Information rates in Kerr nonlinearity limited optical fiber communication systems

Achievable information rates of optical communication systems are inherently limited by nonlinear distortions due to the Kerr effect occurred in optical fibres. These nonlinear impairments become more significant for communication systems with larger transmission bandwidths, closer channel spacing and higher-order modulation formats. In this paper, the efficacy of nonlinearity compensation techniques, including both digital back-propagation and optical phase conjugation, for enhancing achievable information rates in lumped EDFA- and distributed Raman-amplified fully-loaded C −band systems is investigated considering practical transceiver limitations. The performance of multiple modulation formats, such as dual-polarisation quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK), dual-polarisation 16 −ary quadrature amplitude modulation (DP-16QAM), DP-64QAM and DP-256QAM, has been studied in C −band systems with different transmission distances. It is found that the capabilities of both nonlinearity compensation techniques for enhancing achievable information rates strongly depend on signal modulation formats as well as target transmission distances

Performance limits in optical communications due to fiber nonlinearity

In this paper, we review the historical evolution of predictions of the performance of optical communication systems. We will describe how such predictions were made from the outset of research in laser based optical communications and how they have evolved to their present form, accurately predicting the performance of coherently detected communication systems

Minimization of Interchannel Interference E ects in Nyquist-WDM Systems

ABSTRACT: The need of increasing the capacity of current deployed optical networks to perform terabits transmissions has been driven to the development of superchannel systems, (principally based on Nyquist-WDM) to be carried out in flexible grid or gridless scenarios. Nevertheless, one of the main issues to be mitigated in these systems is the interchannel interference (ICI), whose effect is intensified when the spectral channel spacing is reduced (for further spectral efficiency increment). In this thesis, we present a study of the ICI effects in Nyquist-WDM systems by means of BER calculation as a function of several system parameters such as: frequency channel spacing, roll-off factor of the digital pulse-shaping filter, laser's linewidth, transmission distance, mark probability of the pseudo-random bit sequence, optical-to-signal noise ratio, among others. Besides, two methods enabling ICI mitigation are proposed: on one hand, a method based on FEC-coded sequence distribution among optical carriers for applications of multiple carriers (superchannels) as a single entity, and on the other hand, a method to perform nonsymmetrical demodulation (NSD) based on the k-means algorithm enabling time-varying distortions mitigation. In contradiction of techniques for ICI mitigation in recent art, these proposals avoid the use of multiple-input multiple-output equalizers or training sequences. Specifically, for NSD approach, information of adjacent channels is not required

Performance Comparison of Single-Sideband Direct Detection Nyquist-Subcarrier Modulation and OFDM

Direct detection transceivers offer advantages, including low cost and complexity, in short- and medium-haul links. We carried out studies seeking to identify the signal formats which offer the highest information spectral densities and maximum transmission distances for direct detection links. The performance of two spectrally efficient optical signal formats, single-sideband (SSB) Nyquist pulse-shaped subcarrier modulation (SCM) and SSB orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), are compared by means of simulations. The comparison is performed for a range of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) net information spectral densities up to 2.0 b/s/Hz by varying the signal bandwidth, modulation cardinality, and WDM channel spacing. The signal formats' tolerance to signal-signal beating interference, resulting from square-law detection, is investigated, and the Nyquist-SCM format is found to suffer lower penalties from this nonlinearity at high information spectral densities. In 7 × 28 Gb/s WDM transmission at 2.0 b/s/Hz (with electronic predistortion and EDFA-only amplification), Nyquist-SCM signals can be transmitted over distances of up to 720 km of standard SMF in comparison to a maximum of 320 km with the OFDM signal format

Advanced DSP Techniques for High-Capacity and Energy-Efficient Optical Fiber Communications

The rapid proliferation of the Internet has been driving communication networks closer and closer to their limits, while available bandwidth is disappearing due to an ever-increasing network load. Over the past decade, optical fiber communication technology has increased per fiber data rate from 10 Tb/s to exceeding 10 Pb/s. The major explosion came after the maturity of coherent detection and advanced digital signal processing (DSP). DSP has played a critical role in accommodating channel impairments mitigation, enabling advanced modulation formats for spectral efficiency transmission and realizing flexible bandwidth. This book aims to explore novel, advanced DSP techniques to enable multi-Tb/s/channel optical transmission to address pressing bandwidth and power-efficiency demands. It provides state-of-the-art advances and future perspectives of DSP as well

Equalização digital para sistemas de transmissão ópticos coerentes

This thesis focus on the digital equalization of fiber impairments for coherent optical transmission systems. New efficient and low-complexity equalization and mitigation techniques that counteract fiber nonlinear impairments are proposed and the tradeoff between performance and complexity is numerically assessed and experimentally demonstrated in metro and long-haul 400G superchannels-based transmission systems. Digital backpropagation (DBP) based on low-complexity split-step Fourier method and Volterra series nonlinear equalizers are experimentally assessed in an uniform superchannel system. In contrast with standard DBP methods, these techniques prove to be able to be implemented with larger step-sizes, consequently requiring a reduced number of multiplications, and still achieve a significant reach extension over linear equalization techniques. Moreover, given its structure, the complexity of the proposed Volterra-based DBP approach can be easily adjusted by changing the nonlinear filter dimension according to the system requirements, thus providing a higher flexibility to the nonlinear equalization block. A frequency-hybrid superchannel envisioning near-future flexible networks is then proposed as a way to increase the system bit-rate granularity. The problematic of the power-ratio between superchannel carriers is addressed and optimized for linear and nonlinear operation regimes using three distinct FEC paradigms. Applying a single FEC to the entire superchannel has a simpler implementation and is found to be a more robust approach, tolerating larger uncertainties on the system parameters optimization. We also investigate the performance gain provided by the application of different DBP techniques in frequency-hybrid superchannel systems, and its implications on the optimum power-ratio. It is shown that the application of DBP can be restricted to the carrier transporting the higher cardinality QAM format, since the DBP benefit on the other carriers is negligible, which might bring a substantially complexity reduction of the DBP technique applied to the superchannel.A presente tese foca-se na equalização digital das distorções da fibra para sistemas óticos de transmissão coerente. São propostas novas técnicas eficientes e de baixa complexidade para a equalização e mitigação das distorções não lineares da fibra, e o compromisso entre desempenho e complexidade é testado numericamente e demonstrado experimental em sistemas de transmissão metro e longa distância baseados em supercanais 400G. A propagação digital inversa baseada no método de split-step Fourier e equalizadores não lineares de séries de Volterra de baixa complexidade são testadas experimentalmente num sistema baseado em supercanais uniformes. Ao contrário dos métodos convencionais utilizados, estas técnicas podem ser implementadas utilizando menos interações e ainda extender o alcance do sistema face às técnicas de equalização linear. Para além disso, a complexidade do método baseado em Volterra pode ser facilmente ajustada alterando a dimensão do filtro não linear de acordo com os requisitos do sistema, concedendo assim maior flexibilidade ao bloco de equalização não linear. Tendo em vista as futuras redes flexı́veis, um supercanal hı́brido na frequência é proposto de modo a aumentar a granularidade da taxa de transmissão do sistema. A problemática da relação de potência entre as portadoras do supercanal é abordada e optimizada em regimes de operação linear e não linear utilizando paradigmas diferentes de códigos correctores de erros. A aplicação de um único código corrector de erros à totalidade do supercanal mostra ser a abordagem mais robusta, tolerando maiores incertezas na optimização dos parâmetros do sistema. O ganho de desempenho dado pela aplicação de diferentes técnicas de propagação digital inversa em sistemas de supercanais hı́bridos na frequência é tamém analizado, assim como as suas implicações na relação óptima de potência. Mostra-se que esta pode ser restringida à portadora que transporta o formato de modulação de ordem mais elevada, uma vez que o benefı́cio trazido pelas restantes portadotas é negligenciável, permitindo reduzir significativamente a complexidade do algoritmo aplicado.Programa Doutoral em Telecomunicaçõe

An Expression for Nonlinear Noise in Optical Phase Conjugation Systems with Lumped Amplifiers

We develop an analytical formula for evaluating the impact of fiber nonlinearity in systems employing optical phase conjugation with multi-span lumped amplification, highlighting the detailed balance of effects leading to compensation when the phase conjugator is added to the middle of the link. We apply the approach to the effect of adding a pre-dispersion element to improve the symmetry, deriving the required optimum predispersion. The closed-form is validated through simulation and shows good matching with the results within a margin of error less than 0.2 dB