 40 Gbit/s operation using the same parameters as the experiment shows that the regeneration can improve qualities of both channels. For more number of channels and higher speed of operation, several parameters need to be adjusted to avoid interchannel crosstalks. Time synchronization techniques for the input channels are also discussed.     

RZ-DPSK transmission at 80 Gbit/s channel rate using in-line semiconductor optical amplifiers

We numerically demonstrate the feasibility of return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying transmission at 80 Gbit/s channel rate using cascaded in-line semiconductor optical amplifiers.     

A novel multilevel coding technique for high speed optical fiber communication systems

This paper delineates a novel coding technique, a combination of coding and multiplexing technique, known as mapping multiplexing technique (MMT). A mapping algorithm is used to multiplex four channels, each of which running at 10 Gbit/s. Up to four bits per symbol at a symbol rate of 10 Gboud was successfully transmitted over a single wavelength. Compare to the conventional return to zero (RZ) and none-return to zero (NRZ)-time division multiplexing (TDM) more than 75% and 50% reduction in the spectral width are achieved, respectively. Calculated chromatic dispersion tolerance of ±130 ps/nm is achieved for the 40 Gbit/s MMT transmission system at the expense of ∼2 dB degradation in the receiver sensitivity (compared to NRZ) due to an increase in the number of levels and in the signal dependency of signal-spontaneous beat noise. In comparison with conventional 4-ary system, the proposed system depicts ∼6.5 dB improvement in terms of receiver sensitivity.     

Investigation of multiwavelength clock recovery based on heterodyne beats of sideband-filtered signal

We investigate a new parallel all-optical clock recovery scheme based on heterodyne beats of an optical sideband-filtered signal. The oscillating clock signal is recovered when the filtered sideband is combined with a stable local oscillator. The filtering is performed with an optical resonator, which by nature provides possibility for multiwavelength operation. The local oscillator could be realized by a multiwavelength laser, whose emission wavelengths are injection seeded with carrier wavelengths of the input data. The output signal of such a configuration benefits from a reduced bit-pattern effect and a stable offset level. The sideband filtering is demonstrated for 23 simultaneous channels at 100 GHz DWDM grid, each hosting a data stream of 10 Gbit/s.     

Influence of temperature and environment humidity on the transmission spectrum of sol-gel hybrid channel waveguides

Hybrid materials produced by the hydrolytic sol-gel process reveal strong absorption in the spectral region of 1550 nm, mainly due to the high concentration of OH groups. This characteristic constitutes an obstacle to the application of these materials, in particular to telecom integrated optical devices. A simple thermal treatment applied to the device does not contribute to increase the transparency. The real-time influence of temperature and environment humidity on the optical transmission properties of sol-gel organic-inorganic raised channel waveguides is analyzed in order to achieve an understanding of the OH group’s behaviour in the materials. We demonstrate that the level of the optical losses at 1550 nm can significantly be decreased at high temperature. Cooling the sample in dry atmosphere makes it possible to reach a better transparency, which can be useful to improve the performance of hybrid sol-gel optical devices.     

Optical millimeter-wave generation and transmission system for 1.25 Gbit/s downstream link using a gain switched laser

In this paper, we propose a novel and cost effective system for optical millimeter-wave (mm-wave) generation and transmission of downstream data based on a gain switched laser (GSL). The GSL produces an optical comb spectrum that can be appropriately filtered to generate two optical sidebands spaced by more than 4 times the repetition rate of the GSL. These sidebands are modulated by baseband data and then transmitted via optical fiber to the remote antenna unit (RAU). At the RAU, the two sidebands are heterodyned using a photodetector to generate the electrical modulated mm-wave signal, before demodulation using self mixing. We demonstrate the distribution of 1.25 Gbit/s data OOK modulated onto a 60 GHz carrier, similar to that used in the IEEE 802.15.3c draft standard, over fiber lengths up to 62 km.     

Photonic generation of 60 GHz-band vector signals for RoF systems based on optical vector signal down-conversion

A novel photonic method of 60 GHz-band vector signal generation for RoF systems based on optical vector signal down-conversion is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. In the proposed method, the target vector signals are first generated in the optical domain with the help of mature commercial optical devices and then directly distributed to the base stations (BSs) through the fiber link. The generated vector signals can be automatically down-converted to the 60 GHz band in the BSs after O/E conversion, and then directly transmitted to the users without any further processing. With the proposed method, higher spectrum efficiency and system capacity will be obtained compared with the traditional OOK RoF systems while almost no extra system complexity and cost is brought in. According to the characteristics of different types of vector signals, two particular modulation schemes are provided, which are then verified by corresponding simulations and experiments. In the experimental 60 GHz RoF system, the 622 MSym/s 60 GHz-band 8-QAM and 4-QAM signals generated with two different schemes respectively are successfully transmitted over 50 km SMF and 5 m wireless channel without any compensation, and the power penalty are both about 1.7 dB at the BER of 10^− 9.     

Enhanced performance analysis of 10 Gbit/s optical OFDM-RoF transmission links

In this paper, we have presented analysis of 10 Gbit/s optical OFDM-RoF transmissions links with distance of 50 km and reported the improved performance by usage of a square root module (SQRT).     

All-optical clock recovery of 20 Gbit/s NRZ-DPSK signals using polarization-maintaining fiber loop mirror filter and semiconductor optical amplifier fiber ring laser

All-optical clock recovery (CR) from 20 Gbit/s nonreturn-to-zero differential phase-shift-keying (NRZ-DPSK) signals are demonstrated experimentally by using a polarization-maintaining fiber loop mirror filter (PMF-LMF) and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) fiber ring laser. Only by adjusting polarization controller (PC), NRZ-DPSK signals were conveniently and fast converted to pseudo return-to-zero (PRZ) signal via PMF-LMF. Then the PRZ signals are injected into the SOA fiber laser for CR. The recovered clock signals is with the extinction ratio (ER) of 10 dB and the root-mean-square (RMS) timing jitter of 750 fs in 2³¹ − 1 long pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) NRZ-DPSK signals measurement. Moreover, the broad wavelength tunability of recovered clock stemmed from the use of SOAs as modulator and the gain medium are shown too.     

All-optical clock extraction from 10-Gbit/s NRZ-DPSK data using modal interference in a two-mode fiber

All-optical clock extraction from a 10-Gbit/s NRZ-DPSK input signal is demonstrated using modal interference in a two-mode fiber (TMF) and a mode-locked fiber ring laser. The TMF has a Mach-Zehnder configuration with two arms along the core and cladding regions. Using the difference in propagation delay between two arms, the non-return-to-zero differential phase shift keying (NRZ-DPSK) signal is converted to the return-to-zero on-off keying (RZ-OOK) signal. To obtain repetitive pulses as a clock signal from the RZ-OOK signal, a ring laser with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is used. Subsequently, the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the RZ-OOK and clock signals are enhanced up to 30 dB and 40 dB, respectively, compared to that of the original NRZ-DPSK signal. Also, the clock signal centered at 10 GHz has a low timing jitter of <1.6 ps. It is expected that this method can be applied to high speed fiber-optic systems of >10 Gbit/s due to its small time delay between the core and cladding regions.     

An improved channel estimation method for a WDM transmission system derived from the CO-OFDM with PDM 64-QAM

In this study, firstly we presented a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) transmission system derived from the coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) with polarization division multiplexing (PDM) and 64 order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). We then proposed an improved channel estimation method based on discrete Fourier transform for the system to further improve the performance of the WDM transmission system. Under the experimental conditions employed, the principle and the spectral efficiency of the system, including a proposed algorithm to improve its performance (e.g. the robustness of the transmission impairments of the system) were studied. The simulations results demonstrated that our method improved the system efficient significantly. The system signal at 24 Tb/s can achieve a spectral efficiency of 12.5 bit/s/Hz up to a distance of 2000 km.