Numerical study of a hybrid optical DMT/DFT-S QAM modulation

A hybrid modulation offers the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) robustness of discrete Fourier transform spread (DFT-S) QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) with the bit rate optimization of discrete multi-tone (DMT) modulation. We examine via simulation under what circumstances this hybrid can increase achievable bit rate. Hybrid PAPR reduction allows us to increase the peak-to-peak voltage at the modulator electrical input to increase the signal mean power at the modulator output. We propose a methodology to identify the optimal driving strategy. We optimize the bit rate for the available spectrum, i.e., the spectral efficiency, taking into account the bandwidth limited nature of the transmitter. The final optimization we propose is the partition of the available spectrum into a lower frequency band for DFT-S QAM and a higher frequency band for DMT. The modulation level of the DFT-S QAM is also optimized. We compare the optimal hybrid performance versus DMT performance for a range of bit rates for a given modulation bandwidth. Improved performance comes at the cost of greater DSP complexity for the hybrid solution. We compare the number of complex multipliers required to implement hybrid versus DMT for both dispersive and non-dispersive systems

Analytical study of optical SSB-DMT with IMDD

We theoretically study the performance of single sideband discrete multitone (SSB-DMT) in the C -band with intensity modulation and direct detection. Our analysis allows us to quantify the impact of different noise sources such as signal-to-signal beating interference, phase-to-amplitude noise, attenuation, and receiver sensitivity on SSB-DMT. Our analytical tools also allow us to optimize the signal-to-carrier power ratio to maximize SSB-DMT throughput. We provide equations to calculate bit error rate of bit allocated SSB-DMT. Finally, we examine various system parameters (laser linewidth, system bandwidth, and fiber length) to determine their impact on the performance of zero guard band SSB-DMT

Discrete multi-tone transmission with optimized QAM constellations for Short-reach optical communications

We investigate performance of optimized M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) constellations in short-reach single-polarization (SP) and dual-polarization (DP) discrete multitone (DMT) with direct detection. The constellations are obtained by using an iterative gradient-search algorithm. For the nonsquare constellations, we find bit-to-symbol mappings with a blind search method. Our experiments show that the data rate can be improved in both SP and DP DMT systems by using optimized constellations instead of square M-QAM. Net data transmission rates of 165 and 152 Gb/s are respectively achieved for back-to-back and 2.2 km in a direct-detection DP DMT system assuming forward error correction threshold of 3.8×10-3

Assessing performance of silicon photonic modulators for pulse amplitude modulation

Silicon photonic (SiP) electro-optic modulators are a key component in cost-efficient and integrated optical transmitters. Modulator design traditionally uses figure of merits (FOMs) that characterize modulation efficiency and propagation loss of light, which underestimate the modulator-induced power penalty due to intersymbol interference, as they do not consider the electro-optic bandwidth limitation. We show that in the presence of limited electro-optic bandwidth of the SiP modulator, the conventional FOMs, such as VπL and V παL, are unable to predict the minimum transmitter power penalty (TPP). Normalized optical modulation amplitude (OMAN) is proved through simulation to be a reliable tool to predict the minimal TPP point. Then, we introduce a new FOM that includes not only the efficiency of the modulator, but also the bandwidth limitation from the SiP electro-optic modulator. The new FOM that is derived from OMAN translates the system-level requirements of a PAM-M optical link to the device-level design parameters. This FOM can be hired to optimize driving voltage swing, bias voltage, and phase-shifter length or to simply choose a SiP modulator with minimal imposed TPP

Interplay of bit rate, linewidth, bandwidth, and reach on optical DMT and PAM with IMDD

We theoretically compare the performance of optical discrete multi-tone (DMT) and pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) using intensity modulated, direct detection (IMDD). PAM is a lower cost, lower complexity solution than DMT, however it is more vulnerable to chromatic dispersion on the C band. We compare DMT and PAM taking into consideration the interplay of laser linewidth, fiber length, transmission rate, and channel bandwidth. We use a semi-analytical model to examine bit error rates. We study how system parameters shift the performance advantages between DMT and PAM. Our model can also be used to find the best hardware solution and frequency band for a target modulation format and bit error rate