Characterization of wavelength tunable lasers for use in wavelength packet switched networks

The telecom industry's greatest challenge, and the optical systems and components vendors' biggest opportunity is enabling providers to expand their data services. The solution lies in making optical networks more responsive to customer needs, i.e., making them more rapidly adaptable. One possible technique to achieve this is to employ wavelength tunable optical transmitters. The importance of tunability grows greater every year, as the average number of channels deployed on DWDM platforms increases. By deploying tunable lasers it is much easier to facilitate forecasting, planning and last minute changes in the network. This technology provides with solution for inventory reduction. It also offers solution for fast switching at packet level. The conducted research activities of the project was divided in two work packages: 1. Full static characterization-the laser used in the experiment was a butterfly-packaged Sampled Grating DBR laser with four electrically tunable sections. LabView programme was developed for distant control of the equipment and the laser itself. The parameters required for creating a look-up table with the exact currents for the four sections of the laser, namely wavelength, side mode suppression ratio and output power, were transferred to tables. Based on those tables the currents were defined for each of the 96 different accessible channels. The channel allocation is based on the 50 GHz spacing grid. A detailed analysis of the tuning mechanisms is provided. 2. Dynamic characterization and BER performance in wavelength packet switched WDM systems-a commercially available module was used supplied with the software package for controlling the wavelength channels and setting the laser to switch between any accessible channel. The laser is DBR laser without SOA integration so the dynamic tunability can be investigated. As the switching in the nanosecond regime is executed in the electrical domain, analysis of the switching parameters concerning the electrical circuit as well as laser structure is provided. The actual switching time was defined. The degradation in system performance due to spurious wavelength signals emitted from the tunable module during the switching event and their interference with other active channels was demonstrated by examining the presence of an error floor in the BER rate against received power measurements

Construction and commissioning of a technological prototype of a high-granularity semi-digital hadronic calorimeter

A large prototype of 1.3m3 was designed and built as a demonstrator of the semi-digital hadronic calorimeter (SDHCAL) concept proposed for the future ILC experiments. The prototype is a sampling hadronic calorimeter of 48 units. Each unit is built of an active layer made of 1m2 Glass Resistive Plate Chamber(GRPC) detector placed inside a cassette whose walls are made of stainless steel. The cassette contains also the electronics used to read out the GRPC detector. The lateral granularity of the active layer is provided by the electronics pick-up pads of 1cm2 each. The cassettes are inserted into a self-supporting mechanical structure built also of stainless steel plates which, with the cassettes walls, play the role of the absorber. The prototype was designed to be very compact and important efforts were made to minimize the number of services cables to optimize the efficiency of the Particle Flow Algorithm techniques to be used in the future ILC experiments. The different components of the SDHCAL prototype were studied individually and strict criteria were applied for the final selection of these components. Basic calibration procedures were performed after the prototype assembling. The prototype is the first of a series of new-generation detectors equipped with a power-pulsing mode intended to reduce the power consumption of this highly granular detector. A dedicated acquisition system was developed to deal with the output of more than 440000 electronics channels in both trigger and triggerless modes. After its completion in 2011, the prototype was commissioned using cosmic rays and particles beams at CERN.Comment: 49 pages, 41 figure

Technology needs assessment of an atmospheric observation system for tropospheric research missions, part 1

The technology advancements needed to implement the atmospheric observation satellite systems for air quality research were identified. Tropospheric measurements are considered. The measurements and sensors are based on a model of knowledge objectives in atmospheric science. A set of potential missions and attendant spacecraft and sensors is postulated. The results show that the predominant technology needs will be in passive and active sensors for accurate and frequent global measurements of trace gas concentration profiles

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

All-optical processing for terabit/s wavelength division multiplexed systems using two-photon absorption in a semiconductor micro-cavity

Due to continued growth of the Internet and the introduction of new broadband services, such as video-on-demand and mobile telephony, there is a constant requirement for higher speed communications. It is expected that next generation optical communications systems will evolve towards higher capacities by increasing individual line rates rather than the number of wavelength channels. To implement these high-speed optical networks operating at individual channel rates above 100 Gb/s, all-optical processing techniques are necessary. A novel approach based on two photon absorption nonlinearity within a resonance cavity enhanced structure is explored within this thesis. High-speed transmission is severely limited by optical impairments requiring frequent and expensive signal regeneration. Chromatic dispersion, considered as one of the main limiting factors, has to be mitigated in order to achieve satisfactory system performance. Continuous monitoring and adaptive compensation of accumulated dispersion fluctuations within a transmission line is likely to be necessary in future systems. Asynchronous all-optical nonlinear techniques can be utilized for high-speed signal temporal characterization and monitoring without the necessity of timing extraction, or optical to electrical conversion. Two-photon absorption within a resonant microcavity is an ideal candidate for high-speed transmission line performance monitoring, and can be easily integrated with a dispersion compensation module. The major advantage of using a microcavity structure is that the signal is only enhanced over a narrow wavelength range, which is defined by the structure and design of the micro-cavity. In addition, by varying the angle of the incident signal, the resonance response peak of the device can be tuned, thereby isolating individual wavelength channels without the need for external optical filtering. The novelty of this work lies in the ability of using a single photodetector for sequential monitoring of different wavelength channels, operating at line rates exceeding conventional electrical processing-speeds limits. Experimental work included characterization and testing of the fabricated TPA micro-cavities for 160 Gb/s OTDM chromatic dispersion monitoring. A theoretical model explaining the cavity influence on the nonlinear detection is introduced. The main attribute of this work is the experimental investigation of the performance TPA based micro-cavities laboratory prototype, in a multi-wavelength high-speed optical system. The results have demonstrated the applicability of the TPA micro-cavity to monitor accumulated dispersion fluctuations in future high speed optical networks

Wavelength tunable transmitters for future reconfigurable agile optical networks

Wavelength tuneable transmission is a requirement for future reconfigurable agile optical networks as it enables cost efficient bandwidth distribution and a greater degree of transparency. This thesis focuses on the development and characterisation of wavelength tuneable transmitters for the core, metro and access based WDM networks. The wavelength tuneable RZ transmitter is a fundamental component for the core network as the RZ coding scheme is favoured over the conventional NRZ format as the line rate increases. The combination of a widely tuneable SG DBR laser and an EAM is a propitious technique employed to generate wavelength tuneable pulses at high repetition rates (40 GHz). As the EAM is inherently wavelength dependant an accurate characterisation of the generated pulses is carried out using the linear spectrogram measurement technique. Performance issues associated with the transmitter are investigated by employing the generated pulses in a 1500 km 42.7 Gb/s circulating loop system. It is demonstrated that non-optimisation of the EAM drive conditions at each operating wavelength can lead to a 33 % degradation in system performance. To achieve consistent operation over a wide waveband the drive conditions of the EAM must be altered at each operating wavelength. The metro network spans relatively small distances in comparison to the core and therefore must utilise more cost efficient solutions to transmit data, while also maintaining high reconfigurable functionality. Due to the shorter transmission distances, directly modulated sources can be utilised, as less precise wavelength and chirp control can be tolerated. Therefore a gain-switched FP laser provides an ideal source for wavelength tuneable pulse generation at high data rates (10 Gb/s). A self-seeding scheme that generates single mode pulses with high SMSR (> 30 dB) and small pulse duration is demonstrated. A FBG with a very large group delay disperses the generated pulses and subsequently uses this CW like signal to re-inject the laser diode negating the need to tune the repetition rate for optimum gain-switching operation. The access network provides the last communication link between the customer’s premises and the first switching node in the network. FTTH systems should take advantage of directly modulated sources; therefore the direct modulation of a SG DBR tuneable laser is investigated. Although a directly modulated TL is ideal for reconfigurable access based networks, the modulation itself leads to a drift in operating frequency which may result in cross channel interference in a WDM network. This effect is investigated and also a possible solution to compensate the frequency drift through simultaneous modulation of the lasers phase section is examined