System Performance and Limits of Optical Modulation Formats in Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Systems

In this paper we investigate in OptSim software environment the system performance of intensity and phase modulation formats for different network scenarios and dense wavelength division multiplexing grids. OptSim employs the Time Domain Split Step method to implement the signal distribution equation in a fiber. We investigate intensity formats, such as Non Return to Zero, Return to Zero, Carrier- Suppressed Return to Zero and DuoBinary, and phase modulation formats like Differential Phase-Shift Keying and Differential Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying. The main goal is to compare these formats in terms of bit error rate, Q-factor, optical reach and grid limitations for transmission rates 10, 40 and 100 Gbps per channel and discuss the possibilities of increasing their spectral efficiency. We also focus on other advanced solutions such as the polarization division multiplexing combined with phase modulations, coherent detection and advanced digital signal processing which mainly benefits in spectral efficiency, optical signal to noise ratio and chromatic dispersion tolerances

Optical code-division multiple access system and optical signal processing

This thesis presents our recent researches on the development of coding devices, the investigation of security and the design of systems in the optical cod-division multiple access (OCDMA) systems. Besides, the techniques of nonlinear signal processing used in the OCDMA systems fire our imagination, thus some researches on all-optical signal processing are carried out and also summarized in this thesis. Two fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based coding devices are proposed. The first coding device is a superstructured FBG (SSFBG) using ±π/2-phase shifts instead of conventional 0/π-phase shifts. The ±π/2-phase-shifted SSFBG en/decoders can not only conceal optical codes well in the encoded signals but also realize the reutilization of available codes by hybrid use with conventional 0/π-phase-shifted SSFBG en/decoders. The second FBG based coding device is synthesized by layer-peeling method, which can be used for simultaneous optical code recognition and chromatic dispersion compensation. Then, two eavesdropping schemes, one-bit delay interference detection and differential detection, are demonstrated to reveal the security vulnerability of differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) and code-shift keying (CSK) OCDMA systems. To address the security issue as well as increase the transmission capacity, an orthogonal modulation format based on DPSK and CSK is introduced into the OCDMA systems. A 2 bit/symbol 10 Gsymbol/s transmission system using the orthogonal modulation format is achieved. The security of the system can be partially guaranteed. Furthermore, a fully-asynchronous gigabit-symmetric OCDMA passive optical network (PON) is proposed, in which a self-clocked time gate is employed for signal regeneration. A remodulation scheme is used in the PON, which let downstream and upstream share the same optical carrier, allowing optical network units source-free. An error-free 4-user 10 Gbit/s/user duplex transmission over 50 km distance is reazlied. A versatile waveform generation scheme is then studied. A theoretical model is established and a waveform prediction algorithm is summarized. In the demonstration, various waveforms are generated including short pulse, trapezoidal, triangular and sawtooth waveforms and doublet pulse. ii In addition, an all-optical simultaneous half-addition and half-subtraction scheme is achieved at an operating rate of 10 GHz by using only two semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) without any assist light. Lastly, two modulation format conversion schemes are demonstrated. The first conversion is from NRZ-OOK to PSK-Manchester coding format using a SOA based Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The second conversion is from RZ-DQPSK to RZ-OOK by employing a supercontinuum based optical thresholder

Optical Delay Interferometers and their Application for Self-coherent Detection

Self-coherent receivers are promising candidates for reception of 100 Gbit/s data rates in optical networks. Self-coherent receivers consist of multiple optical delay interferometers (DI) with high-speed photodiodes attached to the outputs. By DSP of the photo currents it becomes possible to receive coherently modulated optical signals. Especially promising for 100 Gbit/s networks is the PolMUX DQPSK format, the self-coherent reception of which is described in detail

Detection and processing of phase modulated optical signals at 40 Gbit/s and beyond

This thesis addresses demodulation in direct detection systems and signal processing of high speed phase modulated signals in future all-optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) communication systems where differential phase shift keying (DPSK) or differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) are used to transport information. All-optical network functionalities -such as optical labeling, wavelength conversion and signal regeneration- are experimentally investigated. Direct detection of phase modulated signals requires phase-to-intensity modulation conversion in a demodulator at the receiver side. This is typically implemented in a one bit delay Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). Two alternative ways of performing phase-to-intensity modulation conversion are presented. Successful demodulation of DPSK signals up to 40 Gbit/s is demonstrated using the proposed two devices. Optical labeling has been proposed as an efficient way to implement packet routing and forwarding functionalities in future IP-over-WDM networks. An in-band subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) labeled signal using 40 Gbit/s DSPK payload and 25 Mbit/s non return-to-zero(NRZ) SCM label, is successfully transmitted over 80 km post-compensated non-zero dispersion shifted fiber (NZDSF) span. Using orthogonal labeling, an amplitude shift keying (ASK)/DPSK labeled signal using 40 Gbit/s return-to-zero (RZ) payload and 2.5 Gbit/s DPSK label, is generated. WDM transmission and label swapping are demonstrated for such a signal. In future all-optical WDM networks, wavelength conversion is an essential functionality to provide wavelength flexibility and avoid wavelength blocking. Using a 50 m long highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (HNL-PCF), with a simple four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme, wavelength conversion of single channel and multi-channel high-speed DPSK signals is presented. Wavelength conversion of an 80 Gbit/s RZ-DPSK-ASK signal generated by combining different modulation formats is also reported. Amplitude distortion accumulated over transmission spans will eventually be converted into nonlinear phase noise, and consequently degrade the performance of systems making use of RZ-DPSK format. All-optical signal regeneration avoiding O-E-O conversion is desired to improve signal quality in ultra long-haul transmission systems. Proof-of-principle numerical simulation results are provided, that suggest the amplitude regeneration capability based on FWM in a highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). The first reported experimental demonstration of amplitude equalization of 40 Gbit/s RZ-DPSK signals using a 500 m long HNLF is presented. Using four possible phase levels to carry the information, DQPSK allows generation of high-speed optical signals at bit rate that is twice the operating speed of the electronics involved. Generation of an 80 Gbit/s DQPSK signal is demonstrated using 40 Gbit/s equipment. The first demonstration of wavelength conversion of such a high-speed signal is implemented using FWM in a 1 km long HNLF. No indication of error floor is observed. Using polarization multiplexing and combination of DQPSK with ASK and RZ pulse carving at a symbol rate of 40 Gbaud, a 240 Gbit/s RZ-DQPSK-ASK signal is generated and transmitted over 50 km fiber span with no power penalty. In summary, we show that direct detection and all-optical signal processing -including optical labeling, wavelength conversion and signal regeneration- that already have been studied intensively for signals using conventional on-off keying (OOK) format, can also be successfully implemented for high-speed phase modulated signals. The results obtained in this work are believed to enhance the feasibility of phase modulation in future ultra-high speed spectrally efficient optical communication systems

A survey on OFDM-based elastic core optical networking

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technology that has been widely adopted in many new and emerging broadband wireless and wireline communication systems. Due to its capability to transmit a high-speed data stream using multiple spectral-overlapped lower-speed subcarriers, OFDM technology offers superior advantages of high spectrum efficiency, robustness against inter-carrier and inter-symbol interference, adaptability to server channel conditions, etc. In recent years, there have been intensive studies on optical OFDM (O-OFDM) transmission technologies, and it is considered a promising technology for future ultra-high-speed optical transmission. Based on O-OFDM technology, a novel elastic optical network architecture with immense flexibility and scalability in spectrum allocation and data rate accommodation could be built to support diverse services and the rapid growth of Internet traffic in the future. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on OFDM-based elastic optical network technologies, including basic principles of OFDM, O-OFDM technologies, the architectures of OFDM-based elastic core optical networks, and related key enabling technologies. The main advantages and issues of OFDM-based elastic core optical networks that are under research are also discussed

Digital Linearization of High Capacity and Spectrally Efficient Direct Detection Optical Transceivers

Metropolitan area networks are experiencing unprecedented traffic growth. The provision of information and entertainment supported by cloud services, broadband video and mobile technologies such as long-term evolution (LTE) and 5G are creating a rapidly increasing demand for bandwidth. Although wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) architectures have been introduced into metro transport networks to provide significant savings over single-channel systems, to cope with the ever-increasing traffic growth, it is urgently required to deploy higher data rates (100 Gb/s and beyond) for each WDM channel. In comparison to dual-polarization digital coherent transceivers, single-polarization and single photodiode-based direct-detection (DD) transceivers may be favourable for metropolitan, inter-data centre and access applications due to their use of a simple and low-cost optical hardware structure. Single sideband (SSB) quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) subcarrier modulation (SCM) is a promising signal format to achieve high information spectral density (ISD). However, due to the nonlinear effect termed signal-signal beat interference (SSBI) caused by the square-law detection, the performance of such SSB SCM DD systems is severely degraded. Therefore, it is essential to develop effective and low-complexity linearization techniques to eliminate the SSBI penalty and improve the performance of such transceivers. Extensive studies on SSB SCM DD transceivers employing a number of novel digital linearization techniques to support high capacity (≥ 100 Gb/s per channel) and spectrally-efficient (net ISD > 2 b/s/Hz) WDM transmission covering metropolitan reach scenarios (up to 240 km) are described in detail in this thesis. Digital modulation formats that can be used in DD links and the corresponding transceiver configurations are firstly reviewed, from which the SSB SCM signalling format is identified as the most promising format to achieve high data rates and ISDs. Following this, technical details of the digital linearization approaches (iterative SSBI cancellation, single-stage linearization filter and simplified non-iterative SSBI cancellation, two-stage linearization filter, Kramers-Kronig scheme) considered in the thesis are presented. Their compensation performance in a dispersion pre-compensated (Tx-EDC) 112 Gb/s per channel 35 GHz-spaced WDM SSB 16-QAM Nyquist-SCM DD system transmitting over up to 240 km standard single-mode fibre (SSMF) is assessed. Net ISDs of up to 3.18 b/s/Hz are achieved. Moreover, we also show that, with the use of effective digital linearization techniques, further simplification of the DD transceivers can be realized by moving electronic dispersion compensation from the transmitter to the receiver without sacrificing performance. The optical ISD limit of SSB SCM DD system finally explored through experiments with higher-order modulation formats combined with effective digital linearization techniques. 168 Gb/s per channel WDM 64-QAM signals were successfully transmitted over 80 km, achieving a record net optical ISD of 4.54 b/s/Hz. Finally, areas for further research are identified

Single-Laser Multi-Terabit/s Systems

Optical communication systems carry the bulk of all data traffic worldwide. This book introduces multi-Terabit/s transmission systems and three key technologies for next generation networks. A software-defined multi-format transmitter, an optical comb source and an optical processing scheme for the fast Fourier transform for Tbit/s signals. Three world records demonstrate the potential: The first single laser 10 Tbit/s and 26 Tbit/s OFDM and the first 32.5 Tbit/s Nyquist WDM experiments