Phase regeneration of QPSK signals based on Kerr soliton combs in a highly nonlinear optical fiber

We demonstrate an all-optical phase regeneration technique based on Kerr soliton combs, which can realize degraded quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK) signal regeneration through phase-sensitive amplification. A Kerr soliton comb is generated at the receiver side of optical communication systems based on a carrier recovery scheme and is used as coherent dual pumps to achieve phase regeneration. Our study will enhance the relay and reception performance of all-optical communication systems.Comment: 8pages;5figure

Parametric Amplifiers in Optical Communication Systems: From Fundamentals to Applications

Optical parametric amplifiers (PAs) utilize highly efficient nonlinear effects in an optical fiber and they have the ability to operate in phase-sensitive mode. The inclusion of PAs in optical systems can give an ultimate limit for lumped amplified links in terms of achievable signal to noise ratio. The drawback is the complexity stemming from the requirement of phase matching a number of waves at each amplifier, phase lock, and the extra spectrum consumed by idler waves. In this chapter, the theories of a parametric amplifier, including the quantum-optical equations, are given. The properties of the gain saturation and the noise figure are presented. Practical amplifier systems and their applications in phase-sensitive amplification, all-optical signal regeneration, and squeeze state generation are outlined

Processamento ótico de sinal para sistemas de comunicações óticas

Doutoramento em Engenharia FísicaO processamento ótico de sinal é uma alternativa possível para melhorar o desempenho e eficiência de sistemas de comunicações óticas, mas o seu estágio atual de desenvolvimento é ainda insuficiente para aplicações em sistemas reais. De forma a inverter esta situação, novas estratégias e pos-sibilidades para processamento ótico de sinal são aqui investigadas, com ênfase em conversão de comprimento de onda, regeneração de fase e amplificação sensível à fase em dispositivos de niobato de lítio com inversão periódica dos domínios ferroelétricos e fibras fortemente não-lineares. Um novo método para o desenho do perfil de inversão dos domínios fer¬roelétricos nos dispositivos de niobato de lítio de acordo com um espetro de conversão alvo é investigado nesta tese. O método proposto é validado numericamente e através da produção de um dispositivo real com largura de banda de conversão de 400 GHz. O dispositivo produzido é utilizado para conversão de onda multicanal de oito sinais modulados em fase, com a possibilidade adicional de sintonizar o comprimento de onda dos sinais con¬vertidos. Observa-se a existência de um compromisso entre elevada largura de banda de conversão e eficiência do dispositivo. São também investigadas nesta tese conversão e permuta de comprimento de onda tolerantes ao ruído de fase adicionado por fontes de bombeamento. Demonstra-se neste trabalho que a utilização de fontes de bombeamento coerentes permite evitar a adição de ruído de fase aos sinais convertidos. Nesta tese é também analisada analítica e numericamente amplificação sensível a fase baseada em dispositivos de niobato de lítio com inversão periódica dos domínios ferroelétricos para configurações de amplificadores de um, dois ou quatro modos. É ainda avaliada a possibilidade de ge¬rar ondas correlacionadas e de realizar amplificação sensível a fase num único dispositivo com propagação bidirecional. Com base neste esquema, demonstra-se regeneração de fase de sinais modulados em fase, porém com ganho limitado devido à baixa eficiência de conversão dos dispositivos e com desempenho afetado por instabilidades térmicas e foto refrativas. Mo¬tivado por estas limitações, demonstra-se amplificação de elevado ganho num amplificador sensível à fase de quatro modos, construído com uma fibra fortemente não-linear em vez de um dispositivo de niobato de lítio. Por fim, é efetuada uma análise numérica do impacto de utilizar amplifica¬dores sensíveis à fase em vez de amplificadores de fibra dopada com érbio no alcance em transmissão ponto a ponto de sinais e na amplificação e regeneração em redes óticas. Demonstra-se que amplificadores sensíveis à fase são mais vantajosos para formatos de modulação avançados e siste¬mas compostos por ligações óticas longas. As simulações assumem mode¬los simplificados para o ganho e ruído dos amplificadores, bem como uma versão modificada do modelo de ruído Gaussiano para estimar a potência das distorções não-lineares em sistemas com compensação total da dispersão cromática no final de cada segmento de fibra entre amplificadores.All-optical signal processing techniques are a possible way to improve the performance and efficiency of optical communication systems, but the cur¬rent stage of development of such techniques is still unsatisfactory for real- world implementation. In order to invert this situation, new strategies and possibilities for all-optical signal processing are investigated here, with a particular focus on wavelength conversion, phase regeneration and phase- sensitive amplification in periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides and highly nonlinear fibers. A new and flexible method to design the poling pattern of periodically poled lithium niobate devices according to a target conversion spectrum is inves¬tigated in this work. The proposed method is validated through numerical simulations and by producing a real device with broad conversion bandwidth of 400 GHz. The device is then used for multichannel wavelength conversion of eight phase-modulated signals, with the additional possibility to tune the wavelength of the converted signals. A trade-off between high conversion bandwidth and conversion efficiency is observed. Advanced wavelength conversion and wavelength exchange tolerant to the phase noise added by the pump lasers are also investigated. It is shown that the additional phase noise transferred to the converted signals is eliminated by using coherent pumps, generated from the same light source. Phase-sensitive amplification based on periodically poled lithium niobate devices is also investigated in this thesis by numerically comparing the gain properties for one-, two- and four-mode configurations. The possibility to si¬multaneously generate correlated waves and observe phase-sensitive amplifi¬cation in a single device with bidirectional propagation is also demonstrated. Using such scheme,"black-box" phase regeneration of phase-encoded sig¬nals is experimentally demonstrated, albeit with limited net gain due to the low conversion efficiency of the device, and the limited reliability due to thermal and photorefractive instabilities. Motivated by such limitations, high-gain amplification in a four-mode phase-sensitive amplifier built with a highly nonlinear fiber instead of a periodically poled lithium niobate is demonstrated. Finally, the impact of using phase-sensitive amplifiers instead of common erbium-doped fiber amplifiers on the reach in point-to-point transmission and on the amplification and regeneration requirements in optical transport networks is numerically investigated. The calculations show that phase- sensitive amplifiers are particularly advantageous when considering high- order modulation formats and for transport networks comprised by long links. The numerical simulations are performed using simplified models for the gain and noise properties of the amplifiers, and a modified enhanced Gaussian noise model to estimate the power of the nonlinear distortions in systems with full dispersion compensation at the end of each span of fiber

All-optical link for direct comparison of distant optical clocks

We developed an all-optical link system for making remote comparisons of two distant ultra-stable optical clocks. An optical carrier transfer system based on a fiber interferometer was employed to compensate the phase noise accumulated during the propagation through a fiber link. Transfer stabilities of $2\times10^{-15}$ at 1 second and $4\times10^{-18}$ at 1000 seconds were achieved in a 90-km link. An active polarization control system was additionally introduced to maintain the transmitted light in an adequate polarization, and consequently, a stable and reliable comparison was accomplished. The instabilities of the all-optical link system, including those of the erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) which are free from phase-noise compensation, were below $2\times10^{-15}$ at 1 second and $7\times10^{-17}$ at 1000 seconds. The system was available for the direct comparison of two distant $^{87}$Sr lattice clocks via an urban fiber link of 60 km. This technique will be essential for the measuring the reproducibility of optical frequency standards

Fiber-based phase-sensitive optical amplifiers and their applications

Optical parametric amplifiers rely on second-order susceptibility (three-wave mixing) or third-order susceptibility (four-wave mixing) in a nonlinear process where the energy of incoming photons is not changed (elastic scattering). In the latter case, two pump photons are converted to a signal and to an idler photon. Under certain conditions, related to the phase evolution of the waves involved, this conversion can be very effi-cient, resulting in large amplification of an input signal. As the nonlinear process can be very fast, all-optical applications aside from pure amplification are also possible. If the amplifier is implemented in an optical input-phase-sensitive manner, it is possible to amplify a signal wave without excess noise, i.e., with a noise figure of 0 dB. In this paper, we will provide the fundamental concepts and theory of such amplifiers, with a focus on their implementation in highly nonlinear optical fibers relying on four-wave mixing. We will discuss the distinctions between phase-insensitive and phase-sensitive operation and include several experimental results to illustrate their capability. Different applications of parametric amplifiers are also discussed, including their use in optical communication links

Two pulse per cavity lasers and their applications

Lasers have been around now for over 50 years. Initially it was said that it is an invention without an application. Since then it turned out that lasers are valuable tools for applications like mapping atomic transitions or interferometric measurements. The research presented here will show one type of lasers, a two-pulse-per cavity mode-locked laser, its applications and analyze its practical and theoretical limits. An analysis of a two pulse per cavity mode-locked laser is presented as analogy to a quantum mechanical two level system. It can be shown that our lasers with two independent pulses propagating inside the cavity can be coupled via a scattering medium and will behave exactly the same way as a two level atom driven by a step function electric field. This analogy is providing a new insight into the dynamics of two-pulse coupling in mode-locked ring lasers. The most important application of a mode-locked laser with two intracavity pulses is Intra-cavity Phase Interferometry (IPI). The unique feature of mode-locked lasers, where a pulse to pulse phase shift is converted into a frequency, can be used for very sensitive phase measurements that outperform standard interferometers. Two pulse trains with the same repetition rate from the same cavity and a different phase shift will show a beatnote signal directly proportional to this phase shift when interfered on a detector. It leads to an good signal strength since all modes of the frequency comb contribute to the signal. In this dissertation, I will describe the advancement of IPI with our standard Ti:Sapphire cavities to the measurement of magnetic fields. Also another cavity, Optical Parametric oscillators (OPO) can be used for IPI. I will be showing two different implementations, intra-cavity pumped and extra-cavity pumped and their usefulness to phase interferometry by presenting a new method to measure the non-linear index of a material. In the end, a discussion about the theoretical limit of the sensitivity and resolution is provided for both, the Ti:Sapphire and OPO system