Ruoxu Wang

Multicore-Fiber-Enabled WSDM Optical Access Network With Centralized Carrier Delivery and RSOA-Based Adaptive Modulation

We proposed and experimentally demonstrated a wavelength-space division multiplexing (WSDM) optical access network architecture with centralized optical carrier delivery utilizing multicore fibers (MCFs) and adaptive modulation based on reflective semiconductor amplifier (RSOA). In our experiment, five of the outer cores are used for undirectional downstream (DS) transmission only, whereas the remaining outer core is utilized as a dedicated channel to transmit upstream (US) signals. Optical carriers for US are delivered from the optical line terminal (OLT) to the optical network unit (ONU) via the inner core and then transmitted back to the OLT after amplification and modulation by the RSOA in the colorless ONU side. The mobile backhaul (MB) service is also supported by the inner core. Wavelengths used in US transmission should be different from that of the MB in order to avoid the Rayleigh backscattering effect in bidirectional transmission. With quadrature phase-shift keying--orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (QPSK-OFDM) modulation format, the aggregation DS capacity reaches 250 Gb/s using five outer cores and ten wavelengths, and it can be further scaled to 1 Tb/s using 20 wavelengths modulated with 16 QAM-OFDM. For US transmission, 2.5 Gb/s QPSK-OFDM transmission can be achieved just using a low-bandwidth RSOA, and adaptive modulation is applied to the RSOA to further enhance the US data rate to 3.12 Gb/s. As an emulation of high-speed MB transmission, 48 Gb/s in-phase and quadrature (IQ) modulated popularization division multiplexing (PDM)-QPSK signal is transmitted in the inner core of MCF and coherently detected in the OLT side. Both DS and US optical signals exhibit acceptable performance with sufficient power budget.

Performance-Enhanced Direct Detection Optical OFDM Transmission With CAZAC Equalization

Direct detection optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DDO-OFDM) transmission with constant amplitude zero autocorrelation (CAZAC) sequence equalization is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Simulation results show that more than 2-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction can be realized using CAZAC equalization, and 50-km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) transmission of 4.11-Gb/s QPSK-OFDM can be achieved with bit-error rate (BER) under forward error correction limit. Transmission performance of QPSK-based DDO-OFDM system is analyzed in both OB2B configuration and fiber link with and without CAZAC equalization. More than 2.5-dB optical receiver sensitivity improvements can be obtained thanks to the PAPR reduction enjoyed by CAZAC equalization. Signal-to-noise ratio for every subcarrier derived from error vector magnitude is estimated and its flatness is confirmed to be much improved with CAZAC equalization. The performance improvements brought by CAZAC equalization can be extended to other modulation formats, and 8.22-Gb/s 16-quadratic-amplitude modulation-OFDM signals transmission using CAZAC equalization is demonstrated with over 1.5 dB enhancement in receiver sensitivity.

Fiber Bragg gratings in heterogeneous multicore fiber for directional bending sensing

We present the fabrication of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in a trench-assisted heterogeneous multicore fiber (MCF). Two obviously different Bragg reflection peaks are obtained due to the slight difference of refractive indices between the center core and the outer cores. To investigate the reflections of the two FBGs simultaneously, only a segment of multimode fiber is inserted between the lead-in single mode fiber and the MCF. The experimental results confirm that the curvature sensitivity of the FBG in the outer core is a sinusoidal function of the bending orientation angle. The maximum linear curvature sensitivity is about 0.128 nm/m?1. The cross sensitivity to temperature or externally applied axial strain can be eliminated by discriminating the different responses of FBGs inscribed in outer cores and the center core. Thus this MCF with FBGs can be utilized as a directional bending sensor. Moreover, the proposed sensor offers several advantages, such as low cost and flexibility in fabrication.

Spatial-Division Multiplexed Mach–Zehnder Interferometers in Heterogeneous Multicore Fiber for Multiparameter Measurement

We propose and demonstrate a novel spatial-division multiplexed Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure in heterogeneous multicore fiber (MCF) for simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain. The MZI structure is constituted of dual-tapered regions along heterogeneous MCF by using electrical arc discharge. Different spatial channels (cores) in heterogeneous MCF have dissimilar responses to the outer environment. With our in-house developed low-loss fan-in/fan-out devices, we experimentally achieved the temperature sensitivity of 47.37 pm/°C for the central core and 53.20 pm/°C for the outer core and strain sensitivity of 1.10 pm/με for the central core and 0.84 pm/με for the outer core. Using the temperature-strain joint matrix, the cross sensitivity is eliminated, and the relative measurement error is less than 5%. The spatial-division multiplexed interferometric sensors embedded in the telecommunication-grade MCF show great potential for multiparameter sensing.

Heterogeneous all-solid multicore fiber based multipath Michelson interferometer for high temperature sensing

A compact high temperature sensor utilizing a multipath Michelson interferometer (MI) structure based on weak coupling multicore fiber (MCF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The device is fabricated by program-controlled tapering the spliced region between single mode fiber (SMF) and a segment of MCF. After that, a spherical reflective structure is formed by arc-fusion splicing the end face of MCF. Theoretical analysis has been implemented for this specific multipath MI structure; beam propagation method based simulation and corresponding experiments were performed to investigate the effect of taper and spherical end face on systems performance. Benefiting from the multipath interferences and heterogeneous structure between the center core and surrounding cores of the all-solid MCF, an enhanced temperature sensitivity of 165 pm/°C up to 900°C and a high-quality interference spectrum with 25 dB fringe visibility were achieved.

Few-mode fiber based distributed curvature sensor through quasi-single-mode Brillouin frequency shift.

We proposed and demonstrated a few-mode fiber (FMF) based optical-fiber sensor for distributed curvature measurement through quasi-single-mode Brillouin frequency shift (BFS). By central-alignment splicing FMF and single-mode fiber (SMF) with a fusion taper, a SMF-components-compatible distributed curvature sensor based on FMF is realized using the conventional Brillouin optical time-domain analysis system. The distributed BFS change induced by bending in FMF has been theoretically and experimentally investigated. The precise BFS response to the curvature along the fiber link has been calibrated. A proof-of-concept experiment is implemented to validate its effectiveness in distributed curvature measurement.

Dispersion-Tolerant DDO-OFDM System and Simplified Adaptive Modulation Scheme Using CAZAC Precoding

We apply the signal- and channel-independent constant amplitude zero autocorrelation sequence (CAZAC) precoding technique to a bandwidth-limited longer-reach DDO-OFDM system, and propose a simplified adaptive modulation scheme according to the equalized SNR per subcarrier after CAZAC precoding. Simulation results show that with the optimized modulation index, conventional 8.23-Gb/s double sideband (DSB) modulated QPSK-OFDM signal cannot realize 100 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) transmission at the given received optical power, while CAZAC precoding can enable 100 km SSMF transmission with dispersion-induced power penalty as low as 2.7 dB. The advantage becomes more obvious when CAZAC precoding is employed to 16.46-Gb/s 16QAM-OFDM systems. Thanks to the frequency diversity, OFDM system with CAZAC is proved to be more dispersion tolerant with improved receiver sensitivity. We also analyze the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of each individual subcarrier and its flatness is confirmed to be much improved independent of modulation formats and transmission distances when precoding is used. Based on the priori knowledge of flat SNR curve, we further propose a simplified adaptive modulation scheme using only three steps where bit loading can be applied with power loading omitted. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the BER performance can be further improved with negligible data rate reduction and system complexity aggravation using our proposed simplified adaptive modulation method.

Highly sensitive strain sensor based on helical structure combined with Mach-Zehnder interferometer in multicore fiber

Optical fiber sensors for strain measurement have been playing important roles in structural health monitoring for buildings, tunnels, pipelines, aircrafts, and so on. A highly sensitive strain sensor based on helical structures (HSs) assisted Mach-Zehnder interference in an all-solid heterogeneous multicore fiber (MCF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Due to the HSs, a maximum strain sensitivity as high as −61.8 pm/με was experimentally achieved. This is the highest sensitivity among interferometer-based strain sensors reported so far, to the best of our knowledge. Moreover, the proposed sensor has the ability to discriminate axial strain and temperature, and offers several advantages such as repeatability of fabrication, robust structure and compact size, which further benefits its practical sensing applications.

Digital domain power division multiplexing DDO-OFDM transmission with successive interference cancellation

Two independent 2.5-Gb/s DDO-OFDM signals are simultaneously transmitted over 25km SMF using digital domain power division multiplexing and successive interference cancellation. With optimized power division ratio and enhanced SD-FEC, the spectral efficiency can be doubled.

Demonstration of Programmable In-Band OSNR Monitoring Using LCFBG With Commercial Thermal Printer Head

We proposed and experimentally demonstrated a programmable optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) monitoring scheme by using linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (LCFBG) and a commercial thermal printer head. For the coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) transmission system, the monitors working wavelength can be flexibly software-controlled from 1530 to 1538 nm to support standard ITU-T grid or flex-grid operation. The linear OSNR monitoring range has been achieved from 9 to 26 dB for a 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) OFDM transmission system with negligible errors, respectively. Neither chromatic dispersion nor polarization mode dispersion affect the monitoring accuracy of our system.