Power limitations in fiber-optic frequency-division multiplexed systems

Abstract

Launch power is limited to the milliwatt level by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a single-channel, coherent fiber-optic network. Increasing the number of frequency-division multiplexed channels causes the power limit to decrease quickly to submilliwatt levels due to three-wave intermodulation to keep the signal-to-noise ratio from deteriorating significantly. As the number of channels increases, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) begins to dominate. If a maximum of 0.5–dB depletion in the highest-frequency channel is allowed, SRS dominates when the number of multiplexed channels reaches about 300. Generally, the launch-power-limiting phenomenon is dependent on the number of channels being multiplexed.     

Noise performance of multiplexed fiber-optic sensor systems with optical amplifiers

The signal to noise ratio (SNR) of a multiplexed fiber-optic sensor network can be improved by inserting fiber-optic amplifiers. Several configurations of amplifiers in the sensor network are analyzed. A single fiber-optic amplifier used as a preamplifier is a good solution with high SNR. However, by distributing amplifiers in the network even higher SNR can be obtained, and identical couplers can be used throughout the network.     

Complexity and synchronization in chaotic fiber-optic systems

In this work we investigate experimentally the complexity of chaotic attractors generated by a semiconductor laser subjected to optical feedback and associate their dimensionality with the synchronization efficiency of the corresponding chaotic transmitter-receiver configuration. The complexity is characterized by calculating the correlation dimension D₂ of experimental chaotic time series for different values of the optical feedback η. We present the effect of D₂ on the synchronization efficiency and determine the optimal operating condition that leads to the most complex chaotic carrier and, simultaneously, to the most successful synchronization. Lastly, we associate and explain our experimental results with theoretical predictions in the research literature.     

On timing Jitter in wavelength-division multiplexed soliton systems

Collision-induced timing shifts in a wavelength-division multiplexed soliton system are computed when damping, amplification, filtering and positive dispersion management following the loss profile are included. A statistical analysis is presented which takes into account the resulting effect of the large number of collisions occurring in the fiber. Analytic expressions are derived for the root mean square timing jitter and the maximum length of error-free transmission with an arbitrary number of channels. An extensive analysis of system performance corresponding to situations with and without filters and/or dispersion management is carried out.     

Power transients in time-division multiplexed discrete Raman fibre amplifier

In this paper, the effect of addition and/or dropping of wavelength-division multiplexed channels in an all-optical gain-clamped time-division multiplexed (TDM) pumped discrete Raman fibre amplifier (DRFA) has been investigated experimentally and analyzed by numerical simulation. Nineteen signals were amplified in a counter-directionally pumped DRFA consisting of long dispersion compensating fibre. Light of eight DFB lasers was square-wave modulated at to imitate channel addition/dropping and combined with signals from five 10 Gigabit Ethernet transmitters and with six continuous wave signals. Power transients of the surviving channels caused by cross-gain modulation of the DRFA were monitored at the output of the amplifier. All-optical feedback loop was implemented in the form of a ring laser. Theoretical analysis of the TDM-pumped DRFA was based on numerical solution of coupled propagation equations for backward propagating pumps, signals, and both forward and backward propagating spectral components of amplified spontaneous emission powers.     

Influence of Raman effects in wavelength-division multiplexed soliton systems

Taking into account the delayed Raman response, an expression for the collision-induced frequency shift is derived. In a wavelength-division multiplexed soliton system, solitons undergo cross-frequency shifts owing to collisions, which leads to timing jitter for transmission systems with bit rates of more than 40 Gbits/s per channel.     

Non-intrusive polarization dependent loss monitoring in fiber-optic transmission systems

A method for non-intrusively monitoring the polarization dependent loss (PDL) of an installed fiber-optic transmission system is proposed using live dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM)-based traffic as the probing signal. The method extracts the statistical parameters of system PDL from the measured partial PDL data. Field measurements of PDL were performed on long-haul DWDM systems deployed in Sprint’s network and the results validated our theoretical model.     

Maximum achievable crosstalk isolation in full-duplex single-strand fiber-optic systems

A simple theoretical derivation of the maximum cross-talk isolation achievable in full-duplex single-strand multi-mode fiber-optic systems operating at a single wavelength is performed. For a commercial fiber of 1 km length with a total attanuation of 8 dB/km and a NA of 0.16, the measured cross-talk isolation was 42 dB for a single 130 ns, 0.9 μm pulse in agreement with the theory.     

Joint nonlinearity and chromatic dispersion pre-compensation for coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing systems

This paper introduces a joint nonlinearity and chromatic dispersion pre-compensation method for coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing systems. The research results show that this method can reduce the walk-off effect and can therefore equalize the nonlinear impairments effectively. Compared with the only other existing nonlinearity pre-compensation method, the joint nonlinearity and chromatic dispersion pre-compensation method is not only suitable for low-dispersion optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing system, but also effective for high-dispersion optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing transmission system with higher input power but without optical dispersion compensation. The suggested solution does not increase computation complexity compared with only nonlinearity pre-compensation method. For 40 Gbit/s coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing 20×80 km standard single-mode fibre system, the suggested method can improve the nonlinear threshold (for Q > 10 dB) about 2.7, 1.2 and 1.0 dB, and the maximum Q factor about 1.2, 0.4 and 0.3 dB, for 2, 8 and 16 ps/(nm·km) dispersion coefficients.     

Integration of quantum cryptography into fiber-optic telecommunication systems

The prototype of a new quantum cryptosystem is described. Such a cryptosystem is naturally called time-shift quantum cryptography. It realizes all basic quantum-cryptography protocols [BB84, B92, BB84(4+2)] in a common fiber-optic system. This scheme does not involve Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which enables one to naturally realize the multiplex mode of secure key distribution and to naturally integrate this quantum-cryptography scheme into traditional fiber-optic telecommunication systems. The proposed time coding method in quantum cryptography makes it possible to significantly simplify experimental schemes and to exclude the finest fiber-optic part, the interferometer. In essence, the fundamental difference of the time coding method from the phase coding method is that the part using phase relations in superposition between “parts” of a quantum state is eliminated from the phase-coding method, and only the part using the time division principle is retained. The time division principle is common for both methods and is minimally necessary, in contrast to the phasecoding method, which can be excluded altogether. The proposed scheme is briefly compared with the two most developed phase-coding schemes (without self-compensation and with passive self-compensation).     

Modal noise in single-mode fiber-optic systems with closely spaced splices

Modal noise can be a problem in single-mode fiber-optic systems when short lengths of fiber are spliced into the system. Previous analyses have dealt only with lengths greater than 1 m. With very short lengths (< < 1 m), noise is not a problem, but modal interference can still manifest itself in the form of a time-invariant attenuation. Modal interference must be considered in the design of components that utilize very short pieces of fiber.     

Synchronization of randomly multiplexed chaotic systems with application to communication

Synchronized chaotic systems have recently been applied to the area of secure communications in a variety of ways. At the same time, there have also been significant advances in deciphering messages masked by chaotic signals. It is important, therefore, to explore more secure approaches to using chaos in communication. We show that multiple chaotic systems can be synchronized through a scalar coupling which carries a stochastic signal generated by random multiplexing of the source systems. This approach, which is a variant of the active-passive decomposition method, promises enhanced security in chaos-based communication.     

Soliton collisions with wavelength-division multiplexed systems with strong dispersion management

We investigate collisions between solitons in a lossless two-channel wavelength-division multiplexed system with strong dispersion management. Numerical results show that the net frequency shift that is due to interchannel collisions is at least 1 order of magnitude smaller than predicted by adiabatic theories. A modified theoretical analysis is presented and shown to be in good agreement with the numerical results.     

Intrachannel nonlinearity enhancement in polarization multiplexed phase modulated systems with differential detection

We compare nonlinear impairments in phase-modulated transmission with and without polarization multiplexing. Using an analytic approach that enabled us to accurately predict the Q factor at the receiver, we show that, without polarization multiplexing, the differential receiver is insensitive to two-pulse cross phase modulation, whereas with polarization multiplexing two-pulse interaction between cross-polarized components causes significant performance degradation.     

Power limitations of the cw He-Hg laser

The variation of output power with discharge current in the hollow-cathode cw He-Hg laser has been investigated. In strong contrast to the comparable data for the positive-column discharge, the 6150 Å transition shows no turnover in output power with increasing current. Laser powers approaching 100 mW (cw) have been achieved at 6150 Å using a 3mm-bore, 50cm-long tube. Investigation of the excitation mechanisms for the 6150 and 7945 Å transitions confirms both are excited by thermal energy charge transfer reactions.     

Kinetic limitations of cooperativity-based drug delivery systems

We study theoretically a novel drug delivery system that utilizes the overexpression of certain proteins in cancerous cells for cell-specific chemotherapy. The system consists of dendrimers conjugated with "keys" (ex: folic acid) which "key-lock" bind to particular cell-membrane proteins (ex: folate receptor). The increased concentration of "locks" on the surface leads to a longer residence time for the dendrimer and greater incorporation into the cell. Cooperative binding of the nanocomplexes leads to an enhancement of cell specificity. However, both our theory and detailed analysis of in vitro experiments indicate that the degree of cooperativity is kinetically limited. We demonstrate that cooperativity and hence the specificity to particular cell type can be increased by making the strength of individual bonds weaker, and suggest a particular implementation of this idea.     

Generation and dynamics of ghost pulses in strongly dispersion-managed fiber-optic communication systems

We investigate the nonlinear generation and dynamics of ghost pulses in high-speed strongly dispersion-managed fiber-optic communication systems. Particular consideration is given to the importance of system parameters for the properties of the emerging ghost pulses. Conclusions are drawn about the growth rate and the temporal position of the ghost pulses in different systems.     

Aperiodic power exchange due to parametric frequency generation in multiplexed optical fibre systems

We theoretically investigate parametric frequency generation and nonlinear power exchange in optical frequency division (or wavelength division) multiplexed single-mode optical fibre systems. When the initial signal powers are sufficiently high the different waves will exchange power due to the four-wave mixing process. We show that even in the simplest case of two input signals the resulting power exchange may demonstrate chaotic behaviour.     

Construction of fiber-optic bundle light-collection systems and calculations of collection efficiency

This paper describes the position-sensitive light-collection system that we use in our fast-beam laser experiments. The collection system consists of fiber-optic bundles whose facets are arranged to accept light emitted from a beam of fluorescent atoms. The flexibility of the fiber bundles allows their use in scanning collection systems with precise position sensitivity. We describe calculations of geometrical collection efficiency using a numerical integration scheme and compare the results with measurements. We also compare the collection efficiencies of the different fiber bundle arrangements that we used as our apparatus evolved with the implementation of various improvements.