Comparison of Multi-Channel Nonlinear Equalization using Inverse Volterra Series versus Digital Backpropagation in 400 Gb/s Coherent Superchannel

We investigate the performance of a Volterra-based nonlinear equalizer and the digitalbackpropagation (DBP) method in multi-channel nonlinear equalization after 20×80 km transmission distance. The Volterra equalizer, which operates with single-step-per-span, performs similarly compared to DBP with 40 steps-per-span

Comparison of Linear and Nonlinear Equalization for Ultra-High Capacity Spectral Superchannels

In ultra-high-speed (>400Gb/s per wavelength), high-spectral efficiency coherent optical communication systems using multi-carrier spectral superchannels, the maximum reach is severely limited due to linear and, foremost, nonlinear impairments. Hence, the implementation of advanced digital signal processing (DSP) techniques in optical transceivers is crucial for alleviating the impact of such impairments. However, the DSP performance improvement comes at the expense of increased cost and power consumption. Given that the computational complexity of the applied linear and nonlinear equalizers is the factor that determines the trade-off between the performance improvement and cost, in this study we provide an extended analysis on the computational complexity of various linear and nonlinear equalization approaches. First, we draw a complexity comparison between a conventional OFDM coherent receiver versus a filter-bank based OFDM receiver and it is shown that the latter provides significant complexity savings. Second, we present a comparison between the digital back-propagation split-step Fourier (DBP-SSF) method and the inverse Volterra series transfer function nonlinear equalizer (IVSTF-NLE) in terms of performance and computational complexity for a 32 Gbaud polarization multiplexed (PM)-16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) OFDM superchannel

A novel architecture for all-optical add-drop multiplexing of OFDM signals

We propose a novel architecture for all-optical add-drop multiplexing of OFDM signals. Extensive numerical simulations have been carried out to benchmark the performance of the architecture against critical design parameters

Plasmonic communications : light on a wire

The emerging field of plasmonics promises the generation, processing, transmission, sensing and detection of signals at optical frequencies along metallic surfaces much smaller than the wavelengths they carry. Plasmonic technology has applications in a wide range of fields, including biophotonics, sensing, chemistry and medicine. But perhaps the area where it will have the most profound impact is in optical communications, since plasmonic waves oscillate at optical frequencies and thus can carry information at optical bandwidths

Free-Running 1550 nm VCSEL for 10.7 Gb/s Transmission in 99.7 km PON

We present a cooler-less, free-running 1550 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) directly modulated at 10.7 Gb/s. We also report on error-free transmission through 40 km of standard single-mode optical fiber, achieved without the use of dispersion-mitigation or mid-span amplification. Inverse-dispersion fiber was utilized to realize a dispersion-matched 99.7 km optical access uplink supporting error-free transmission with 27 dB loss margin. These results indicate the feasibility of implementing cooler-less long-wavelength VCSEL devices in long-reach optical access networks

Spatial-spectral flexible optical networking:enabling switching solutions for a simplified and efficient SDM network platform

The traffic carried by core optical networks grows at a steady but remarkable pace of 30-40% year-over-year. Optical transmissions and networking advancements continue to satisfy the traffic requirements by delivering the content over the network infrastructure in a cost and energy efficient manner. Such core optical networks serve the information traffic demands in a dynamic way, in response to requirements for shifting of traffics demands, both temporally (day/night) and spatially (business district/residential). However as we are approaching fundamental spectral efficiency limits of singlemode fibers, the scientific community is pursuing recently the development of an innovative, all-optical network architecture introducing the spatial degree of freedom when designing/operating future transport networks. Spacedivision- multiplexing through the use of bundled single mode fibers, and/or multi-core fibers and/or few-mode fibers can offer up to 100-fold capacity increase in future optical networks. The EU INSPACE project is working on the development of a complete spatial-spectral flexible optical networking solution, offering the network ultra-high capacity, flexibility and energy efficiency required to meet the challenges of delivering exponentially growing traffic demands in the internet over the next twenty years. In this paper we will present the motivation and main research activities of the INSPACE consortium towards the realization of the overall project solution

Packet clock recovery using a bismuth oxide fiber-based optical power limiter

Abstract: We demonstrate an optical clock recovery circuit that extracts the line rate component on a per packet basis from short data packets at 40 Gb/s. The circuit comprises a Fabry-Perot filter followed by a novel power limiting configuration, which in turn consists of a 5m highly nonlinear bismuth oxide fiber in cascade with an optical bandpass filter. Both experimental and simulation-based results are in close agreement and reveal that the proposed circuit acquires the timing information within only a small number of bits, yielding a packet clock for every respective data packet. Moreover, we investigate theoretically the scaling laws for the parameters of the circuit for operation beyond 40 Gb/s and present simulation results showing successful packet clock extraction for 160 Gb/s data packets. Finally, the circuit's potential for operation at 320 Gb/s is discussed, indicating that ultrafast packet clock recovery should be in principle feasible by exploiting the passive structure of the device and the fsec-scale nonlinear response of the optical fiber

An integrated view on monitoring and compensation for dynamic optical networks: from management to physical layer

A vertical perspective, ranging from management and routing to physical layer options, concerning dynamic network monitoring and compensation of impairments (M&C), is given. Feasibility, reliability, and performance improvements on reconfigurable transparent networks are expected to arise from the consolidated assessment of network management and control specifications, as a more accurate evaluation of available M&C techniques. In the network layer, physical parameters aware algorithms are foreseen to pursue reliable network performance. In the physical layer, some new M&C methods were developed and rating of the state-of-the-art reported in literature is given. Optical monitoring implementation and viability is discussed.Publicad