Asymmetric self-coherent detection.

The bandwidth upgrade required in short-reach optical communications has prompted the need for detection schemes that combine field reconstruction with a cost-effective subsystem architecture. Here we propose an asymmetric self-coherent detection (ASCD) scheme for the field reconstruction of self-coherent (SC) complex double-sideband (DSB) signals based on a direct-detection (DD) receiver with two reception paths. Each reception path consists of a photodiode (PD) and an analog-to-digital converter for the detection of a part of the received optical signal that experiences a different optical transfer function via the configuration of an optical filter. We derive an analytical solution to reconstructing the signal field and show the optimal filter response in optimizing the signal SNR. Further, we numerically characterize the theoretical performance of a specific ASCD scheme based on a chromatic dispersion filter and validate the principle of the ASCD scheme in a proof-of-concept experiment. The ASCD scheme approaches the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent detection with a cost-effective DD receiver, which shows the potential for high-speed short-reach links required by edge cloud communications and mobile X-haul systems.

Ultrafast and low overhead training symbol based channel estimation in coherent M-QAM single-carrier transmission systems.

We propose a training symbol based channel estimation (TS-EST) algorithm that estimates the 2 × 2 Jones channel matrix. The estimated matrix entries are then used as the initial center taps of the 2 × 2 butterfly equalizer. Employing very few training symbols for TS-EST, ultrafast polarization tracking is achieved and tap update can be initially pursued using the decision-directed least mean squares (DD-LMS) algorithm to mitigate residual intersymbol interference (ISI). We experimentally verify the proposed TS-EST algorithm for 112 Gbps PDM-QPSK and 224 Gbps PDM-16QAM systems using 10 and 40 training symbols for TS-EST, respectively. Steady-state and transient bit error rates (BERs) achieved using the TS-EST algorithm are compared to those obtained using the constant modulus algorithm (CMA) and the training symbol least mean squares (TS-LMS) algorithm and results show that the proposed TS-EST algorithm provides the same steady-state BER with a superior convergence speed. Also, the tolerance of the proposed TS-EST algorithm to laser phase noise and fiber nonlinearity is experimentally verified. Finally, we show by simulation that the superior tracking speed of the TS-EST algorithm allows not only for initial polarization tracking but also for tracking fast polarization transients if four training symbols are periodically sent during steady-state operation with an overhead as low as 0.57%.

Single channel and WDM transmission of 28 Gbaud zero-guard-interval CO-OFDM.

We report on the experimental demonstration of single channel 28 Gbaud QPSK and 16-QAM zero-guard-interval (ZGI) CO-OFDM transmission with only 1.34% overhead for OFDM processing. The achieved transmission distance is 5120 km for QPSK assuming a 7% forward error correction (FEC) overhead, and 1280 km for 16-QAM assuming a 20% FEC overhead. We also demonstrate the improved tolerance of ZGI CO-OFDM to residual inter-symbol interference compared to reduced-guard-interval (RGI) CO-OFDM. In addition, we report an 8-channel wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission of 28 Gbaud QPSK ZGI CO-OFDM signals over 4160 km.

Pilot-aided carrier phase recovery for M-QAM using superscalar parallelization based PLL.

In this paper, we present a carrier phase recovery (CPR) algorithm using a modified superscalar parallelization based phase locked loop (M-SSP-PLL) combined with a maximum-likelihood (ML) phase estimation. Compared to the original SSP-PLL, M-SSP-PLL + ML reduces the required buffer size using a novel superscalar structure. In addition, by removing the differential coding/decoding and employing ML phase recovery it also improves the performance. In simulation, we show that the laser linewidth tolerance of M-SSP-PLL + ML is comparable to blind phase search (BPS) algorithm, which is known to be one of the best CPR algorithms in terms of performance for arbitrary QAM formats. In 28 Gbaud QPSK (112 Gb/s) and 16-QAM (224 Gb/s), and 7 Gbaud 64-QAM (84 Gb/s) experiments, it is also demonstrated that M-SSP-PLL + ML can increase the transmission distance by at least 12% compared to BPS for each of them. Finally, the computational complexity is discussed and a significant reduction is shown for our algorithm with respect to BPS.

Experimental demonstration of non-iterative interpolation-based partial ICI compensation in100G RGI-DP-CO-OFDM transport systems.

We experimentally investigate the performance of a low-complexity non-iterative phase noise induced inter-carrier interference (ICI) compensation algorithm in reduced-guard-interval dual-polarization coherent-optical orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (RGI-DP-CO-OFDM) transport systems. This interpolation-based ICI compensator estimates the time-domain phase noise samples by a linear interpolation between the CPE estimates of the consecutive OFDM symbols. We experimentally study the performance of this scheme for a 28 Gbaud QPSK RGI-DP-CO-OFDM employing a low cost distributed feedback (DFB) laser. Experimental results using a DFB laser with the linewidth of 2.6 MHz demonstrate 24% and 13% improvement in transmission reach with respect to the conventional equalizer (CE) in presence of weak and strong dispersion-enhanced-phase-noise (DEPN), respectively. A brief analysis of the computational complexity of this scheme in terms of the number of required complex multiplications is provided. This practical approach does not suffer from error propagation while enjoying low computational complexity.

Experimental investigation of the equalization-enhanced phase noise in long haul 56 Gbaud DP-QPSK systems.

We experimentally demonstrate the impact of equalization-enhanced phase noise (EEPN) on the performance of 56 Gbaud dual-polarization (DP) QPSK long haul transmission systems. Although EEPN adds additional noise to the received symbols, we show that this reduces the phase variance introduced by the LO laser, and therefore should be considered when designing the carrier phase recovery (CPR) algorithms and estimating system performance. Further, we experimentally demonstrate the performance degradation caused by EEPN when a LO laser with a large linewidth is used at the receiver. When using a 2.6 MHz linewidth distributed feedback (DFB) laser instead of a ~100 kHz linewidth external-cavity laser (ECL) as a LO, the transmission distance is reduced from 4160 km to 2640 km due to EEPN. We also confirm the reduction of the phase variance of the received symbols for longer transmission distances showing its impact on the CPR algorithm optimization when a DFB laser is used at the receiver. Finally, the relationship between the EEPN-induced penalty versus the signal baud rate and the LO laser linewidth is experimentally evaluated, and numerically validated by simulations.

Zero-overhead phase noise compensation via decision-directed phase equalizer for coherent optical OFDM.

We report and investigate the feasibility of zero-overhead laser phase noise compensation (PNC) for long-haul coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) transmission systems, using the decision-directed phase equalizer (DDPE). DDPE updates the equalization parameters on a symbol-by-symbol basis after an initial decision making stage and retrieves an estimation of the phase noise value by extracting and averaging the phase drift of all OFDM sub-channels. Subsequently, a second equalization is performed by using the estimated phase noise value which is followed by a final decision making stage. We numerically compare the performance of DDPE and the CO-OFDM conventional equalizer (CE) for different laser linewidth values after transmission over 2000 km of uncompensated single-mode fiber (SMF) at 40 Gb/s and investigate the effect of fiber nonlinearity and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise on the received signal quality. Furthermore, we analytically analyze the complexity of DDPE versus CE in terms of the number of required complex multiplications per bit.

Data-aided adaptive weighted channel equalizer for coherent optical OFDM.

We report an adaptive weighted channel equalizer (AWCE) for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and study its performance for long-haul coherent optical OFDM (CO-OFDM) transmission systems. This equalizer updates the equalization parameters on a symbol-by-symbol basis thus can track slight drifts of the optical channel. This is suitable to combat polarization mode dispersion (PMD) degradation while increasing the periodicity of pilot symbols which can be translated into a significant overhead reduction. Furthermore, AWCE can increase the precision of RF-pilot enabled phase noise estimation in the presence of noise, using data-aided phase noise estimation. Simulation results corroborate the capability of AWCE in both overhead reduction and improving the quality of the phase noise compensation (PNC).