Improved dispersion tolerance of an optical duobinary transmitter based on a Mach-Zehnder modulator and an optical delay interferometer

We present a method for improving the dispersion tolerance of an optical duobinary transmitter based on a dual-arm Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator and an optical delay interferometer without electrical low-pass filters. Since such a duobinary modulator using a standard 1-bit delay cannot provide high dispersion tolerance, we investigated the impact of the modulator driving voltages and the bit delay in the interferometer to improve the transmitter’s dispersion tolerance.     

High-speed polarization mode dispersion compensation in a 43-Gb/s RZ-DQPSK transmission system over 1200 km of standard single-mode fibre

This paper reports that the designed optical polarization mode dispersion compensator shows a good performance under the real-time variation of differential group delay, state of polarization and principal state of polarization in a (40 × 43)-Gb/s dense-wavelength-multiplexing, 1200-km enhanced return-to-zero differential-quadrature-phase-shift-keying (RZ-DQPSK) system. The polarization mode dispersion tolerance of the system is improved by 26 ps using the optical polarization mode dispersion compensator. The short and long time stabilities are tested with the bit error ratio recorded.vspace1mm     

PMD tolerance in Stokes space based polarization de-multiplexing algorithms

We numerically investigate the polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) tolerance of Stokes space based polarization-demultiplexing (SSPolDemux) algorithms in optical transmission supported by coherent detection and digital signal processing. The PMD tolerance is evaluated as function of the ratio differential group delay over symbol period, allowing to identify a regime where SSPolDemux is performed practically without penalty (smaller than 1 dB), a regime where SSPolDemux is achievable but induces large penalties, and a third regime where SSPolDemux cannot be accomplished. Results show that coherent access/metro networks are the most evident and potentiating application scenarios for SSPolDemux techniques.     

Comprehensive research on self phase modulation based optical delay systems

This paper comprehensively investigates the properties of self phase modulation based optical delay systems consisting of dispersion compensation fibre and highly nonlinear fibres.It researches into the impacts of power level launched into highly nonlinear fibres,conversion wavelength,dispersion slope,modulation format and optical filter bandwidth on the overall performance of optical delay systems.The results reveal that,if the power launched into highly nonlinear fibres is fixed,the time delay generally varies linearly with the conversion wavelength,but jumps intermittently at some conversion wavelengths.However,the time delay varies semi-periodically with the power launched into highly nonlinear fibres.The dispersion slope of highly nonlinear fibres has significant influence on the time delay,especially for the negative dispersion slope.The time delay differs with modulation formats due to the different combined interaction of nonlinearity and dispersion in fibres.The bandwidth of the optical filters also greatly affects the time delay because it determines the bandwidth of the passed signal in the self phase modulation based time delay systems.The output signal quality of the overall time delay systems depends on the conversion wavelength and input power level.The optimisation of the power level and conversion wavelength to provide the best output signal quality is made at the end of this paper.     

Strained Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings Based all-fiber Variable Optical Delay Line for Optical Coherence Tomography

We present the novel all-fiber optical delay line that can be realized by exploiting the fundamental distributive reflection characteristics of a chirped fiber Bragg gratings (CFBG). With the assist of a strained CFBG and a designed fiber stretcher, the proposed delay line could perform the function (such as attainment of variable large enough optical delay without dispersion mismatch) of the conventional optical delay line within the optical fiber. While the strained CFBG produced 3.1 mm optical delay, the pair of CFBGs in the opposite direction can manage dispersion imbalance of the delay line. The use of the PZT-based fiber stretcher can enable depth scanning at a high repetition rate for real-time imaging. The performance of the delay element is demonstrated with measured experimental results. OCT system embedded with the all-fiber variable optical delay line showed the axial resolution of 100 μm and the dynamic range of 50 dB. The implemented system was used for the imaging of a biomedical sample, which proves the utility of the proposed delay element as a promising alternative of optical delay line.     

高精度光链路授时时延估算

授时系统中信号单程传输时延的估算直接影响到授时的精度, 环路时延测试是估算单程传输时延的方法之一。在光缆授时系统中光纤的色散特性将导致不同波长光信号在同一光链路中的传输时延存在差异, 基于G.652光纤的色散特性, 提出的时延差精确估算方法, 能够得到这种传输时延的差异。仿真显示来回链路工作波长在1.55 μm附近时, 此方法能够很好地补偿时延差, 从而精确估算信号传输时延。     

Investigation on characteristics of W-type fiber with an inner cladding made of negative refractive index materials

A doubly clad optical fiber with an inner cladding made of negative refractive index material was proposed and the modes distribution, dispersion and time delay were investigated by fully vectorial numerical method. The results indicate that HE₁₂ mode can be operated as a single mode, the cut-off frequency of modes shifts to low normalized frequency with increasing thickness of inner cladding made of negative index materials, large negative dispersion and time delay can be obtained and tailored by the inner cladding. These results provide theoretical basis for designing novel fibers or optical devices.     

Impact of PMD induced penalties on 40 Gb/s duobinary optical communication system for fixed and variable scattering section dispersion

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of 40 Gb/s duobianry optical transmitter for different scattering section dispersion and polarization-mode dispersion coefficient of single mode fiber. We observe that the variable scattering section dispersion considerably improves the performance of duobinary optical system as compared to fixed scattering section dispersion where the Q value fluctuates over wide frequency range. Also, duobinary system observes pulse delay of 7 ps for the fixed scattering section dispersion while there is no delay in the received output signal if variable scattering section dispersion is considered.     

Continuous adjustment of group delay by tuning the argument of coupling coefficient in microring coupled-resonator optical waveguides

We derive the dispersion relation of coupled-resonator optical waveguides (CROWs) without approximation. And, we use the exact dispersion relation of CROWs established to calculate the group delay of microring CROWs and obtain a result similar to the experimental result reported by Poon et al. Further, through numerical simulation with the parameters used to simulate the experimental result, we found that the output group delay of microring CROWs could be adjusted continuously by changing the argument of the coupling coefficient θ resulting from the shift of the dispersion band. But, the adjustment of output group delay was not linear and meticulous control of θ could lead to a more favorable adjustment of the output group delay. The continuous adjustment of group delay is of great significance for applications of microring CROWs in delay lines and optical buffers of future all-optical communication systems.     

General demonstration of principal states of polarization and real-time monitoring of polarization mode dispersion in optical fibres

We investigated the general properties of polarization effects in optical fibres and demonstrated the existence of socalled principal states of polarization (PSP), which mean the fixed points in mathematics, in different polarization effects,such as birefringence and polarization mode dispersion, by using fixed point theory. Furthermore, a time evolution vector is defined to describe the time evolution of polarization state in optical fibres, which is used to investigate the time evolution of polarization mode dispersion vector (PDV), including differential group delay and PSP. The experimental results of real-time monitoring of PDV by using this method are reported. To our knowledge, this is the first report on monitoring PSP evolution in optical fibres.     

A 7-bit photonic true-time-delay system based on an 8 × 8 MOEMS optical switch

We demonstrate a 7-bit photonic true-time-delay （TTD） system which uses an 8 × 8 micro-optical-electro- mechanical system （MOEMS） optical switch for phased array antennas （PAAs） beamforming applications. The switch controls the optical signal to pass by the fiber delay lines （FDLs） of different lengths. Different time delays between adjacent channels are obtained due to the chromatic dispersion of FDLs. Therefore, the system cannot be disturbed by the environment. The measured time delay responses are nearly linear with the wavelength spacing between optical carriers as well as the lengths of FDLs, which agrees well with the theoretical analysis.     

Single-shot tomography by means of VIPA and spatial phase modulator installed optical interferometer

A VIPA (virtually imaged phased array) installed optical interferometer has been proposed for scanless tomography. Also, a spatial phase modulator and a line-image sensor were installed into the interferometer to realize single-shot measurement by displaying the delay time on a line-image sensor. The correlation peak function was observed on the line-sensor at same time. The envelope of the peak was given by the inverse Fourier transformation of the light source spectrum. The peak position on the image-sensor reflects the sample structure. Furthermore, the correlation peaks are appeared repeatedly along the delay time of the interferometer. The repeated correlation function raise an alignment flexibility of the sample set position, which has been limited in the traditional time-domain interferometry involving the delay time to be zero. The flexibility was experimentally confirmed at 25 mm related to the VIPA coherency. The resolution was experimentally 52.5 μm when the ASE (amplified spontaneous emission) light source of the optical fiber amplifier was used. The single-shot measurement was realized by a line-image sensor of the 30 frames per second. The repeatability of the interfered peak position was 5 μm by the tunable mirror position. The one-dimensional scanless measurement was demonstrated by use of 3-layer glass plates.     

四能级系统极化拍频的不对称特性

在泵光为窄带或宽带的情形下,对四能级系统中极化拍频的不对称特性进行了研究,发现这种不对称特性是由于光学元件色散所导致的零延时的漂移引起的. 关键词：     

Linewidth Reduction in an Inversionless Laser with Pump phase Fluctuations

We have studied the asymmetric behavior of the polarization beats in a four-level system when the pump beams have either narrowband or broadband linewidth, we attribute this asymmetry to the shift of the zero time delay which is due to the dispersion of the optical components.     

Real-time dispersion compensation in scanning interferometry

We propose and demonstrate a method of real-time dispersion compensation suitable for scanning interferometry and optical coherence tomography. Static grating tilt in a scanning frequency-domain optical delay line is shown to produce dispersion that is linearly proportional to scan position, and we use this property to achieve depth-dependent dispersion compensation during an interferometric scan through a dispersive sample.     

Experimental demonstration and cascadability analysis of a tunable optical buffer based on a re-circulating loop consisting of optical SSB modulator and FBG filter

We demonstrate a tunable optical buffer with variable time delays for label switching applications using an optical single sideband modulator in a fiber Bragg grating-filter loop. This optical buffer realizes payload storage with optional wavelength conversion function, providing flexibility in packet router design. Small sensitivity penalty is observed in our experiment after the payload circulating in the buffer loop three times. The cascadability of the tunable optical buffer is investigated. We provide analysis of the optical signal to noise ratio degradation due to accumulated amplified spontaneous emission noise, and the penalty caused by loss ripple and group delay ripple of the fiber Bragg grating.     

Optical mm-wave generation by using external modulator based on optical carrier suppression

In this paper, we have theoretically investigated the transmission performance of the optical millimeter (mm)-wave generated by using an external modulator based on optical carrier suppression for the first time. According to our theory, the data signals carried by the optical mm-wave are transmitted in the dispersion fiber without fading but are degraded greatly because of the time shift of the code edges, which still limits the transmission distance. The experimental results agree well with our theory.     

Optical low-coherence reflectometry for complete chromatic dispersion characterization of few-mode fibers

A phase-sensitive optical low-coherence reflectometry (OLCR) technique is demonstrated to simultaneously measure the absolute chromatic dispersion values of each guided LP mode of a few-mode fiber. We show that the OLCR technique requires only short samples of fiber (<1 m) and has no need for high-ratio mode converters to reach an accurate wavelength-dependent group delay evolution of every mode. As an example we present for the first time to our knowledge a direct and complete analysis of few-mode fibers with high, low, positive, and negative modal dispersion values, leading to chromatic dispersion parameters in good agreement with theoretical predictions.     

Theoretical investigation of chirped mirrors in semiconductor lasers

This paper reports a theoretical design of chirped mirrors in 1.3-μm double-section semiconductor lasers to achieve high reflectivity and dispersion compensation over a broad bandwidth. Analytic expressions for reflectivity, group delay and group delay dispersion are derived. We use for the first time chirped air/semiconductor layer pairs as mirrors for higher-order dispersion compensation in semiconductor lasers. Our optimised calculations demonstrate that the broad-band mirrors designed consist of a total of only 12 air/semiconductor layers and achieve a reflectivity higher than 99.8%, a smooth group delay and almost stable dispersion in the laser cavity over a 100-nm bandwidth. Due to a high index contrast of both types of the layers, n _l = 1, n _h~ 3.5, a high-reflectivity bandwidth of > 700 nm is obtained in 1.3-μm semiconductor lasers. We also compare our results with that of a commercial simulation program and show a good agreement between them. As a conclusion, we assume from the theoretical results that air/semiconductor layer pairs with varying thicknesses used at one end of double-section semiconductor lasers can lead to femtosecond optical pulse generation using mode-locking techniques. An erratum to this article can be found at .     

All-optical tunable delay line based on wavelength conversion in semiconductor optical amplifiers and dispersion in dispersion-compensating fiber

We demonstrate an all-optical continuously tunable delay line system based on wavelength conversion in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), and group-velocity dispersion (GVD) in a dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF). The system operates, near 1550 nm, with a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) pattern at 10 Gb/s. A maximal optical delay up to 2700 ps is observed. The scheme achieves continuous control of a wide range of optical delays, wide signal bandwidth, nearly no pulse broadening, and very little spectral distortion.