Single-wavelength polarization- and mode-division multiplexing free-space optical communication at 689 Gbit/s in strong turbulent channels.

We experimentally demonstrated, for, it is believed, the first time, high-capacity polarization- and mode-division multiplexing free-space optical transmission with adequate strong turbulence resiliency. A compact spatial light modulator-based polarization multiplexing multi-plane light conversion module was employed to emulate strong turbulent links. By employing advanced successive interference cancellation multiple-input multiple-output decoder and redundant receive channels, the strong turbulence resiliency was significantly improved in a mode-division multiplexing system. As a result, we achieved a record-high line rate of 689.2 Gbit/s, channel number of 10, and net spectral efficiency of 13.9 bit/(s Hz) in a single-wavelength mode-division multiplexing system with strong turbulence.

Kernel adaptive filtering-based phase noise compensation for pilot-free optical phase conjugated coherent systems.

We propose a kernel-based adaptive filtering method to suppress the phase noise (PN) arising from small deviations from ideal counter-phasing in the dual-pump fibre-based optical phase conjugation (OPC) of pilot-free quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) signals. We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that the proposed scheme achieves signal-to-noise ratio improvement over conventional PN compensation under optimised pump dithering settings in the OPC device and features no performance penalty across a range of pump-phase mismatch values, when it is used with a 16-QAM signal in an optical back-to-back configuration. We also illustrate the applicability of the method to the 64-QAM modulation format, and evaluate its performance in a transmission setup with mid-link OPC by means of numerical simulations.

Single-wavelength transmission at 1.1-Tbit/s net data rate over a multi-modal free-space optical link using commercial devices.

We employ commercial mode-selective photonic lanterns to implement mode multiplexing and demultiplexing for high-capacity free-space optical communications. Moreover, we design a time-division-multiplexed frame structure to efficiently emulate multiple independent transmitters with channelized precoding using only one transmitter. To maximize the throughput of the system, we optimize the modes selected for carrying data, and apply adaptive loading to different channels. By leveraging mode- and polarization-division multiplexing, the free-space optical data link comprising multiple independent channels provides an aggregate net data rate of 1.1 Tbit/s and net spectral efficiency of 28.35 bit/s/Hz. Different from many previous demonstrations based on delayed or partially delayed copies of identical data streams, to the best of our knowledge, ours is a record-high net data rate and net spectral efficiency achieved by a single-wavelength mode-division multiplexed free-space optical communication system with fully independent channels. Moreover, all key devices used in this work, including optical transponder, multiplexer, and demultiplexer are commercially available.

Demonstration of 10-channel mode- and polarization-division multiplexed free-space optical transmission with successive interference cancellation DSP.

We experimentally demonstrate 10-channel mode-division multiplexed free-space optical transmission with five spatial modes, each carrying 19.6925-Gbaud dual-polarization quadrature phase shift keying signals. Strong inter-mode cross talk is observed in our commercially available photonic lantern based system when using a complete orthogonal mode set as independent channels. A successive interference cancellation based multiple-input multiple-output digital signal processing (DSP) algorithm is first applied to mitigate the inter-mode cross talk in mode-division multiplexed systems. The DSP also supports unequal transmit and receive channel numbers to further improve the cross talk resiliency. Compared to the conventional minimum mean square error DSP, the required optical signal-to-noise ratio of the successive interference cancellation DSP is decreased by approximately 5 dB at the hard-decision forward error correction limit. As a result, this system demonstrates a record-high independent channel number of 10 and spectral efficiency of 13.7 b/s/Hz in mode-division multiplexed free-space optical systems.

Distributed Raman Amplification for Fiber Nonlinearity Compensation in a Mid-Link Optical Phase Conjugation System.

In this paper, we review different designs of distributed Raman amplifiers which have been proposed to minimize the signal power profile asymmetry in mid-link optical phase conjugation systems. We demonstrate how the symmetrical signal power profiles along the fiber can be achieved using various distributed Raman amplification techniques in the single-span and more realistic multi-span circumstances. In addition, we show the theoretically predicted results of the Kerr nonlinear product reduction with different Raman techniques in mid-link optical phase conjugator systems, and then in-line/long-haul transmission performance using numerical simulations.

Digital compensation of imperfect pump counter-phasing induced phase distortion in optical phase conjugation of high-order QAM.

We propose a new two-stage digital signal processing scheme to suppress the phase distortion that arises from imperfect pump counter-phasing in a dual-pump fibre-based optical phase conjugation system. We demonstrate experimentally and numerically a signal-to-noise ratio improvement of more than 4 dB relative to conventional phase noise compensation, when the proposed scheme is used with 16/64/256 quadrature-amplitude modulation signals at pump-phase mismatch values as large as 8°.

Overcoming degradation in spatial multiplexing systems with stochastic nonlinear impairments.

Single-mode optical fibres now underpin telecommunication systems and have allowed continuous increases in traffic volume and bandwidth demand whilst simultaneously reducing cost- and energy-per-bit over the last 40 years. However, it is now recognised that such systems are rapidly approaching the limits imposed by the nonlinear Kerr effect. To address this, recent research has been carried out into mitigating Kerr nonlinearities to increase the nonlinear threshold and into spatial multiplexing to offer additional spatial pathways. However, given the complexity associated with nonlinear transmission in spatial multiplexed systems subject to random inter-spatial-path nonlinearities it is widely believed that these technologies are mutually exclusive. By investigating the linear and nonlinear crosstalk in few-mode fibres based optical communications, we numerically demonstrate, for the first time, that even in the presence of significant random mixing of signals, substantial performance benefits are possible. To achieve this, the impact of linear mixing on the Kerr nonlinearities should be taken into account using different compensation strategies for different linear mixing regimes. For the optical communication systems studied, we demonstrate that the performance may be more than doubled with the appropriate selection of compensation method for fibre characteristics which match those presented in the literature.

Nonlinearity compensation using optical phase conjugation deployed in discretely amplified transmission systems.

We introduce a closed form equation, validated by simulations and experimental results that predicts the residual nonlinear noise ratio in mid-link OPC assisted discretely amplified systems. The model anticipates the reduction in performance enhancement achieved by mid-link OPC as the bandwidth of the modulated signals increases. The numerical analysis shows that uncompensated signal-signal interactions limit the performance improvement achieved by the introduction of additional OPCs. The numerical analysis predicts that the deployment of shorter amplifier spacing will lead to a greater performance enhancement. The numerical results are validated by experimentally testing of 2x, 4x, and 8x28Gbaud PM-QPSK systems with mid-link OPC compensation in a discretely amplified system with 100km amplifier spacing. The experimentally obtained reach enhancement (43%, 32%, and 24% for 2x28Gbaud, 4x28Gbaud, and 8x28Gbaud, respectively) confirms that the compensation efficiency of mid-link OPC is highly dependent on the number of channels (bandwidth) propagating along the system.

Experimental demonstration of 72% reach enhancement of 3.6Tbps optical transmission system using mid-link optical phase conjugation.

We experimentally demonstrate nonlinear noise compensation in an optical phase conjugation assisted 1st order Raman amplified 30x30Gbaud DP-QPSK transmission system with a spectral efficiency of 3.6b/s/Hz. We show that by optimizing the link symmetry, even with only 1st order Raman amplification a single, mid-link, optical phase conjugation compensates for 90% of the signal-signal nonlinear interference resulting in a 2.3dB performance enhancement. We show that increasing the number of optical phase conjugations in the presence of 10% residual nonlinearity results in a reduction in the performance enhancement owing to an enhancement in the nonlinear noise generation efficiency of the system. We achieve a record 72% optical phase conjugation enabled reach enhancement of the 30x30Gbaud DP-QPSK signals.

Analysis of the nonlinear Kerr effects in optical transmission systems that deploy optical phase conjugation.

In this work, we will derive, validate, and analyze the theoretical description of nonlinear Kerr effects resulting from various transmission systems that deploy single or multiple optical phase conjugators (OPCs). We will show that the nonlinear Kerr compensation can be achieved, with various efficiencies, in both lumped and distributed Raman transmission systems. The results show that first order distributed Raman systems are superior to the discretely amplified systems in terms of the nonlinear Kerr compensation efficiency that a mid-link OPC can achieve. Also, we will show that the multi-OPC approach will diminish the nonlinearity compensation efficiency in any system as it will act as periodic dispersion compensators.

Self-starting optical-electrical-optical homodyne clock recovery for phase-modulated signals.

We propose a novel self-homodyne optical-electrical-optical clock recovery technique for binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) signals using commercial optical and electrical components. We present the principle of operation as well as a proof-of-concept experiment for a 10.7 Gb/s BPSK signal clock recovery transmitted over a dispersion-compensated link of 20 km of single-mode fiber. Suppression of pattern-related frequency noise at the output of the recovered clock is shown. The timing jitter of the recovered clock at 10.7 GHz was measured to be ∼450 fs (integration range: 100 Hz-10 MHz).

Comparison of DSP-based nonlinear equalizers for intra-channel nonlinearity compensation in coherent optical OFDM.

A novel versatile digital signal processing (DSP)-based equalizer using support vector machine regression (SVR) is proposed for 16-quadrature amplitude modulated (16-QAM) coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) and experimentally compared to traditional DSP-based deterministic fiber-induced nonlinearity equalizers (NLEs), namely the full-field digital back-propagation (DBP) and the inverse Volterra series transfer function-based NLE (V-NLE). For a 40 Gb/s 16-QAM CO-OFDM at 2000 km, SVR-NLE extends the optimum launched optical power (LOP) by 4 dB compared to V-NLE by means of reduction of fiber nonlinearity. In comparison to full-field DBP at a LOP of 6 dBm, SVR-NLE outperforms by ∼1 dB in Q-factor. In addition, SVR-NLE is the most computational efficient DSP-NLE.

Fiber nonlinearity-induced penalty reduction in CO-OFDM by ANN-based nonlinear equalization.

We experimentally demonstrate ∼2 dB quality (Q)-factor enhancement in terms of fiber nonlinearity compensation of 40 Gb/s 16 quadrature amplitude modulation coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing at 2000 km, using a nonlinear equalizer (NLE) based on artificial neural networks (ANN). Nonlinearity alleviation depends on escalation of the ANN training overhead and the signal bit rate, reporting ∼4 dBQ-factor enhancement at 70 Gb/s, whereas a reduction of the number of ANN neurons annihilates the NLE performance. An enhanced performance by up to ∼2 dB in Q-factor compared to the inverse Volterra-series transfer function NLE leads to a breakthrough in the efficiency of ANN.

Practical and cost-effective high-fidelity optical carrier dissemination using coherent communication techniques.

We report a unidirectional frequency dissemination scheme for high-fidelity optical carriers deployable over telecommunication networks. For the first time, a 10 Gb/s Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) signal from an ultra-narrow linewidth laser was transmitted through a field-installed optical fibre with round-trip length of 124 km between Cork City and town of Clonakilty, without inline optical amplification. At the receiver, using coherent communication techniques and optical injection-locking the carrier was recovered with noise suppression. The beat signal between the original carrier at the transmitter and recovered carrier at the receiver shows a linewidth of 2.8 kHz. Long term stability measurements revealed fractional instabilities (True Allan deviation) of 3.3 × 10(-14) for 1 s averaging time, prior to phase noise cancellation.

Non-rectangular perfect reconstruction pulse shaping based ICI reduction in CO-OFDM.

In this paper, we propose to increase residual carrier frequency offset tolerance based on short perfect reconstruction pulse shaping for coherent optical-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. The proposed method suppresses the residual carrier frequency offset induced penalty at the receiver, without requiring any additional overhead and exhaustive signal processing. The Q-factor improvement contributed by the proposed method is 1.6 dB and 1.8 dB for time-frequency localization maximization and out-of-band energy minimization pulse shapes, respectively. Finally, the transmission span gain under the influence of residual carrier frequency offset is ~62% with out-of-band energy minimization pulse shape.

Injection locking-based pump recovery for phase-sensitive amplified links.

An injection locking-based pump recovery system for phase-sensitive amplified links, capable of handling 40 dB effective span loss, is demonstrated. Measurements with 10 GBd DQPSK signals show penalty-free recovery of a pump wave, phase modulated with two sinusoidal RF-tones at 0.1 GHz and 0.3 GHz, with 64 dB amplification. The operating power limit for the pump recovery system is experimentally investigated and is governed by the noise transfer and phase modulation transfer characteristics of the injection-locked laser. The corresponding link penalties are explained and quantified. This system enables, for the first time, WDM compatible phase-sensitive amplified links over significant lengths.

Impact of power allocation strategies in long-haul few-mode fiber transmission systems.

We report for the first time on the limitations in the operational power range of few-mode fiber based transmission systems, employing 28 Gbaud quadrature phase shift keying transponders, over 1,600 km. It is demonstrated that if an additional mode is used on a preexisting few-mode transmission link, and allowed to optimize its performance, it will have a significant impact on the pre-existing mode. In particular, we show that for low mode coupling strengths (weak coupling regime), the newly added variable power mode does not considerably impact the fixed power existing mode, with performance penalties less than 2dB (in Q-factor). On the other hand, as mode coupling strength is increased (strong coupling regime), the individual launch power optimization significantly degrades the system performance, with penalties up to ~6 dB. Our results further suggest that mutual power optimization, of both fixed power and variable power modes, reduces power allocation related penalties to less than 3 dB, for any given coupling strength, for both high and low differential mode delays.

Intra-channel nonlinearity compensation for PM-16 QAM traffic co-propagating with 28 Gbaud m-ary QAM neighbours.

We quantify the benefits of intra-channel nonlinear compensation in meshed optical networks, in view of network configuration, fibre design aspect, and dispersion management. We report that for a WDM optical transport network employing flexible 28Gbaud PM-mQAM transponders with no in-line dispersion compensation, intra-channel nonlinear compensation, for PM-16QAM through traffic, offers significant improvements of up to 4dB in nonlinear tolerance (Q-factor) irrespective of the co-propagating modulation format, and that this benefit is further enhanced (1.5dB) by increasing local link dispersion. For dispersion managed links, we further report that advantages of intra-channel nonlinear compensation increase with in-line dispersion compensation ratio, with 1.5dB improvements after 95% in-line dispersion compensation, compared to uncompensated transmission.

Optimal packing for cascaded regenerative transmission based on phase sensitive amplifiers.

We investigate the transmission performance of advanced modulation formats in nonlinear regenerative channels based on cascaded phase sensitive amplifiers. We identify the impact of amplitude and phase noise dynamics along the transmission line and show that after a cascade of regenerators, densely packed single ring PSK constellations outperform multi-ring constellations. The results of this study will greatly simplify the design of future nonlinear regenerative channels for ultra-high capacity transmission.

Characterization of time-resolved laser differential phase using 3D complementary cumulative distribution functions.

An experimental method for characterizing the time-resolved phase noise of a fast switching tunable laser is discussed. The method experimentally determines a complementary cumulative distribution function of the laser's differential phase as a function of time after a switching event. A time resolved bit error rate of differential quadrature phase shift keying formatted data, calculated using the phase noise measurements, was fitted to an experimental time-resolved bit error rate measurement using a field programmable gate array, finding a good agreement between the time-resolved bit error rates.