Jonathan D. Ingham

Performance and Power Dissipation Comparisons Between 28 Gb/s NRZ, PAM, CAP and Optical OFDM Systems for Data Communication Applications

Theoretical investigations have been carried out to analyze and compare the link power budget and power dissipation of non-return-to-zero (NRZ), pulse amplitude modulation-4 (PAM-4), carrierless amplitude and phase modulation-16 (CAP-16) and 16-quadrature amplitude modulation-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (16-QAM-OFDM) systems for data center interconnect scenarios. It is shown that for multimode fiber (MMF) links, NRZ modulation schemes with electronic equalization offer the best link power budget margins with the least power dissipation for short transmission distances up to 200 m; while OOFDM is the only scheme which can support a distance of 300 m albeit with power dissipation as high as 4 times that of NRZ. For short single mode fiber (SMF) links, all the modulation schemes offer similar link power budget margins for fiber lengths up to 15 km, but NRZ and PAM-4 are preferable due to their system simplicity and low power consumption. For lengths of up to 30 km, CAP-16 and OOFDM are required although the schemes consume 2 and 4 times as much power respectively compared to that of NRZ. OOFDM alone allows link operation up to 35 km distances.

Wide-frequency-range operation of a high-linearity uncooled DFB laser for next-generation radio-over-fiber

Uncooled 1310-nm DFB lasers are shown for the first time to exhibit ultra-wideband high linearity at both 25/spl deg/C (1 to 20 GHz: SFDR>103 dBHz/sup 2/3/) and 85/spl deg/C (1 to 10 GHz: SFDR>90 dBHz/sup 2/3/).

Bidirectional multimode-fiber communication links using dual-purpose vertical-cavity devices

This paper describes the development of novel multimode-fiber (MMF) communication links that achieve half-duplex bidirectional transmission over a single fiber through the use of 850-nm dual-purpose GaAs vertical-cavity optoelectronic devices. The dual-purpose devices are fabricated by focused-ion-beam micromachining (FIBM) of standard vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and are able to be switched between operation as either efficient laser sources or as resonant-cavity-enhanced avalanche photodetectors. An avalanche multiplication factor of 10 is achieved at a reverse-bias voltage of 12.3 V. A 1.25-Gb/s half-duplex bidirectional data communication link is demonstrated and shown to allow error-free transmission of binary data over 500 m of standard 50-mum-core-diameter MMF. Receiver sensitivities for transceivers based upon these devices are predicted for the first time to be comparable with conventional data communication transceivers. Furthermore, a half-duplex analog bidirectional system is constructed, which permits the transmission of advanced RF modulation formats over MMF. Link characterization by error-vector magnitude (EVM) is described. The dual-purpose vertical-cavity devices are employed for bidirectional transmission of 32-symbol quadrature-amplitude-modulated (32-QAM) signals on a carrier frequency of 2 GHz, relevant to many current wireless local-area network and cellular standards. EVM as low as 1.3% rms is observed for a 600-m link of 62.5-mum-core-diameter MMF

Uncooled DBR laser directly Modulated at 3.125 gb/s as athermal transmitter for low-cost WDM systems

An uncooled three-section tunable distributed Bragg reflector laser is demonstrated as an athermal transmitter for low-cost uncooled wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) systems with tight channel spacing. A /spl plusmn/0.02-nm thermal wavelength drift is achieved under continuous-wave operation up to 70/spl deg/C. Dynamic sidemode suppression ratio of greater than 35 dB is consistently obtained under 3.125-Gb/s direct modulation over a 20/spl deg/C-70/spl deg/C temperature range, with wavelength variation of as low as /spl plusmn/0.2 nm. This indicates that more than an order of magnitude reduction in coarse WDM channel spacing is possible using this source.

32 Gb/s multilevel modulation of an 850 nm VCSEL for next-generation datacommunication standards

An 850 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is modulated at 32 Gb/s using pulse amplitude modulation with four levels. Transmitter predistortion generates an optimized modulation waveform, which requires a receiver bandwidth of only 15 GHz.

Experimental demonstration of optical data links using a hybrid CAP/QAM modulation scheme

The first known experimental demonstrations of a 10  Gb/s hybrid CAP-2/QAM-2 and a 20  Gb/s hybrid CAP-4/QAM-4 transmitter/receiver-based optical data link are performed. Successful transmission over 4.3 km of standard single-mode fiber (SMF) is achieved, with a link power penalty ∼0.4  dBo for CAP-2/QAM-2 and ∼1.5  dBo for CAP-4/QAM-4 at BER=10(-9).

Efficient line launch for bandwidth improvement of 10 Gbit/s multimode fibre links using elliptical Gaussian beam

A novel elliptical Gaussian beam line launch is shown to allow improved system capacity for high speed multimode fibre links. This launch maintains higher bandwidth than dual launch even with misalignment of ±6 µm despite not requiring testing at installation.

10-Gb/s Transmission on Single-Wavelength Multichannel SCM-Based FDDI-Grade MMF Links at Lengths Over 300 m: A Statistical Investigation

We propose and comprehensively investigate a subcarrier-multiplexing (SCM) system based on 62.5-mum-core-diameter multimode fiber (MMF) using a single wavelength to achieve 10-Gb/s transmission over link lengths beyond 300 m, using 1.3-mum-wavelength lasers with radial offset launch into MMF links. The system utilizes multichannel SCM transmission using quadrature-phase-shift-keyed modulation in combining baseband transmission with three passband SCM channels at the carrier frequencies of 3.75, 6.25, and 8.75 GHz while incorporating a maximum laser modulation bandwidth of 10 GHz to ensure system compliance with the limits of current uncooled laser devices. A statistical investigation of the system highlights its capability to achieve an acceptable yield over worst-case MMF links of length 600 m. We also investigate the improvement in system performance granted by allowing a controlled overlap of frequency spectra of the passband SCM channels. In addition, we test the accuracy of the previously proposed usable average slope criterion of less than 4 dB/GHz, which is needed to achieve low-penalty transmission with eye-closure penalties <3 dB.

Directly-modulated DS-DBR tunable laser for uncooled C-band WDM system

A tunable DS-DBR laser is demonstrated for uncooled WDM C-band channel generation with tight spacing (50 GHz) and low thermal drift (plusmn 2.5 GHz) up to 70degC. 2.5 Gb/s direct modulation with transmission over a 75 km link is achieved

Directly-modulated photonic devices for microwave applications

In this paper, we show that directly-modulated photonic devices, such as distributed feedback (DFB) lasers and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), exhibit very high linearity even when operated under uncooled conditions. It is proven by both experiment and simulation that these devices may be used in directly-modulated radio-over-fiber (RoF) links to meet the stringent requirements of current and future wireless network applications. High-dynamic-range microwave signals can be transported over these links with negligible penalty.