WDM Transmission Research Articles

First demonstration of lithium niobate photonic chip for dense wavelength-division multiplexing transmitters

First demonstration of lithium niobate photonic chip for dense wavelength-division multiplexing transmitters

Inverse Design of Incoherent Raman Pump Sources for U-Band WDM Transmission Over 125 km G.652.D Fiber

Inverse Design of Incoherent Raman Pump Sources for U-Band WDM Transmission Over 125 km G.652.D Fiber

Quantum dot fourth-harmonic colliding pulse mode-locked laser for high-power optical comb generation

Quantum-dot mode-locked lasers have advantages such as high temperature stability, large optical bandwidth, and low power consumption, which make them ideal optical comb sources, especially for wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) telecommunications, and optical I/O applications. In this work, we demonstrate an O-band quantum dot colliding pulse mode-locked laser (QD-CPML) to generate optical frequency combs with 200 GHz spacing with maximum channels of 12 within 3 dB optical bandwidth. To achieve the high output power of individual comb lines, four channel conditions are implemented at central wavelength of 1310 nm for WDM transmission experiments. Each channel exhibits more than 10 dBm output power with 200 Gb/s PAM-4 and 270 Gb/s PAM-8 modulation capability via thin-film LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder interferometer modulator without the requirement of any optical amplifications. This high-order QD-CPML is an ideal comb source for power-efficient optical interconnects and large bandwidth optical data transmission.

Comparative investigation of group velocity dispersion with nonlinear phase modulation in fiber optic WDM transmission

Comparative investigation of group velocity dispersion with nonlinear phase modulation in fiber optic WDM transmission

Coherent O-band WDM transmission of DP-16QAM over a 50-km BDFA-amplified link

We present wavelength-division multiplexed coherent transmission in an O-band amplified link enabled by bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers (BDFAs). Transmission of 4 × 25 GBd DP-16QAM (4 × 200 Gb/s) is demonstrated over a single span of 50-km length, occupying a bandwidth of 4.7 THz across the wavelengths 1323 nm to 1351 nm.

Demonstration of IM/DD 3-Tbit/s PS-PAM8 transmission with wavelength and mode multiplexing based on neural network equalizer

We experimentally demonstrate 8-channel wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) signal transmission in 4 modes over 20-m multimode fiber (MMF) in an intensity modulation and direct-detection (IM/DD) system. By combining the probabilistic shaping (PS) technique with high order pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) format, 40-GBaud PS-PAM8 signal transmission in the WDM + MDM IM/DD system achieves a total net bit rate of 3-Tbit/s. With the aid of a multiple input single output (MISO) neural network (NN) equalizer, we obtain a 1.6-dB receiver sensitivity gain compared with traditional digital signal processing (DSP), including multiple input multiple outputs (MIMO) time domain equalizer (TDE).

Total net-rate of 27.88 Tb/s full C-band transmission over 4,550 km using 150 km span length and high-gain EDFA amplification

We experimentally demonstrate a total net-rate of 27.88 Tb/s for C-band wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission over an ultralong span-length of 150 km. It is the largest net capacity × span-length product of 4182 Tb/s·km for C-band, single-core, standard single-mode optical fiber transmission over a length of more than 3,000 km. A total of 99 channels, spaced at 50 GHz intervals, are employed for transmitting 32 GBaud probabilistically constellation-shaped (PCS) 64QAM signals with an information entropy of 5.5. High gain amplifiers can achieve wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission with a bandwidth of 6.25 THz, at a noise figure below 4.3 dB, without the assistance of distributed Raman amplification.

Utilizing Joukowsky transformation in the design of optical fiber for elliptical-to-circular mode conversion.

This study addresses the challenge of enhancing coupling efficiency between optical fibers and elliptical Gaussian beams emitted by semiconductor lasers, particularly in fiber communication systems. We introduce a method for fiber design utilizing the Joukowsky transformation to facilitate efficient mode transformation from elliptical to circular, thereby augmenting the coupling efficiency with both single-mode and multimode fibers. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations demonstrate that the fiber with a structurally transitional core maintains high-efficiency mode transformation across various lengths, and its structure has been optimized accordingly. Additionally, our investigation reveals the designed fiber's ability to preserve polarization states, which could have significant implications in precision optical applications. The proposed design offers an approach to improving performance in optical communication systems, especially in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems and fiber lasers.

L- and U-Band WDM Transmission Over 6 THz Using PPLN-Based Optical Parametric Amplification and Wavelength-Band Conversion

L- and U-Band WDM Transmission Over 6 THz Using PPLN-Based Optical Parametric Amplification and Wavelength-Band Conversion

A Comprehensive Study on EDFA Gain Flattening for WDM Transmission using Cascaded Fiber Bragg Gratings

The gain flattening of optical amplifiers plays a crucial role in optical Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) communication systems, ensuring uniform amplification across all channels. This study focuses on investigating the gain flattening characteristics of Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs) using cascaded Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) in the C-band wavelength range. A comparative analysis of various optical amplifiers revealed that EDFA exhibited the highest gain variation, making it an optimal choice for gain flattening. The key parameters to achieve optimal EDFA gain flattening include the wavelengths of the channels, EDFA length, noise figure (NF), and the number of cascaded FBGs. Simulation experiments are conducted using Optisystem software (ver. 14.2) and the obtained results reveal that EDFA gain flatness can be achieved within the wavelength range of 1531 to 1533 nm, utilizing an EDFA length of 6 m and 12 cascaded FBGs. These findings contribute to the advancement of gain flattening techniques in optical WDM systems, enhancing their performance and reliability.

Triple-Band WDM Transmission Beyond 100-Tb/s Capacity with 1-Tb/s/λ-class Digital Coherent Channels

Triple-Band WDM Transmission Beyond 100-Tb/s Capacity with 1-Tb/s/λ-class Digital Coherent Channels

Fault-tolerant four-dimensional constellation for coherent optical transmission systems.

We propose a 4-dimensional 2-ary amplitude ring-switched modulation format with 64 symbols, which is denoted as 4D-2A-RS64 encoded over two polarization tributaries to improve the transmission performance over long-haul optical fibers in the presence of the non-linear Kerr effect. At a spectral efficiency of 6 bits per 4D, simulation results show that this format outperforms the polarization division multiplexed (PDM) 8QAM-star modulation as well as the 4D-2A-8PSK over links without inline dispersion management. We evaluate the performance for a WDM transmission of 11 × 90~Gbaud channels over a multi-span SSMF link. For an achievable information rate of 4.8bit/s/Hz, the maximum transmission distance is improved by 10.6% (400 km) and 4% (160 km) compared to PDM-8QAM-star and 4D-2A-8PSK respectively. The achieved gains are composed of a linear part and a non-linear part, respectively from the improved Euclidean-distance distribution and the constant power property of the 4D modulation. The geometric shaping of the proposed scheme is easy to implement and is robust to Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) imbalances and quantization errors stemming from the finite digital-to-analog converter (DAC) resolution. This robustness is compared to the one of other geometric-shaped non-linearity tolerant 4D schemes such as the 4D-2A-8PSK and the 4D-64PRS that can be both outperformed by our scheme in severe conditions.

High-speed reach-extended IM-DD system with low-complexity DSP for 6G fronthaul [Invited

With the rising traffic demand from the metaverse, holographic communications, and so on, in beyond-5G (B5G)/6G cloud radio access networks (C-RANs), fronthaul (FH) networks that transport radio information between antennas and distributed/central units will become increasingly demanding. Optical technologies are indispensable in supporting 6G FH deployment, which needs to be high-speed and power/cost-effective simultaneously; low latency is also crucial. This work is extended from our invited paper at OFC2023. While the conference version focused on the wired-wireless conversion/converging side [e.g., using digital signal processing (DSP)-enhanced radio-over-fiber (RoF) techniques] of FH, this work contributes to the complementary side, i.e., optical transmission techniques. Considering 6G capacity and cost requirements, beyond-200-Gb/s/λ optics based on intensity-modulation direct-detection (IM-DD) PAM4 and low-complexity DSP are targeted, which transparently support digital RoF techniques like analog-to-digital-compression (ADX)-RoF (split Option 8) or Delta-sigma RoF, and other functional split options. On the other hand, while the reach of 5G FH may be around 10 km, in 6G FH routing and/or rural connectivity cases, distance can be extended to 20 km or even 40 km. In these scenarios, fiber dispersion in the C-band and even edge wavelengths of the O-band pose a significant challenge for the reach extension of 200G IM-DD systems. We validate through extensive experiments the efficient FH reach extension and dispersion mitigation based on a low-complexity optoelectronic feedforward equalization (OE-FFE) technique. We experimentally verify 224 Gb/s single-wavelength and dense WDM transmissions over up to 41 km distances in the challenging C-band with lean digital equalizers and hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC), which are among the first demonstrations to our knowledge. Even with split Option 8 and extended reach, the FH systems support up to a 10 Tb/s Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI)-equivalent rate and >300Gb/s peak wireless data rate. The presented systems can be useful for high-capacity, reach-extended FH scenarios toward 6G.

214.7 Tbit/s S, C, and L-band transmission over 50 km SSMF based on silicon photonic integrated transceivers

We experimentally demonstrate a 214.7 Tbit/s generalized mutual information (GMI) estimated throughput by ultra-wideband wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission in standard single-mode fiber (SSMF). With 50-GHz grid, 396 transmission channels are used to deliver 49 GBaud probabilistically constellation-shaped (PCS) 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and PCS-64QAM signals. Silicon photonic integrated transceiver is employed to complete electro-optic and optic-electro conversion of the modulated signals. S, C, and L-band rare-earth-doped amplifiers enable the 19.8 THz bandwidth WDM transmission without the assistance of distributed Raman amplification. The measured data rate shows great potential for Silicon photonic devices deployed in ultra-wideband WDM transmission.

Design and Characterization of Dispersion-Tailored Silicon Strip Waveguides toward Wideband Wavelength Conversion

One of cost-effective ways to increase the transmission capacity of current standard wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems is to use a wavelength band other than the C-band to transmit in multi-band. We proposed the concept of multi-band system using wavelength conversion, which can simultaneously process signals over a wide wavelength range. All-optical wavelength conversion could be used to convert C-band WDM signals into other bands in a highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) by four-wave mixing and allow to simultaneously transmit multiple WDM signals including other than the C-band, with only C-band transceivers. Wavelength conversion has been reported for various nonlinear waveguide materials other than HNLF. In such nonlinear materials, we noticed the possibility of wideband transmission by dispersion-tailored silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides. Based on the CMOS process has high accuracy, it is expected that the chromatic dispersion fluctuation could be reduced in mass production. As a first step in the investigation of the broadness of wavelength conversion using SOI-based waveguides, we designed and fabricated dispersion-tailored 12 strip waveguides provided with an edge coupler at both ends. Each of the 12 waveguides having different widths and lengths and is connected to fibers via lensed fibers or by lenses. In order to characterize each waveguide, the pump-probe experimental setup was constructed using a tunable light source as pump and an unmodulated 96-ch C-band WDM test signal. Using this setup, we evaluate insertion loss, input power dependence, conversion bandwidth and conversion efficiency. We confirmed C-band test signal was converted to the S-band and the L-band using the same silicon waveguide with 3 dB conversion bandwidth over 100-nm. Furthermore, an increased design tolerance of at least 90 nm was confirmed for C-to-S conversion by shortening the waveguide length. It is confirmed that the wavelength converters using the nonlinear waveguide has sufficiently wide conversion bandwidth to enhance the multi-band WDM transmission system.

S-Band WDM Transmission Using PPLN-Based Wavelength Converters and 400-Gb/s C-Band Real-Time Transceivers

Multi-band WDM transmission beyond the C+L-band is a promising technology for achieving larger capacity transmission by a limited number of installed fibers. In addition to the C- and L-band, we can expect use the S-band as the next band. Although the development of optical components for new bands, particularly transceivers, entails resource dispersion, which is one of the barriers to the realization of multi-band systems, wavelength conversion by transparent all-optical signal processing enables new wavelength band transmission using existing components. Therefore, we proposed a transmission system including a new wavelength band such as the S-band and made it possible to use a transceiver for the existing band by performing the whole-band wavelength conversion without using a transceiver for the new band. As a preliminary verification to demonstrate multi-band WDM transmission including S-band, we investigated the application of a novel wavelength converter between C-band and S-band, which consists of periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide, to the proposed system. We first characterized the conversion efficiency and noise figure of the wavelength converter and estimated the transmission performance of the system through the wavelength converter. Using the evaluated wavelength converters and test signals of 64 channels arranged in the C-band at 75-GHz intervals, we constructed an experimental setup for S-band transmission through an 80-km standard single-mode fiber. We then demonstrated error-free transmission of real-time 400-Gb/s DP-16QAM signals after forward error correction decoding. From the experimental results, it was clarified that thewavelength converter which realizes the uniformlossless conversion covering the whole C-band effectively achieves the S-band WDM transmission, and it was verified that the capacity improvement of the multi-band WDM system including the S-band can be expected by applying it in combination with the C+L-band WDM system.

Tradeoff Between Reach and Security in Nyquist WDM Transmission of PSK Y-00 Quantum Stream Cipher

Tradeoff Between Reach and Security in Nyquist WDM Transmission of PSK Y-00 Quantum Stream Cipher

Frequency-Shift Monitoring of Optical Filter Based on Optical Labels over FTN-WDM Transmission Systems

Optical network monitoring and soft failure identification such as optical filter shifting and filter tightening are increasingly significant for the complex and dynamic optical networks of the future. Center frequency shift of optical filtering devices in optical networks has a serious impact on the performance of multi-span transmission, especially in high spectrum efficiency faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) transmission systems with various optical switching and add/drop nodes. Existing monitoring schemes generally have the problems of high cost, high complexity, and inability to realize multi-channel online monitoring, which makes it difficult for them to be applied in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system with numerous nodes. In this paper, a monitoring scheme of frequency shift of optical filtering devices based on optical label (OL) is proposed and demonstrated. The signal spectrum of each channel is intentionally divided into many sub-bands with corresponding optical labels loading. The characteristics of spectrum power changing caused by frequency shift can be reflected on labels power changing of each sub-band, which are used to monitor and estimate the value of frequency shift via DSP algorithm. Simulation results show that the monitoring errors of frequency shift can be kept reasonably below 0.5 GHz after 10-span WDM transmission in FTN polarization multiplexing m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (PM-mQAM) systems. In addition, 250 km fiber transmission experiments are also carried out, and similar results are obtained, which further verify the feasibility of our proposed scheme. The characteristics of low cost, high reliability, and efficiency make it a better candidate for practical application in future FTN-WDM networks.

Power equalization-based disaggregated optical network using switched gain equalization controlled amplifiers.

Optical network disaggregation is an attractive agreement to avoid vendor lock-in in choosing desirable partners based on lead time of delivery and facilitates strong negotiations. Disaggregation of conventional coherent transceivers (XCVRs) with 400G ZR+ technologies (of similar bandwidth density and form factor QSFP-DD) allows operators to enjoy significant cost reduction and substantial power savings in high-capacity IP over a WDM transmission. However, interoperability between low power and high back-to-back required optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of ZR+ and high power with relatively lower back-to-back required OSNR of conventional coherent XCVRs limits the performance of the latter, which makes disaggregation more complex. This can be avoided by equalizing the power of ZR+ and conventional XCVRs, by wavelength-selective switches (WSSs) in re-configurable optical add/drop multiplexers. However, such power equalization can lead to lower link OSNR, originating from insertion loss and penalty caused by cascaded WSSs. In this Letter, we use a dynamic gain equalizer of a switched gain equalization controlled (SGEC) amplifier at each in-line amplifier site to equalize the powers, without introducing insertion loss or filter penalty. We report a field trial of a low power 400G-ZR+ QSFP-DD-DCO as an alien channel over ten high-power coherent host channels, interoperating with open forward error correction, between two different vendors. We obtain a similar Q-margin in the absence and presence of 400-ZR+ channel, suggesting the equalization by SGEC amplifiers. We further simulate the power and OSNR evolution of channels along the field trial link to verify the equalization. Simulation results are consistent with that of the field trial.

Compensation of the Distorted WDM Signals by Symmetric Dispersion Map with Nonuniform Zero-Crossing Place of Accumulated Dispersion in Midway-OPC System

The nonlinear Kerr effect and chromatic dispersion are the fundamental causes of optical signal degradation in single-mode fiber (SMF) and erbium-doped fiber-amplification (EDFA)-based wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission. Dispersion management combined with a midway optical phase conjugator among the technologies for compensating for such optical signal distortion is known to not be limited by the modulation format and multiplexing technology. Optimization of the dispersion map can partially alleviate the capacity and maximum transmission distance limitations of the SMF and EDFA system. In this paper, we propose various types of symmetric dispersion maps in which the position of zero-crossing place of the cumulative dispersion is not constant, and analyze the effect of each dispersion map configuration on 40 Gb/s × 24-channel WDM signal distortion compensation. When designed with the residual dispersion per span (RDPS) around 400 ps/nm, it is confirmed that most of the proposed dispersion maps are more effective in compensating the distorted WDM signal than conventional dispersion map. In particular, we confirm that, among the proposed dispersion maps, the dispersion map in which the RDPS is designed uniformly for all fiber spans can increase the power margin of WDM channel and expand the range of the total residual dispersion in the dispersion-managed link.