An index grating is a periodic perturbation of the refractive index in a waveguide's axial direction. Gratings have important roles in optical communication as spectral filters and dispersion compensators. The spectral response characteristics of gratings can be controlled by shaping the profile of the index modulation, a process called apodization. Apodizing different layers of the grating using different apodizing functions is proposed for adding more degrees of freedom to the design. An approach to designing a two-layer separately apodized grating that yields virtually the same reflectivity and dispersion responses as an arbitrary zero-"dc", apodized, un-chirped grating is proposed. A design example is presented, and coupled-mode theory is employed to compute the reflectivity responses of the original zero-"dc" design and the nearly equivalent separately-apodized design proposed in this thesis. An approach to designing a four-layer separately apodized grating that yields virtually the same reflectivity and dispersion responses as an arbitrary chirped grating is proposed. The largest bandwidth a four-layer separately-apodized grating designed using this approach can yield is as large as the largest bandwidth a variable-period conventional design can yield. Also, a similar, less-capable design approach is proposed for two-layer separately apodized gratings that are equivalent to conventional, chirped gratings. Design examples are presented. For all of the separately apodized gratings designed, the layers have a varying "dc" index change that is proportional to the varying "ac" index change. Furthermore, the period, which is the same in every layer, is constant, i.e. independent of the position. Both considerations enhance the prospects of fabricating the separately-apodized designs using a simple, reproducible technique. One such technique is proposed that separately-apodizes halves of the waveguide, instead of layers, but the design approaches are easily adjusted to this case. / Master of Science

Thesis (MS)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2008. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Richard Wolff. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-49).

Directly modulated lasers (DMLs) are a low cost solution for moderate reach systems due to their small footprint, low power dissipation and high output optical power. However, commercial 10-Gb/s on-off keying DMLs have been limited by an inherent modulation of the optical phase that accompanies the desired modulation of the optical intensity, which reduces their transmission distance to below 20 km. Furthermore, the ability to generate bit rates beyond 10-Gb/s with advanced modulation formats has been limited by the strict requirements on the laser drive current. The primary objective of this research is to dramatically enhance the capability of DML based systems through precise control over the drive current. This is achieved by digital signal processing (DSP) combined with a single digital-to-analog converter (DAC). In this research, a novel method to pre-compensate dispersion for metro and regional networks is demonstrated at 10.709-Gb/s. A look-up table (LUT) for the driving current is optimized for dispersion mitigation. Experimental results show a 25 fold increase in the transmission reach of a DML from 10 km to 252 km. A similar approach applied to a directly modulated chirp managed laser reveals a remarkable increase in the achievable transmission reach from 200 km to 608 km. In the context of access networks the DSP and DAC configuration is utilized for directly modulating a passive feedback laser (PFL) to generate differential phase shift keying (DPSK) signals at bit rates of 10.709-Gb/s, 14-Gb/s and 16-Gb/s. The quality of the DPSK signals is assessed using both noncoherent detection for a bit rate of 10.709-Gb/s and coherent detection with DSP involving a LUT pattern-dependent distortion compensator. For very short reach optical links, a 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation signal is generated using subcarrier modulation with a subcarrier frequency of half the symbol rate, Nyquist pulse shaping, and a directly modulated PFL at bit rates up to 56-Gb/s. Using polarization multiplexing emulation, a pre-amplified direct detection receiver and DSP, loss margins of 12.6 dB and 8 dB are achieved for a 112-Gb/s dual polarization signal within a 33 GHz optical bandwidth at back-to-back and after 4 km transmission, respectively. / Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-01-31 13:58:56.327

El estudio e investigación en el campo de las redes ópticas de acceso han sido fomentadas en años recientes debido a la continua migración de Servicios multimedia que son ofrecidos a través de Internet. Aunque los dispositivos utilizados para implementar Fiber-to-the-Home (fibra a casa), que reemplazan las soluciones tradicionales basadas en cable de cobre, están basadas aún en micro-óptica, se puede prever una evolución hacia integración fotónica. Todavía queda la pregunta acerca de los diseños necesarios para este paso importante de integración, que debe ser optimizado en términos del desempeño de transmisión, eficiencia energética y costo con el fin de lograr todos los requerimientos de las redes fotónicas de siguiente generación. Como elemento más crítico en las redes de acceso ópticas es el equipo en los clientes, este trabajo se centra en éste. Los temes cubiertos abarcan una gama amplia e incluyen: el reciclado de longitudes de onda para transmisión de datos en full-dúplex a través de una sola frecuencia óptica; la generación de formatos de modulación avanzados con moduladores semiconductores de bajo costo y factor pequeño de integración; soporte de amplificación óptica a través de técnicas de sembrado y el soporte de funcionalidades de capes superiores en la capa física. Después de la prueba principal de las técnicas propuestas, se resaltan los beneficios, impedimentos y caminos de reemplazo hacia sistemas fotónicos multifuncionales a través de casos de estudio. Por su parte, los diseños más representativos se profundizan más sobre todo por su posibilidad de ser integrados fotónicamente. / Optical access technology has experienced a boost in the last years, thanks to the continuously migrating multimedia services that are offered over the internet. Though the devices used for deploying Fiber-to-the-Home instead of traditional copper-based solutions are still based on micro-optics, an evolution towards photonic integration can be foreseen. What remains is the question about the exact designs for this important step of integration, which should be optimized in terms of transmission performance, energy efficiency and cost to address all requirements of next-generation photonic networks. As the most critical element in optical access, the customer premises equipment is in primary focus of this discussion. The covered topics span over a wide range and include wavelength recycling for full-duplex data transmission on a single optical frequency, the generation of advanced modulation formats with low-cost semiconductor modulators with small form factor, support for optical amplification by means of seeding techniques and the support of higher layer functionality at the physical layer. Next to the principal proof of the proposed techniques, the benefits, impediments and upgrade paths towards multifunctional photonic systems are highlighted in different case studies, while the most representative designs are further discussed in their capability of being photonically integrated.

The ever-increasing data traffic demand drives the evolution of telecommunication networks, including the last-mile access networks as well as the long-haul backbone networks. This Ph.D. dissertation focuses on system design and signal processing techniques for next-generation converged optical-wireless access systems and the high-speed long-haul coherent optical communication systems. The convergence of high-speed millimeter-wave wireless communications and high-capacity fiber-optic backhaul networks provides tremendous potential to meet the capacity requirements of future access networks. In this work, a cloud-radio-over-fiber access architecture is proposed. The proposed architecture enables a large-scale small-cell system to be deployed in a cost-effective, power-efficient, and flexible way. Based on the proposed architecture, a multi-service reconfigurable small-cell backhaul network is developed and demonstrated experimentally. Additionally, the combination of high-speed millimeter-wave radio and fiber-optic backhaul is investigated. Several novel methods that enable high-spectral-efficient vector signal transmission in millimeter-wave radio-over-fiber systems are proposed and demonstrated through both theoretical analysis and experimental verification. For long-haul core networks, ultra-high-speed optical communication systems which can support 1Terabit/s per channel transmission will soon be required to meet the increasing capacity demand in the core networks. Grouping a number of tightly spaced optical subcarriers to form a terabit superchannel has been considered as a promising solution to increases channel capacity while minimizing the need for high-level modulation formats and high baud rate. Conventionally, precise spectral control at transmitter side is required to avoid strong inter-channel interference (ICI) at tight channel spacing. In this work, a novel receiver-side approach based on “super receiver” architecture is proposed and demonstrated. By jointly detecting and demodulating multiple channels simultaneously, the penalties associated with the limitations of generating ideal spectra can be mitigated. Several joint DSP algorithms are developed for linear ICI cancellation and joint carrier-phase recovery. Performance analysis under different system configurations is conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed joint DSP algorithms, and improved system performance is observed with both experimental and simulation data.

Thesis (M.App.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-109). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

IEEE has recently finished its ratification of the IEEE Standard 802.3ba in June 2010 which set the target Ethernet speed as 100 Gbps. The studies on the future trends of the ever-increasing demands for higher speed optical fiber communications show that there is no sign of decline in the demand. Constantly increasing internet traffic and the bandwidth-hungry multimedia services like HDTV, YouTube, voice-over-IP, etc. can be shown as the main driving forces. Indeed, the discussions over the future upgrades on the Ethernet speeds have already been initiated. It is predicted that the next upgrade will enable 400 Gbps Ethernet and the one after will be toward enabling the astounding 1 Tbps Ethernet.Although such high and ultra high transmission speeds are unprecedented over any transmission medium, the bottlenecks for achieving them over the optical fiber remains to be fundamental. At such high operating symbol rates, the signal impairments due to inter- and intra-channel fiber nonlinearities and polarization mode dispersion get exacerbated to the levels that cripple the high-fidelity communication over optical fibers. Therefore, efforts should be exerted to provide solutions that not only answer the need for high-speed transmission but also maintain low operating symbol rates.In this dissertation, we contribute to these efforts by proposing nonbinary-LDPC-coded modulation (NB-LDPC-CM) schemes as enabling technologies that can meet both the aforementioned goals. We show that our proposed NB-LDPC-CM schemes can outperform their prior-art, binary counterparts called bit-interleaved coded modulation (BI-LDPC-CM) schemes while attaining the same aggregate bit rates at a lower complexity and latency. We provide comprehensive analysis on the computational complexity of both schemes to justify our claims with solid evidence. We also compare the performances of both schemes by using amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise dominated optical fiber transmission and short to medium haul optical fiber transmission scenarios. Both applications show outstanding performances of NB-LDPC-CM schemes over the prior-art BI-LDPC-CM schemes with increasing gaps in coding gain as the transmission speeds increase. Furthermore, we present how a rate-adaptive NB-LDPC-CM can be employed to fully utilize the resources of a long haul optical transport network throughout its service time.

The scope of this dissertation is to investigate the merits and implications of using multilevel modulation formats in optical communications systems. Following the trend in academia and industry, special focus is placed on quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), and specifically on polarization division multiplexed (PDM) QPSK. A special kind of receiver is investigated thoroughly, the digital coherent receiver, the equivalent of the coherent quadrature demodulator in classical communications nomenclature. A large number of digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms are implemented, some of them novel, and their performance is examined, analyzed, and compared in a number of practical system scenarios. The impact of transmitter / receiver imperfections and a number of optical fiber impairments on system performance is studied. Experimental results taken from proof-of-concept experiments are also analyzed. / Η διατριβή αυτή έχει ως σκοπό τη μελέτη οπτικών τηλεπικοινωνιακών συστημάτων που χρησιμοποιούν τετραδικές διαμορφώσεις φάσης, πολυπλεξία κατά πόλωση και σύμφωνους ψηφιακούς δέκτες διαφοροποίησης φάσης και πόλωσης. Μελετήθηκαν αλγόριθμοι επεξεργασίας σήματος κατάλληλοι για εξάλειψη της επίδρασης των φαινομένων διάδοσης και των μη ιδανικοτήτων οπτικών τηλεπικοινωνιακών συστημάτων. Η μελέτη έγινε με προσομοίωση Monte-Carlo, με χρήση ημιαναλυτικής μεθόδου προσδιορισμού της πιθανότητας σφάλματος τηλεπικοινωνιακού συστήματος και με ανάλυση πειραματικών δεδομένων. Τα πειραματικά δεδομένα ελήφθησαν από οπτικό τηλεπικοινωνιακό σύστημα με τετραδική διαμόρφωση φάσης και πολυπλεξία κατά πόλωση με ρυθμούς συμβόλων 0.1-10 GBd (0.4-40 Gb/s). Μελετήθηκαν αλγόριθμοι επανένωσης των πολώσεων, αλγόριθμοι αποπολύπλεξης των πολώσεων, αλγόριθμοι διόρθωσης της ανισοσταθμίας ορθογωνιότητας, αλγόριθμοι εκτίμησης και αφαίρεσης της ενδιάμεσης συχνότητας και αλγόριθμοι εκτίμησης και αφαίρεσης του θορύβου φάσης των laser.

Les formats de modulation bidimensionnels (i.e. basés sur l’amplitude et la phase de l’onde porteuse) ont gagné depuis peu le domaine des transmissions par fibre optique grâce aux progrès conjoints de l’électronique rapide et du traitement du signal, indispensables pour réaliser les récepteurs opto-électroniques utilisant la détection cohérente des signaux optiques. Pour pallier les limites actuelles en rapidité de commutation des circuits intégrés électroniques, une voie de recherche a été ouverte il y a quelques années, consistant à utiliser des technologies optiques pour faciliter la parallélisation du traitement du signal, notamment dans l’étape d’échantillonnage ultra-rapide du signal rendu possible par des horloges optiques très performantes. Le thème principal de cette thèse concerne l’étude théorique et expérimentale de la fonction de conversion analogique-numérique (ADC) de signaux optiques par un récepteur opto-électronique cohérent, associant les étapes d’échantillonnage optique linéaire, de conversion analogique-numérique et de traitement du signal. Un prototype, utilisant une solution originale pour la source d’échantillonnage, est modélisé, réalisé et caractérisé, permettant la reconstruction temporelle de signaux optiques modulés selon divers formats : NRZ, QPSK, 16-QAM. Les limitations optiques et électroniques du système sont analysées, notamment l’impact sur la reconstruction des signaux de divers paramètres : le taux d’extinction de la source optique, les paramètres de l’ADC (bande passante BW, temps d’intégration et nombre effectif de bits ENOB). Par ailleurs, de nouveaux algorithmes de traitement du signal sont proposés dans le cadre de la transmission optique cohérente à haut débit utilisant des formats de modulation bidimensionnels (amplitude et phase) : deux solutions sont proposées pour la compensation du déséquilibre de quadrature IQ dans les transmissions mono-porteuses: une méthode originale de l’estimation du maximum du rapport signal sur bruit ainsi qu’une nouvelle structure de compensation et d’égalisation conjointes; ces deux méthodes sont validées expérimentalement et numériquement avec un signal 16-QAM. Par ailleurs, une solution améliorée de récupération de porteuse (décalage de fréquence et estimation de la phase), basée sur une décomposition harmonique circulaire de la fonction de maximum de vraisemblance logarithmique, est validée numériquement pour la première fois dans le contexte des transmissions optiques (jusqu’à une modulation de 128-QAM). Enfin les outils développés dans ce travail ont finalement permis la démonstration d’une transmission sur 100 km d’un signal QPSK à 10 Gbaud fortement limité par un bruit de phase non linéaire et régénéré optiquement à l’aide d’un limiteur de puissance préservant la phase basé sur une nanocavité de cristal photonique. / Bi-dimensional modulation formats based on amplitude and phase signal modulation, are now commonly used in optical communications thanks to breakthroughs in the field of electronic and digital signal processing (DSP) required in coherent optical receivers. Photonic solutions could compensate for nowadays limitations of electrical circuits bandwidth by facilitating the signal processing parallelization. Photonic is particularly interesting for signal sampling thanks to available stable optical clocks. The heart of the present work concerns analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) as a key element in coherent detection. A prototype of linear optical sampling using an original solution for the optical sampling source, is built and validated with the successful equivalent time reconstruction of NRZ, QPSK and 16-QAM signals. Some optical and electrical limitations of the system are experimentally and numerically analyzed, notably the extinction ratio of the optical source or the ADC parameters (bandwidth, integration time, effective number of bits ENOB). Moreover, some new DSPs tools are developed for optical transmission using bi-dimensional modulation formats (amplitude and phase). Two solutions are proposed for IQ quadrature imbalance compensation in single carrier optical coherent transmission: an original method of maximum signal-to-noise ratio estimation (MSEM) and a new structure for joint compensation and equalization; these methods are experimentally and numerically validated with 16-QAM signals. Moreover, an improved solution for carrier recovery (frequency offset and phase estimation) based on a circular harmonic expansion of a maximum loglikelihood function is studied for the first time in the context of optical telecommunications. This solution which can operate with any kind of bi-dimensional modulation format signal is numerically validated up to 128-QAM. All the DSP tools developed in this work are finally used in a demonstration of a 10 Gbaud QPSK 100 km transmission experiment, featuring a strong non-linear phase noise limitation and regenerated using a phase preserving and power limiting function based on a photonic crystal nanocavity.

Les systèmes de communications optiques jouent un role important pour satisfaire la demande incessante de trafics de données. Cette demande, induite par des applications gourmandes en termes de bande passante et débit, necéssite une augmentation de la capacité des réseaux optiques d’accès et par conséquent une augmentation des capacités de réseaux de transports métropolitains et longues distances. La prochaine génération de systèmes WDM longue distance devrait opérée à des débits de 400Gbps ou 1Tbps. Cette montée en débit s’appuiera sur des nouvelles formes d’ondes avancées de type mono-porteuse (Nyquist-WDM) ou multi-porteuse (OFDM multi-bande). Ces approches sont basées sur le multipléxage de plusieurs porteuses espacées par des intervalles de garde réduits. D’autre part, pour générer ces très haut débits, des modulations multi-états sont utilisées pour chaque porteuse grâce à leur efficacité spectrale élevée. Ces types de systèmes, qui combinent à la fois les approches multi-bande et les modulations multi-états, sont extrêmement vulnérables aux effets nonlinéaires de la fibre optique. En fait, les effets nonlinéaires sont dépendants de la puissance de transmission et inversement proportionels à l’intervalle de garde. Cela rend leur compensation indispensable pour maintenir des bonnes performances des systèmes en terme de distance de transmission. Grâce à l’emploi de récepteurs à détection cohérente, des techniques de traitement du signal numérique sont utlisées pour combattre les effets nonlinéaires. Dans cette thèse, nous avons proposé des nouvelles techniques basées sur les séries de Volterra et les égaliseurs à retour de decision pour compenser respectivement les effets nonlinéaires intrabande et les interférences nonlinéaires inter-bande. / Optical communication systems have evolved since their deployment to meet the growing demand for high-speed communications. Over the past decades, the global demand for communication capacity has increased exponentially and the most of the growth has occurred in the last few years when data started dominating network traffic. In order to meet the increase of traffic demands fueled by the growth of internet services, an increase of access network capacity and consequently metro and long-haul network capacities is required. Next generation of long-haul WDM transmission systems is expected to operate at 400Gbps or 1Tbps bit rate. Superchannel approaches, such as Nyquist WDM and multi-band OFDM, allow both high spectral efficiency and small guardband which makes them promising candidates to generate these high bit rates in combination with multi-level modulations formats. Such transmission systems are strongly disturbed by fiber nonlinear effects which increase with the data rate and the small guard band. Therefore, fiber nonlinearities compensation is required to get the desired performance in terms of transmission reach. DSP based approaches such as digital back propagation and third-order Volterra based nonlinear equalizer have been already proposed to deal with intra-channel or intra-band nonlinear effects. In the context of superchannel systems, we have proposed two new compensation techniques to deal with fiber nonlinear effects. The first one, called fifth-order inverse Volterra based nonlinear equalizer, compensate for intra-band nonlinear effects. The second approach, which is the interband/ subcarrier nonlinear interference canceler, is proposed to combat the nonlinear interference insuperchannel systems.