Modulation Formats

using direct-detection receivers

Outline
 Direct Modulation (only amplitude modulation!!)
 External Modulation
 Amplitude Modulator
Mach-Zehnder Modulator
 Phase Modulator
 Polarization Modulator

 Intensity Modulation
 NRZ
 RZ
 CRZ
 CSRZ
 Optical Phase Modulation
 DPSK
 DQPSK
 Line-Coding
 Duobinary
 Polarization Multiplexing
2

1
 Direct modulation: laser behavior

Popt

Optical
Current Power

i(t) Popt(t)

i
Threshold
current
3

Direct Modulation: application

Popt

0 1 1 0 1 0

time
0 1 0 1 1 0

time
4

2
 Direct modulation

RIN: amplitude noise NRZ

Optical 10 Gbit/s
spectrum

40 GHz

Chirp: phase noise

Direct Modulation: Pros and Cons

Pros
Easier implementation
Cheaper components and set-up

Cons
Poor performance in terms of:
spectral occupancy
noise (RIN)
chirp
Direct modulation is used for low-cost systems
implemented for Local Area Networks
6

3
 External Modulation

Data
Continuous
Driver Modulated
Wave (CW)
Optical
Bias Optical
Signal
current Power
External
Modulator
ib Popt E(t)

 Amplitude Modulator
 Phase Modulator
 Polarization Modulator

Phase modulator

The Phase modulator is a device which changes the phase of optical

signals by applying voltage.

Ein Eout

Vin

Eout  Ein e j

Vin
  K  Vin   
V
8

4
 Intensity Modulator

Intensity
Modulator
Pin Pout
Vin
Extinction Ratio:
T  Pout Pin Tmax
ER ˆ
Tmin
Tmax

Electro-Optic
Tmin transfer
Voff Von Vin function
9

LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder Modulator

VA

GROUND

VB
10

5
 Splitter

E A,in
Ein

E B,in

 E A,in  1 1 
E    j  Ein
 B , in  2  

11

A and B arms

E A,in E A,out E A,out  E A,in e j A

VA
VA  A  K A  V A   
V

E B,in E B,out EB,out  EB,in e j B

VB
VB  B  K B  VB   
V

12

6
 Combiner

E A,out
Eout

E B,out

Eout 
1
E A,out  jEB,out 
2

13

MZ modulator: ideal

If KA =KB  perfectly symmetric structure

No loss on the two arms

Defining V A  VB VA  VB
VS  VD 
2 2
 Vs
Eout j   VD 
 e 2 V sin 

Ein  2 V 
2
Pout Eout   VD 
  sin 2  

Pin Ein  2 V 
14

7
 MZ modulator: electro-optical transfer function

Defining VA  VB • Voff is the off driving voltage

VD 
2 • ER is the Extinction Ratio
VA  VB •  is the Insertion Loss
VS 
2

V
Eout j S

    VD  Voff  1    VD  Voff  

  e 2 V
sin     j cos    
Ein   2  V
  ER  2  V  


 2    VD  Voff  1    VD  Voff  
2
Pout Eout
  sin     cos 2    
Pin Ein   2  V  ER  2  V  

15

MZ modulator: electro-optical transfer function

Push-pull driven modulator: VA  VB  Vin  VD  Vin , VS  0

Eout 
   Vin  Voff  1   Vin  Voff  
TFA     sin     j cos    
Ein 
  2  V  ER  2  V  

Supposing   1, ER  100, 0  0, Voff  0.4

ReTFA  ImTFA  V

Von
Voff Von Voff
Vin Vin
V

16

8
 MZ modulator: electro-optical transfer function

Eout 
    VD  Voff   1    VD  Voff   

   sin     j cos    
Ein   
 2 V   ER  
2 V   

Clockwise Vin  Von

direction with
Vin increasing

2 
ER

Vin  Voff

17

MZ modulator: electro-optical transfer function


 2    VD  Voff  1    VD  Voff  
2
Pout Eout 
  sin     cos 2    
Pin Ein 
  2  V  ER  2  V  


Pout
Pin
V

1
ER Vin
Voff Von
18

9
 MZ Modulator: IMDD working-point
V Pout
Pout
Pin

0 1 0 1 1 0
Voff Vbias Von

Vin time
0 1 0 1 1 0
time

19

Single- and dual-electrode MZ modulators

Vin,1
Vin

Vin, 2

20

10
 Parameters of Mach-Zehnder Modulator

21

Bias-control configuration

In the case of the LN modulator, the bias point control is vital as the bias point
will shift long term. To compensate for the drift, it is necessary to monitor the
output signals and feed it back into the bias control circuits to adjust the DC
voltage so that operating points stay at the same point (i.e., quadrature
point). It is the manufacturer responsibility to reduce DC drift so that DC
voltage is not beyond the limit throughout the life time of device.

22

11
 Electro-Absorption Modulator (EAM)

• Electrical absorption modulator (EAM) is an option with respect to LiNbO 3 MZ modulator,

and it is made of optical semiconductor materials.
• Operating principle are the Franz-Keldysh for bulk devices and the "quantum blocking Stark
effect" for quantum well devices: both produce great optical absorption when a reverse
voltage is applied. Presence and absence of absorption (applied voltage) generates signals
"0" and "1."
• EA modulator is not generally used a discrete component: integrated with a LD, as shown
in figure, allow for a compact transmitter. This is the major challenge to LN modulator;
however, weak points are becoming evident due to development of high-density WDM.
Indeed, EAM is utilized accordingly to the designing concept of system makers and each
system structure (number of WDM, distance, price, etc.).
23

EAM: typical behavior

24

12
 EAM vs MZ modulator

25

Intensity Modulation: transmitter

Continuous Intensity
Wave (CW) Modulated
Bias Optical Optical
current Power Signal
Amplitude
Popt Modulator
ib PTX(t)
Vin(t) Voltage swinging
Bit Modulator from Voff and Von
Generator 1/0 Driver

26

13
 Intensity Modulation: Direct-Detection Receiver

For all the modulation formats based on the Intensity

Modulation the optimal receiver (ASE limited system) is the one
based on the optical matched filter

Optical Matched
Filter
1/0
Photo Threshold
pe 
Detector Decision
1 0.98OSNR
e
Optimal IM H o  f 
2
Receiver

27

Intensity Modulation: performance

Optical Matched
Filter
1/0
pe 
Optimal IM Photo Threshold 1 0.98OSNR
Receiver Detector Decision e
Ho  f 
2
-2
10
-4
10
-6
10
BER

-8
10
This is valid for all the
-10
10 direct-detected formats
based on the
-12
10 Intensity Modulation
-14
10 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
OSNR [dB]
28

14
 Realistic optical filters

Realistic receivers do not use optical

matched filters
Reasons are of technological nature,
because it is difficult to design optical
filter
with a pulse response exactly matched to
the shape of the transmitted pulse
In general, with a bandwidth comparable
to the bit-rate
29

Realistic optical filters

Furthermore, the optical filter should be exactly

stabilized with respect to channel center frequency:
difficult and expensive.
Realistic optical filters
become very expensive with bandwidth under 100 GHz;
technological processes imply obtaining Gaussian or
Supergaussian tranfer functions, different shapes are
hard to realize;
Experience frequency drifts (temperature, aging, …) hard
to be stabilized
30

15
 Supergaussian filter: linear scale

2m
1 f 
  
2 0 
m=4 H( f )  e

m=1 B  2 2 m ln 2  0
|H(f)|2

m: order of the

Supergaussian filter
B: –3dB bandwidth

f/B
31

Supergaussian filter: dB scale

m=4 1 f 
  
2m

2 0 
H( f )  e
m=1
|H(f)|2 [dB]

B  2 2 m ln 2  0

m: order of the

Supergaussian filter
B: –3dB bandwidth

f/B
32

16
 Post detection electric filter

Use of non matched optical filters induces

relevant system penalty (higher BER for a given
OSNR)
Most of the penalty can be recovered using also
a post-detection lowpass electric filter
Typically it is a lowpass Bessel filter with 4 to 6
poles and -3 dB bandwith around 0.7∙RB

33

Post detection electric filter

This is the electrical filter used in all practical

scenarios where the optical filter is not
matched to the transmitted pulse

Electrical
Optical filter amplifier Sampling

Decision

Optical Photodiode Clock

amplifier Recover

34

17
 OSNR Penalty for practical receivers
 It is difficult to exactly estimate the OSNR penalty
 It is possible to estimate it as a function of the ratio between the –
3dB bandwith of the optical filter and the bit-rate given the shpes
of the filters(assuming the post detection filter optimized)
Bopt
r
RB
 Following graphs are related to a 2nd order Supergaussian optical
filter and to a 5 pole Bessel electric filter
 The electric filter bandwidth must be optimized as a function of r:
 Beyond r=2.5 it tends to 0.65 RB
 Below r=2.5 it progressively enlarges
 For an optical filter that tends to be matched to the tranmitted pulse
(r → 1), the electrical filter must be removed (its optimal bandwidth
tends to infinity)
35

Penalty as a function of r
4.5

4
OSNR penalty [dB]

3.5

2.5

1.5

1
5 10 15 20 25 30
Bopt
r
RB
36

18
 Optimal electric filter bandwidth as a function of r

Bpost-detection
RB

Bopt
r
RB
37

Penalty for practical receivers: example

Suppose to operate at 10 Gbit/s. Evaluate the value of

OSNR (in dB) needed in order to obtain BER = 10-9 in
case of using
Matched optical filter
Order 2 Supergaussian optical filter with B opt = 40 GHz
and optimized 5 pole electric filter
Matched filter Supergaussian filter
1 0.98OSNR  1  Bopt 40
BER  e  OSNR  1.02  ln   r  4
2  2  BER  RB 10
 1  
OSNR  1.02  ln  9 
 20.43
 2 10  OSNRpen  1.95 dB Belt  0.65  RB  6.5 GHz

OSNR dB,matched  10  log10 OSNR  OSNR dB,matched  OSNR dB,matched  OSNRpen 

 10  log10 20.43  13.1 dB  13.1  1.95  15.05 dB
38

19
 Intensity Modulation: NRZ and RZ

Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) data encoding

bits 1 0 1 1 0

Driver Von
Voltage
Voff

Return-to-Zero (RZ) data encoding

bits 1 0 1 1 0

Driver Von
Voltage V
off
39

NRZ: pulse shape and spectrum

Decision Signal Eye-Diagram on Decision Signal

0 0 1 0 1 0 00 0 0 1 1 1011 0
Optical Spectrum

2 Rb

40

20
 RZ: pulse shape and spectrum
Decision Signal Eye-Diagram on Decision Signal

0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1

Optical Spectrum

2 Rb
Depends on
pulse shape > 2 Rb

41

NRZ vs. RZ

NRZ RZ
Pros Pros
Easy implementation Low impact of fiber
Narrow spectral nonlinearities
occupancy Easier clock recovery
It is the standard Cons
Cons Wider spectra
Higher impact of fiber occupancy
nonlinearities More difficult
implementation

42

21
 How to get RZ pulses

NRZ RZ
(or other formats) Pulse

transmission
Transmiter Carver 50% RZ

MZM
MZ
Modulator 67% CSRZ
Modulator

33% RZ

Drive
voltage
Clock
Data
Rs or Rs/2

 Clock and data must be carefully synchronized

 RZ pulses have broader spectrum so they are not much bandwidth efficient

43

Carrier-Suppressed Return-to-Zero (CSRZ)

Alternated Phase Pulse Generator

E out E out
Ein Ein

v v
Ein  Popt E out
MZ vin t
Modulator
vin

vin
2Tb

Po u t

 R  
v(t )  V  sin 2 b t  0  0
 2  t
1
Tb 
t

Rb
44

22
 Carrier-Suppressed Return-to-Zero (CSRZ)

The Transmitter
Continuos
Wave (CW)
Bias Optical
current Power MZ MZ PTX(t)
Modulator Modulator
ib Popt
Vin(t)
Modulator
Driver Voltage swinging
 R 
v(t )  2  V  sin 2 b t  from Voff to Von
 2  1/0
Bit
Generator
45

CSRZ: spectrum and pulse shape

Alternated Phase Optical Pulses Optical Spectrum

No carrier
Rb

 0  0  > 2 Rb

Decision Signal
Eye-Diagram on Decision Signal

1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1
46

23
 Benefit of the use of CSRZ

CSRZ seems to be more robust to the impact of

fiber propagation effects. In particular, CSRZ shows
good resilience to fiber non-linearities.
Moreover, CSRZ has a better spectral efficiency
with respect to standard RZ.
CSRZ is good to be used in long-haul systems
(thousands of km) based on Dense Wavelength
Division Multiplexing

47

Alternate Phase (or Chirped) transmitter

Intensity
Continuos Intensity and phase
Wave (CW) Modulated modulated
Bias Optical Optical Optical
Power Signal Signal
current Intensity Phase
ib Popt Modulator Modulator
E (t ) E (t )  e j(t )

VIM (t ) VPM (t )

Intensity
Pattern Data
Modulator
Generator Phase
Driver Modulator
Clock
Driver

48

24
 Alternate Phase transmitter

 This technique is usually employed in order to reduce the

impact of propagation impairments on system performance
 It is usually associated to the RZ data coding: Chirped
Return-to-Zero (CRZ), Alternate Phase Return-to-Zero
(APRZ)
 Despite its wider spectral occupancy (with respect to NRZ),
both APRZ and CRZ seem to experience a lower impact of
propagation effects, in particular of fiber non linearities

49

Optical Phase Modulation

As for classical communications, also for the optical

transmission the use of phase modulation is an
interesting opportunity.
The use of Phase-Shift Keying (PSK) needs coherent
receivers commercially available only in last year
Using Differential Phase-Shift Keying (DPSK) Direct-
Detection receiver can be employed.
DPSK needs a differential precoder

50

25
 DPSK transmitter

DPSK transmission can be done either at constant power or going

through the origin of the complex phasor plane:
TX optical 0 0 TX optical
field phasor field phasor

ETX ETX

1 1

requires a phase modulator can be done with a conventional

MZ modulator, biased at zero
power transmission

51

Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK)

Bit
Generator

Driver

Phase
Modulator

The coder is simply implemented

up to 42.65 Gbit/s
52

26
 DPSK: transmitters

Using Phase modulator

Bit 0/1 Differential 0/1 0/V
Driver
Generator Precoder

Laser Phase
Modulator

Using MZ amplitude modulator

Bit 0/1 Differential 0/1 - V /+V

Driver
Generator Precoder

Laser MZ Amplitude
Modulator

53

MZ modulator bias and swing

bias for NRZ swing for IM/DD

ETX
swing for
DPSK
 0
optical FIELD

driving voltage V

bias for DPSK

 

54

27
 DPSK: pulse-shape and spectrum
Using Phase modulator

Optical Spectrum Optical Power vs. t Optical Phase vs. t

Using MZ amplitude modulator

Optical Spectrum Optical Power vs. t Optical Phase vs. t

55

DPSK Receiver

optical
amplifier RX filter Asymmetric MZ interferometer

delay is equal
to 1 bit 3 dB coupler
1 bit delay line
0.5 cm at 40 Gbit
Balanced receiver
56

28
 The MZ interferometer

the asymmetric MZ interferometer can be viewed as a

filter that converts phase modulation into amplitude
modulation
amplitude modulation is then detected by the
photodiodes
the two MZ outputs act as follows:
Eout1  Ein  Ein _ delayed
Eout2  Ein  Ein _ delayed

where the delay is equal to one bit.

57

How does it work?

 When two subsequent bits have the same phase,

we get:
Eout1  E  E  2 E
Eout 2  E  E  0
 When they have opposite phases, we get:
Eout1  E  ( E )  0
Eout 2  E  ( E )  2 E
 The RX therefore performs differential demodulation
 This is why a differential encoder at the TX is needed

58

29
 DPSK: Receiver
RX filter Asymmetric MZ interferometer
RX amplifier
+

-
delay is equal
to 1 bit
1 bit delay line 3 dB coupler
(~2 cm in fiber at 10 Gbit/s) Balanced receiver
Eye-Diagram Using Phase modulator Eye-Diagram Using MZ amplitude modulator

59

Eye asimmetry on the two MZ ports

single photodiode sum port single photodiode difference port

Assumption:
MZ amplitude subtracting
modulator the two ports

60

30
 The two MZ ports are different!

In principle, DPSK can be detected using only one

photodiode, on either Out1 or Out2

The two ports form slightly different signals which

give rise to different “eyes”

The BPD sums the eyes reinforcing each other

However, using detection on only one port, the 2.7

dB sensitivity advantage over IM/DD is lost

61

DPSK: performance
18 1e-16
QdB [dB] p(e)
17 7.e-13
2.7 dB
16 1.e-10
15 9.e-9
14 3.e-7
13 4.e-6
12 3.e-5
11 2.e-4
10 8.e-4
9 2.e-3
8 6.e-3
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
OSNR [dB]
62

31
 DPSK: pros and Cons

Pros
~3 dB better sensitivity
Reduced impact of fiber nonlinearities

Cons
Technological overhead
Precoder at transmitter side
Interferometer at receiver
Expensive balanced receiver

63

The AMZ as a Filter

 The AMZ is a linear component

 It can be characterized using a pair of transfer functions
 from In to Out1
 from In to Out2

Asymmetric MZ interferometer
In Out1

Out2
 Both are of the form:
H ( f )  cos   f  f 0  / RB 
but have a 90 degree phase shift between them

64

32
 Mach-Zehnder Transfer Functions

Green: Out1
Red: Out2

H( f ) The bit rate

carrier concides with
the lobe width,
or “FSR”

The alternate port

42.65 GHz
passband spacing
(interleaving)
is half the bit rate
65

Balanced Photo-Detector

 The BPD must ideally be perfectly balanced

 The responsivity of the two photodiodes and subsequent

electronics should be identical

66

33
 DPSK implementation impairments

DPSK is more complex than IMDD

Certain problems are likely to occur:
imbalance in the balanced detector
incorrect summing phase of the two
MZ branches (“detuning”)
It is important to evaluate the impact of such
impairments to determine whether the potential DPSK
advantages are for real

67

DPSK: AMZI frequency offset

2.5
tuning accuracy within 2 dB
±4 GHz at 40 Gbit/s
2
OSNR penalty [dB]

1.5 tuning accuracy within 1 dB

±3 GHz at 40 Gbit/s
1

0.5

0
-10
-7.5 -5 0
 f/Rb [%]
5
7.5 10
-10.0 10.0
68

34
 BPD amplitude imbalance
3 dB imbalance  k= ± 0.33
3.5
R  R2
k 1  0,  [-1,1]
R1  R2 3 Responsivities ratio Single-ended
OSNR penalty [dB] equal to 5.4 dB receiver
2.5

1.5

0.5

0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
-0.95 -0.55 k 0.55 0.95
69

Tolerances

The results indicate:

up to 3 dB imbalance in the detector causes
less than 0.5 dB penalty
the MZ interferometer must be “tuned” to
better than
10% of bit rate for 2 dB penalty
7.5% of bit rate 1 dB penalty
5% of bit rate for 0.5 dB penalty
and this is difficult at 193 THz!

70

35
 The I/Q modulator

71

Nested MZM

Using a nested MZM structure together with a PM a

general I/Q modulator can be developed
It is the fundamental component for Tx of all
multilevel modulation formats used in optical
communications
Commercial products are available on the market

72

36
 Layout
v p t 

Ein, p t  E p t  Eout t 
Combiner
2->1

MZMp Eq t 
Ein t 
Splitter
1->2
PM
E q t 
'

Ein,q t  v
MZMq

vq t 
73

Splitter

E1
Ein

E2

 E1  1 1 
E    j  Ein
 2 2  

74

37
 MZM

vin t 

Ein t  Eout t 

MZM

   vin    vin 
Eout t   Ein t sin
j
  cos 
  2 V  ER  2 V 

75

Phase modulator

PM
Ein t  Eout t 

v

V
j
Eout t   Ein t e V

Eout t    jEin t 
V
V  
2

76

38
 Combiner

Ein,1
Eout

Ein, 2

Eout 
1
E1  jE2 
2

77

Overall I/Q Mod transfer function

   v p  j   v p  
 
sin  
  cos    
1   2 V   ER  2 V   
Eout t   Ein t   
2     vq  j   vq   
 j sin  2 V   ER cos 2 V  
        

Ideal case: ER=∞

1    vp    vq 
Eout t   Ein t  sin   j sin 
2   2 V   2 V 

78

39
 If En(t) is a CW

CW optical source: Ein t   PL e j L

PL    v p    vq  j L
Eout t   sin   j sin e
2   2 V   2 V 

As L is a constant, we can suppose L = 0

PL    v p    vq 
Eout t   sin   j sin 
2   2 V   2 V 

79

Modulation space
Properly driving the I/Q mod with the signals vp(t) and vp(t), we can
generate an output optical field wherever in the following plane
ImEout t 
Within this area
we can design a 
PL
2
constellation of signals in
order to have transmit a
multilevel modulation
format

ReEout t 
PL PL

2 2

PL

2
80

40
 DQPSK

81

4-level Phase Modulation

bits “11”  2 bits “01”

 Four “signal points” are
used
 This way, each “phase”, or
“signal point”, carries two
bits
 0

bit “10”

3 2
bits “00”

82

41
 Signaling rate decreases

With a “conventional” system, the TX has to emit as

many pulses per second as the bit rate: 40 Gbit/s 40
Gpulses per second
With a 4-signal system, the ratio is halved: 40 Gbit/s
20 Gpulses/s
This, by itself, halves the spectral width and therefore
bandwidth efficiency greatly increases

83

From binary to quaternary PSK

 Four “signal points” are used

‘1’ ‘0’  This way, each “phase”, or
PSK #1 “signal point”, carries two bits

‘10’ ‘00’

+
‘0’
‘11’ ‘01’

PSK #2 It doubles the capacity

rotated by /2
without doubling the bandwidth

‘1’
84

42
 DQPSK precoding

 4-PSK can be received used two differential receivers in order to

avoid coherent detection: DQPSK
 Like for DPSK a digital pre-coding is required
 The pre-coder is much more complex than for DPSK
DI ,n  AQ,n  AI ,n   DQ,n1   AI ,n   DI ,n1
DQ,n  AQ,n  AI ,n   DQ,n1

EXOR EXOR
AND DI,n

AI,n
EXOR DI,n-1 T
AQ,n EXOR DQ,n

DQ,n-1 T
85

DQPSK transmitter
Driver
Shaping
filter
[-V,V]

{0,}
MZ
{0,/2,
Data A
Pre ,3/2}
coder
Data B
MZ /2 {/2,3/2}

Driver
Shaping
filter
[-V,V]

86

43
 DQPSK receiver

E1 R1
E Bit A
 Electric
4 filter
E2 R2
Optical Asymmetric
filter Balanced
Mach-Zehnder
Photodetectors
Interferometers

 Electric

4 filter Bit B

87

Frequency detuning
Rb
8

H AMZ ( f ) 0.9
0.8
0.7
AMZI
transfer 0.6
function 0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
f/Rb
88

44
 How does it work?

when a new symbol arrives

 2
it has a “component” Q I
with respect to both
which is detected by the
BPD +
 0
-

3 2
89

How does it work?

when a new symbol arrives

 2
it has a “component” Q I
with respect to both
which is detected by the
BPD

 0
- -

3 2
90

45
 DQPSK sensitivity
1 dB
18 1e-16
17 7.e-13
16 1.e-10
15 9.e-9
QBER BER
14 3.e-7
13 4.e-6
12 3.e-5
11 2.e-4
10 8.e-4
9 2.e-3
8 6.e-3
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
OSNR over RB [dB]
1.8 dB
91

DQPSK: Pros and Cons

Pros
 ~1.5 dB better sensitivity
 Reduced bandwidth requirements
 Reduced impact of chromatic dispersion and fiber
nonlinearities

Cons
 Technological overhead
Complex pre-coder at transmitter side
2 × Asymmetric Mach-Zehnder Interferometers at receiver
2 × Expensive balanced receivers

92

46
 AMZ frequency offset

3.5
System (1)
3 System (2)
OSNR penalty [dB]

System (3)
2.5
tuning accuracy within 2 dB
±560 MHz at 40 Gbit/s
2
tuning accuracy
1.5 within 1 dB
±320 MHz at 40 Gbit/s
1

0.5

0
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
-1.4 -0.8 0.8 1.4
f/Rb [%]
93

BPD amplitude imbalance

3 dB imbalance  k= ± 0.33
3.5
R1  R2
System (1) k  0,  [-1,1]
R1  R2
3 System (2)
OSNR penalty [dB]

System (3)
2.5

Responsivities ratio
2
equal to 4.2 dB
1.5

0.5

0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

-0.75 -0.45 k 0.45 0.75

94

47
 DQPSK Tolerances
 Up to 2.5 dB BPD amplitude imbalance in the detector is less
than 0.5 dB penalty ( DPSK was 3 dB imbalance)

 The single critical parameter is the AMZ frequency detuning

 1 dB with ±0.8% (±320 MHz @ 40 Gbit/s)
 2 dB with ±1.4% (± 560 MHz @ 40 Gbit/s)

 At these low values, the problem becomes that of the laser

phase noise
 To be really exploitable in practice, DQPSK needs extremely
tight frequency stability and low phase noise.

95

Polarization Multiplexing
PBC PC PBS
x̂ x̂
TX #1 RX #1

ŷ ŷ
TX #2 RX #2

Transmitter Receiver
PBC: Polarization Beam Combiner
PBS: Polarization Beam Splitter
PC: Polarization controller

 Transmitters tuned at the same wavelength

 They usually share the laser source
 Receivers need an active polarization control
 It should be feedback driven using an adequate error signal
96

48
 Line coding: Duobinary

 Duobinary is a member of a large family of systems that

is called “partial response”
 The signal that is transmitted at a certain time depends on
both the bit at that time and on one or more of the previous
bits
 These systems can be very complex and duobinary is one of
the simplest versions
 Some have very good spectral efficiency and duobinary is
one of them
 It was first proposed in the ‘60s for radio communications,
specifically due to its bandwidth efficiency

97

Duobinary signaling

There are several ways to introduce duobinary

signaling
A non-standard, but highly elucidating way is to
put it in relation to DPSK
Duobinary can be seen as a DPSK system where
a certain amount of “bit interference” or “bit
correlation” is introduced at the TX

98

49
 DPSK: structure of the signal

 At the optical field level, the DPSK signal can be written

as:
EDPSK (t )   an r (t  nT )
n

where an can be either 1 or –1 and r(t) is a typical

transmission pulse, for instance:

r (t )
1

0 T
99

DPSK: bit sequence

For a sequence of bits we then get:

1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0
EDPSK (t ) +1

-1

100

50
 Duobinary: Structure of the signal

 At the optical field level, the duobinary signal can be

written as:
EDUO (t )   an r(t  nT )
n

where an can be either 1 or –1 and r’(t) is a transmission

pulse stretching over two bits, for instance:

r(t )
1

0 T 2T

101

Duobinary: bit “interference”

So when two bits with opposite sign are emitted

in sequence, they “destructively interfere” at
least in part:

r(t ) 1
EDUO (t )
3T 4T
0 T 2T
r(t  T )
0
102

51
 A three-level signal

As a result of the “interference”, the resulting

signal has in fact not two, but three possible
levels:

2T 3T 4T
3 levels
0 T

0
103

Duobinary: transmitted bit sequence

 The overall signal takes on a different look than for

DPSK:

EDUO (t )

104

52
 Duobinary: received bit sequence,

 The duobinary RX is a conventional single-photodiode RX

that looks at power
 By looking at power, the photodetected signal has again just
two levels:

2
EDUO (t )

 In order for the bit sequence to be correct, differential

encoding is necessary in duobinary too (as in DPSK)

105

Duobinary: the “electrical” way

Precoder
T
bn cn
S Channel

T Duobinary
Encoder
Mod 2
an
an, bn {0,1} Decoder
Bit
sequence cn {0,1,2} an

106

53
 Duobinary: MZ-modulator

107

Phase-Shaped Binary Transmission (PSBT)

The Duobinary encoder is sort of an “electrical” MZ interferometer:

T
+

Therefore, its transfer function in the frequency domain is:

H ( f )  1  e j 2fT 

H ( f )  1  cos  j 2fT 2  sin 2  j 2fT   2  1  cos  j 2fT 

2

A LPF giving a good approximation of the first lobe of the

cosine function can be used: LP Bessel filter
108

54
 Phase-Shaped Binary Transmission (PSBT)

MZ
Modulator
Precoder
pn 2V Bessel Vin optical
an NRZ LPF link
Driver VD B3dB¼Rb

T   V if pn  1
VD    optical
 V if pn  0 filter

an Threshold id Low pass Photo

decision filter Detector

109

PSBT: eye diagrams

VD / V Vin / V

id

110

55
 Duobinary vs NRZ: spectrum

Duobinary

Rb

NRZ

2  Rb

111

Duobinary “beats” IM/DD limit

We have investigated the fundamental performance of

duobinary

We found that the fundamental limit of direct-detection

duobinary is 0.91 dB better than that of IM/DD

Bosco, G.; Carena, A.; Curri, V.; Gaudino, R.; Poggiolini, P.; “Quantum limit
of direct-detection receivers using duobinary transmission,” IEEE Photonics
Technology Letters , Volume: 15 Issue: 1 , Jan 2003. Page(s): 102-104

112

56
 Duobinary performance

-2
10

-4
10

-6
10
BER

-8
10

-10
10
0.91 dB
-12
10

-14
10
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
OSNR[dB]
113

A word of caution on sensitivity

Duobinary may easily loose 2-3 dB sensitivity if the

pulse shape is not carefully optimized
Specifically, if correlation in transmission is
introduced through an electrical shaper or filter,
there is a typical 3 dB penalty
In order to approach the best possible sensitivity,
an optical 1-bit correlator is needed
This can be approximated by using a narrow optical
filter in transmission – but is not commonly done

114

57
 Alternative Duobinary TX structure

(one of the many possible implementations) part of the bit “correlation”

is introduced here

CW laser TX filter

modulator is biased
at maximum extinction
(as for DPSK)
CODER:
identical to
DPSK part of the bit “correlation”
is introduced here

115

Benefit of the use of PSBT

Narrower spectral occupancy

Higher robustness to fiber chromatic dispersion.
Possibility to Ultra-Dense spectral packaging of
channels: Ultra-Dense Wavelength Division
Multiplexing.
Spectral efficiency up to 0.8 Bit/s/Hz
Easy to be implemented: uses same set-up of NRZ
If optimized may present lower sensitivity with a
demonstrated advantage of 0.91 dB

116

58
 Results for optimized duobinary
15
NRZ
14 DB

13
OSNR, [dB]

12

11

10
DPSK
9

6
65 140 230
Chromatic Dispersion, [ps/nm]

117

Optimized duobinary

With duobinary a very good result for dispersion

is obtained using all-electrical filtering
The system sensitivity is suboptimum with no
dispersion but actually improves for increasing
dispersion
The system is not the best that can be done as
for bandwidth efficiency but is pretty good

118

59
 Why is duobinary so tolerant to dispersion?

The reason why duobinary (and DPSK) are so

tolerant to dispersion was investigated in:
Pennickx et al.: “The Phase-Shaped Binary Transmission: a new technique
to transmit far beyond the chromatic dispersion limit”, IEEE PTL,
February 1997

it is shown that the  phase shift among

adjacent bits and their “interference”, preserves
the eye “zero level”
this seems to be key to a good dispersion
tolerance

119

Zero forcing on zero level

2T 3T 4T
0 T

0
zero level crossed on every transition

120

60
 Zero forcing on zero level

2T 3T 4T
0 T

0
zero level crossed on every transition
even when pulses spread out

121

NRZ Duobinary

no dispersion no dispersion

65 ps/nm 65 ps/nm

122

61
 There’s more to it

The zero-forcing effect is not the whole

story
The pulse shape is also important, as the
results of TX electrical filter optimization
show
Not everything has been fully understood
yet

123

Experimental eye

124

62
 Filter and pulse-shape optimization

Typical system layout

Photo
TX Detector
Optical
Optical Electric
Channel
Filter Filter

 For IMDD modulation formats the optimal receiver is the one

based on the optical matched filter.
 Usually, matched filters are not available.
 Optical and post-detection electrical filters are usually
employed

125

Filter and pulse-shape optimization

Choice of the modulation format.
Definition of the target OSNR.
Definition of the shape of the transfer function of the
optical and electrical filters.
Two degrees of freedom are available for the
optimization process: BWopt (bandwidth of the optical
filter) and BWelt (bandwidth of the electrical filter).
The space (BWopt, BWelt) must be explored (analytically
or by simulation) in order to define the couple of value
for filter bandwidth giving the best performance.
Of course, performance is sub-optimal with respect to
the optimal (matched-filter based) receiver.
126

63