Experimental comparison of E-band BDFA and Raman amplifier performance over 50 km G.652.D fiber using 30 GBaud DP-16-QAM and DP-64-QAM signals.

We compare the performance of three optical amplifiers in the E-band: a bismuth-doped fiber amplifier (BDFA), a distributed Raman amplifier, and a discrete Raman amplifier (RA). Data transmission performance of 30 GBaud DP-16-QAM and DP-64-QAM signals transmitted over 50 km of G.652.D fiber is compared in terms of achieved signal-to-noise (SNR). In this specific case of relatively short distance, single-span transmission, the BDFA outperforms the distributed and discrete Raman amplifiers due to the impact of fiber nonlinear penalties at high input signal powers.

Performance evaluation of discrete Raman amplifiers in coherent transmission systems.

We evaluate the performance penalty due to discrete Raman amplifier (DRA) in a long haul WDM transmission system. The investigation was primarily performed to study the impact of the accumulated nonlinear noise due to fibre chromatic dispersion and nonlinear coefficient(γ). Nonlinear fibres such as inverse dispersion fibre (IDF), dispersion compensation fibre (DCF) and a development fibre known as the Corning Raman fibre (CRF) with the opposite sign of CD to the other two, were taken as the gain fibre in the DRA stage of the long-haul transmission setup. To study the performance penalty with these Raman gain fibres a 30 GBaud 120 Gb/s DP-QPSK channel @1550 nm was combined with 9 spectrally shaped 50 GHz amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) channels for transmission over a recirculation loop with a per loop length of 63 km single mode fibre (SMF). Our modelling and experimental results show that a fibre with positive dispersion >10ps/nm/km and a nonlinear coefficient of ∼ 4W-1km-1 is a good choice of gain fibre for DRA-assisted coherent transmission system.

E-, S-, C- and L-band coherent transmission with a multistage discrete Raman amplifier.

We report for the first time an ultra-wideband coherent (UWB) WDM transmission over a 70 km standard single mode fibre (SSMF) solely using a multistage discrete Raman amplifier (DRA) over the E-, S-, C- and L-bands of the optical window. The amplifier is based on a split-combine approach of spectral bands enabling signal amplification from 1410-1605 nm over an optical bandwidth of 195 nm (25.8 THz). The proposed amplifier was characterized with 143 channelized amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) dummy channels in the S-, C- and L-bands and 4 laser sources in the E-band (1410-1605 nm). The amplification results show an average gain of 14 dB and a maximum noise figure (NF) of 7.5 dB over the entire bandwidth. Coherent transmission with the proposed amplifier was performed using a 30 Gbaud PM-16-QAM channel coupled with the ASE channels over a 70 km SMF. The ultra-wideband transmission using the tailored multistage DRA shows transmission bandwidth of 195 nm with a maximum Q2 penalty of ∼4 dB in E- and S-band, and ∼2 dB in C- and L-band.

Ultra-wideband discrete Raman amplifier optimization for single-span S-C-L-band coherent transmission systems.

We experimentally compare the performance of two key ultra-wideband discrete Raman amplifier structures, a cascaded dual-stage structure and an in-parallel dual-band structure, in fully loaded S-C-L band coherent transmission systems over 70 km of single-mode fiber. Our results show that dual-band discrete Raman amplifier with minimized backreflections can effectively avoid unstable random distributed feedback lasing, reduce the noise figure, and therefore improve the transmission performance for signals at shorter wavelengths, versus the cascaded dual-stage structure. The average noise figure for S-band signals is 6.8 dB and 7.2 dB for the dual-band structure and cascaded dual-stage structure, respectively, while the average S-band Q2 factor is similarly improved by 0.6 dB. Moreover, the cascaded dual-stage discrete Raman amplifier requires guard bands around the 1485-nm and 1508-nm pumps as the signal and pump wavelengths overlap, which results in a bandwidth loss of ∼10 nm and reduces the potential net data throughput to 28.6 Tb/s for 30-GBaud DP-16QAM signals. However, the dual-band structure can utilize the bandwidth more effectively, which leads to a higher estimated net data throughput of 31.2 Tb/s.

30-GBaud DP 16-QAM transmission in the E-band enabled by bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers.

We report the transmission of five 30-GBaud dual polarization 16-QAM signals over 160 km of standard single-mode fiber in the E-band (1410-1460 nm). The transmission line consists of two 80-km spans and three independent bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers. The developed amplifiers feature a maximum gain of 27.3 dB, 33.8 dB, and 28.3 dB with a minimum noise figure of 4.8 dB, 4.7 dB, and 5.3 dB, respectively. The maximum signal Q2 factor penalty is 4.5 dB, and the overall performance of the system is above the pre-forward-error-correction (FEC) threshold for a 10-15 post-FEC bit error rate. To the best of our knowledge, this is the record experimentally demonstrated transmission length for a coherent detection signal in the E-band.

Raman Amplification Optimization in Short-Reach High Data Rate Coherent Transmission Systems.

We compared the transmission performances of 600 Gbit/s PM-64QAM WDM signals over 75.6 km of single-mode fibre (SMF) using EDFA, discrete Raman, hybrid Raman/EDFA, and first-order or second-order (dual-order) distributed Raman amplifiers. Our numerical simulations and experimental results showed that the simple first-order distributed Raman scheme with backward pumping delivered the best transmission performance among all the schemes, notably better than the expected second-order Raman scheme, which gave a flatter signal power variation along the fibre. Using the first-order backward Raman pumping scheme demonstrated a better balance between the ASE noise and fibre nonlinearity and gave an optimal transmission performance over a relatively short distance of 75 km SMF.

RIN induced penalties in G.654.E and G.652.D based distributed Raman amplifiers for coherent transmission systems.

Relative intensity noise (RIN) induced penalties were experimentally measured in distributed Raman amplifiers (DRAs) for G.654.E and G.652.D fibres with forward, backward and bidirectional pumping configurations. The measured signal RIN using the G.654.E fibre was ∼3.5 dB and ∼2 dB lower than the G.652.D fibre with forward (FW) pump configuration for PM-QPSK and PM-8QAM signals, with single span transmission showing a Q-factor improvement of ∼3 dB and ∼2.5 dB for G.654.E over G.652.D fibres. The performance penalty in a long haul coherent system was evaluated for 28 GBaud PM-QPSK signals using a recirculation loop for backward and bidirectional distributed Raman amplifiers. Our experimental results demonstrate an additional transmission distance of more than 1000 km for G.654.E over its counterpart G.652.D assuming a HD-FEC limit of 8.5 dB.

High-capacity multi-span transmission performance characterization of broadband discrete Raman amplifier.

The performance of a multi-span transmission link compensated with a >75nm broadband discrete Raman amplifier is experimentally evaluated using multiple DP-x-QAM modulation formats over a multi-channel C + L band WDM grid with up to 182 × 50 GHz spaced channels.

Impact of pump-signal overlap in S+C+L band discrete Raman amplifiers.

We experimentally investigate the impact of pump-signal overlap in ultra-wideband (>13THz) Raman amplifiers and measure the transmission penalty on 30GBaud PM-QPSK signals due to adjacent Raman pumps in a 15dB gain, 150nm (∼18.8THz) S+C+L-band discrete Raman amplifier. We present an efficient numerical model to predict the performance penalty induced by crosstalk from Rayleigh backscattered light from backward-propagating Raman pumps showing good agreement with the experimental results. A 4nm guard-band must be retained around an overlapping Raman pump based on typical, commercial semiconductor laser pump diodes to ensure a negligible transmission penalty in S-band.

Low transmission penalty dual-stage broadband discrete Raman amplifier.

We present a broadband (>70nm), dual stage, discrete Raman amplifier designed with small and standard core fibres to maximize gain and minimize nonlinearity. The amplifier provides ~19.5dB net gain, 22.5dBm saturation output power and a noise figure of <7.2dB. 120Gb/s DP-QPSK transmission over 38x80km at a pre-FEC BER <3.8x10-3 is demonstrated.

Impact of input FBG reflectivity and forward pump power on RIN transfer in ultralong Raman laser amplifiers.

Relative intensity noise transfer from the pump to the signal in 2nd-order ultra-long Raman laser amplifiers for telecommunications is characterized numerically and experimentally. Our results showcase the need for careful adjustment of the front FBG reflectivity and the relative contribution of forward pump power, and their impact on performance. Finally, our analysis is verified through a 10 × 30 GBaud DP-QPSK transmission experiment, showing a large Q factor penalty associated with the combination of high forward pumping and high reflectivities.