Loukas Paraschis

Bandwidth scalable, coherent transmitter based on the parallel synthesis of multiple spectral slices using optical arbitrary waveform generation

We demonstrate an optical transmitter based on dynamic optical arbitrary waveform generation (OAWG) which is capable of creating high-bandwidth (THz) data waveforms in any modulation format using the parallel synthesis of multiple coherent spectral slices. As an initial demonstration, the transmitter uses only 5.5 GHz of electrical bandwidth and two 10-GHz-wide spectral slices to create 100-ns duration, 20-GHz optical waveforms in various modulation formats including differential phase-shift keying (DPSK), quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK), and eight phase-shift keying (8PSK) with only changes in software. The experimentally generated waveforms showed clear eye openings and separated constellation points when measured using a real-time digital coherent receiver. Bit-error-rate (BER) performance analysis resulted in a BER < 9.8 × 10(-6) for DPSK and QPSK waveforms. Additionally, we experimentally demonstrate three-slice, 4-ns long waveforms that highlight the bandwidth scalable nature of the optical transmitter. The various generated waveforms show that the key transmitter properties (i.e., packet length, modulation format, data rate, and modulation filter shape) are software definable, and that the optical transmitter is capable of acting as a flexible bandwidth transmitter.

Modulation-format agile, reconfigurable Tb/s transmitter based on optical arbitrary waveform generation.

This paper presents the concept of an optical transmitter based on optical arbitrary waveform generation (OAWG) capable of synthesizing Tb/s optical signals of arbitrary modulation format. Experimental and theoretical demonstrations in this paper include generation of data packet waveforms focusing on (a) achieving high spectral efficiencies in quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) modulation formats, (b) generation of complex data waveform packets used for optical-label switching (OLS) consisting of a data payload and label on a carrier and subcarrier, and (c) repeatability and accuracy of duobinary (DB) data packet waveforms with BER measurements. These initial demonstrations are based on static OAWG, or line-by-line pulse shaping, to generate repeated waveforms of arbitrary shape. In addition to experimental and theoretical demonstrations of static OAWG, simulated results show dynamic OAWG, which involves encoding continuous data streams of arbitrary symbol sequence on data packet waveforms of arbitrary length.

10 000-hop cascaded in-line all-optical 3R regeneration to achieve 1 250 000-km 10-Gb/s transmission

We demonstrate 1 250 000-km 10-Gb/s return-to-zero transmission over 10 000 stages of in-line all-optical reamplification, reshaping, and retiming (3R) regeneration spaced every 125 km. The all-optical 3R regenerator incorporates a 10-GHz all-optical clock recovery module including a Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot filter and a semiconductor optical amplifier in a cascaded configuration for fast and stable response. Bit-error-rate (BER) performance measurements show less than 0.7-dB power penalty at the BER of 10/sup -9/ between 1 250 000- (Lap 10 000) and 125-km (Lap 1) transmission using pseudorandom bit sequence 2/sup 23/-1.

High-Performance Optical 3R Regeneration for Scalable Fiber Transmission System Applications

This paper proposes and demonstrates optical 3R regeneration techniques for high-performance and scalable 10-Gb/s transmission systems. The 3R structures rely on monolithically integrated all-active semiconductor optical amplifier-based Mach-Zehnder interferometers (SOA-MZIs) for signal reshaping and optical narrowband filtering using a Fabry-Peacuterot filter (FPF) for all-optical clock recovery. The experimental results indicate very stable operation and superior cascadability of the proposed optical 3R structure, allowing error-free and low-penalty 10-Gb/s [pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) 223-1 ] return-to-zero (RZ) transmission through a record distance of 1 250 000 km using 10 000 optical 3R stages. Clock-enhancement techniques using a SOA-MZI are then proposed to accommodate the clock performance degradations that arise from dispersion uncompensated transmission. Leveraging such clock-enhancement techniques, we experimentally demonstrate error-free 125 000-km RZ dispersion uncompensated transmission at 10 Gb/s (PRBS 223-1) using 1000 stages of optical 3R regenerators spaced by 125-km large-effective-area fiber spans. To evaluate the proposed optical 3R structures in a relatively realistic environment and to investigate the tradeoff between the cascadability and the spacing of the optical 3R, a fiber recirculation loop is set up with 264- and 462-km deployed fiber. The field-trial experiment achieves error-free 10-Gb/s RZ transmission using PRBS 223-1 through 264 000-km deployed fiber across 1000 stages of optical 3R regenerators spaced by 264-km spans

Jitter and Amplitude Noise Accumulations in Cascaded All-Optical Regenerators

This paper proposes and demonstrates a simulation model to systematically investigate jitter accumulations in cascaded all-optical 2R regenerators. The simulation results indicate that when the pattern dependence from the memory effect is minimized, the jitter accumulation depends critically on the degree of the regenerative nonlinearity. Studies of tradeoffs between the jitter from bandwidth limitation and the signal-to-noise-ratio degradation help identify the optimized regenerator bandwidth for various degrees of regenerative nonlinearity. The simulation then considers the pattern dependence from the memory effect and finds that it can severely degrade the cascadability of an optical 2R regenerator and can make it worse than that of a linear optical amplifier (optical 1R). The simulation results show good matches to the experimental results of an optical 2R regenerator based on a semiconductor optical amplifier based Mach-Zehnder interferometer. To overcome the jitter accumulation associated with the optical 2R regeneration, we experimentally demonstrate an optical 3R regenerator for optical nonreturn-to-zero signals with all-optical clock recovery. The experiments achieve more than 1000-hop cascadability for pseudorandom binary sequence 231-1 inputs with a 100-km recirculation loop using lab fiber. Field trial experiments then demonstrate a more than 1000-hop cascadability for a 3R spacing of 66 km and a 100-hop cascadability for a 3R spacing of 264 km.

Applications of Artificial Neural Networks in Optical Performance Monitoring

Applications using artificial neural networks (ANNs) for optical performance monitoring (OPM) are proposed and demonstrated. Simultaneous identification of optical signal-to-noise-ratio (OSNR), chromatic dispersion (CD), and polarization-mode-dispersion (PMD) from eye-diagram parameters is shown via simulation in both 40 Gb/s on-off keying (OOK) and differential phase-shift-keying (DPSK) systems. Experimental verification is performed to simultaneously identify OSNR and CD. We then extend this technique to simultaneously identify accumulated fiber nonlinearity, OSNR, CD, and PMD from eye-diagram and eye-histogram parameters in a 3-channel 40 Gb/s DPSK wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) system. Furthermore, we propose using this ANN approach to monitor impairment causing changes from a baseline. Simultaneous identification of accumulated fiber nonlinearity, OSNR, CD, and PMD causing changes from a baseline by use of the eye-diagram and eye-histogram parameters is obtained and high correlation coefficients are achieved with various baselines. Finally, the ANNs are also shown for simultaneous identification of in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) data misalignment and data/carver misalignment in return-to-zero differential quadrature phase shift keying (RZ-DQPSK) transmitters.

Reach extension in 10-Gb/s directly modulated transmission systems using asymmetric and narrowband optical filtering

Optical filtering has been used to extend the reach of directly modulated laser in 10Gb/s WDM systems via two separate mechanisms: narrowing the broadened spectrum, and converting frequency modulation into useful amplitude modulation. We investigate in detail, the impact of asymmetric and narrowband optical filtering at the transmitter or receiver. Experimental demonstrations for both shorter distance and long-haul like transmission using optical filtering are performed. The transmission reach is nearly doubled from <25-km to >45-km without dispersion compensation. 1400-km error-free transmission (Q > 15.6-dB) is further achieved over dispersion-managed link for a directly modulated DFB laser within an 8x10-Gb/s WDM system.

Experimental demonstration of flexible bandwidth networking with real-time impairment awareness

We demonstrate a flexible-bandwidth network testbed with a real-time, adaptive control plane that adjusts modulation format and spectrum-positioning to maintain quality of service (QoS) and high spectral efficiency. Here, low-speed supervisory channels and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) enabled real-time impairment detection of high-speed flexible bandwidth channels (flexpaths). Using premeasured correlation data between the supervisory channel quality of transmission (QoT) and flexpath QoT, the control plane adapted flexpath spectral efficiency and spectral location based on link quality. Experimental demonstrations show a back-to-back link with a 360-Gb/s flexpath in which the control plane adapts to varying link optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) by adjusting the flexpaths spectral efficiency (i.e., changing the flexpath modulation format) between binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK), and eight phase-shift keying (8PSK). This enables maintaining the data rate while using only the minimum necessary bandwidth and extending the OSNR range over which the bit error rate in the flexpath meets the quality of service (QoS) requirement (e.g. the forward error correction (FEC) limit). Further experimental demonstrations with two flexpaths show a control plane adapting to changes in OSNR on one link by changing the modulation format of the affected flexpath (220 Gb/s), and adjusting the spectral location of the other flexpath (120 Gb/s) to maintain a defragmented spectrum.

1000 cascaded stages of optical 3R regeneration with SOA-MZI-based clock enhancement to achieve 10-gb/s 125 000-km dispersion uncompensated transmission

We propose an optical 3R regenerator that incorporates a clock enhancement stage based on a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a 10-GHz all-optical clock recovery module employing a Fabry-Perot filter and an SOA. The experiments assess the optical 3R regeneration technique using a fiber recirculation loop containing 125-km dispersion uncompensated large effective area fiber with a total chromatic dispersion of 531.25 ps/nm. The optical 3R regeneration achieves error-free 125 000-km dispersion uncompensated return-to-zero transmission at 10 Gb/s over 1000 optical 3R stages. The bit-error-rate (BER) measurements show that there is only 1.2-dB power penalty at 10-9 BER between 125 000-km (Lap 1000) uncompensated transmission and back-to-back using pseudorandom bit sequence 223-1

Cascadability of Optical 3R Regeneration for NRZ Format Investigated in Recirculating Loop Transmission Over Field Fibers

This letter demonstrates optical 3R regeneration in 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero field transmission. The 3R regenerator utilizes semiconductor-optical-amplifier-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer wavelength converters, a synchronous modulator, and a Fabry-Perot filter to realize optical 3R regeneration including all-optical clock recovery. The cascadability of the 3R regenerator is investigated in recirculating loop transmission experiments with various regeneration spacings up to 462 km (corresponding to an input optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of 22 dB). Transmission with the 3R regenerator shows significant performance improvement over that without 3R regeneration. A 66-km-spaced 3R regeneration with a 33-dB input OSNR achieves 1000-hop cascaded error-free transmission (66 000 km in distance) with no hop-to-hop power penalties. A 264-km-spaced 3R regeneration with a 25-dB input OSNR also achieves 100-hop cascaded transmission (26 400km in distance) with a bit-error-rate error floor at ~1times10-8