ECE 6201

Optical Communication System

Optical Modulation and

Modulation Formats- I

Department of ECE
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET)
Optical Communication System

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 Tx Requirements

• The optical source should be able to emit light in the appropriate region
of the EM spectrum (I, II, or III window), with appropriate characteristics
in terms of power, stability, coherence.
• The modulator should be able to encode the information symbols (data)
on the optical carrier according to a particular modulation format.
• The modulated optical carrier should be efficiently coupled to the optical
fiber.

 We will investigate the main modulation formats adopted in fiber-optic

communications and the way they are obtained by using optical
modulators. 3
Modulation Formats: Classification

• The optical field has four physical attributes that can be used to carry
information: Amplitude, phase, frequency, and polarization.

• Depending on which of the four quantities is used to convey information,

we distinguish the following formats:
– Amplitude-modulation (PAM, OOK)
– Phase-modulation (PSK, DPSK, DQPSK)
– Frequency-modulation (FSK, CPFSK)
– Polarization-modulation (PolSK)

• Hybrid formats that simultaneously modulate two or more properties of

the optical field (e.g., quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) have
not yet made their way into high-speed optical communications. These
formats are widely used in microwave communications, as well as in the
related field of optical subcarrier-multiplexing, predominantly for cable-
TV applications. 4
 PAM: NRZ and RZ

• A PAM format can also be classified according to its pulse shape:

– Non return to zero (NRZ): the pulse shape is such that a
constant optical intensity is obtained when consecutive identical bits
are transmitted. Example: an ideal rectangular pulse with
pulsewidth = symbol time.
– Return to zero (RZ): signal intensity goes to zero even
between two consecutive marks. Example: an ideal rectangular pulse
with pulsewidth < symbol time.

• RZ usually requires a more complex TX, but can be more robust to

ISI caused by TX imperfections or transmission impairments
(narrower pulses do not overlap).
• However, RZ has a larger bandwidth. Some propagation effects will
make pulses spread in time faster.
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Examples: NRZ and RZ

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 Amplitude Modulation; How?
There are two ways of imprinting data on an optical carrier:
• Direct modulation
• External modulation

• Directly modulated laser light is highly chirped

– Strong residual phase modulation broadens the optical spectrum
and degrades transmission performance through interaction with optical
fiber dispersion
• For modulation speeds above 2.5 Gbit/s and/or for long-haul fiber
communication systems, external modulation has to be used
– The light of a continuously operating laser source is modulated by
means of an external device, engineered for low chirp, or even designed for
chirp-free operation
• The two most important external modulators are:
– semiconductor electro-absorption modulators (EAMs)
– Lithium-Niobate (LiNbO3) Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs)
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Amplitude Modulator ; Characteristics

• Extinction ratio between maximum and minimum output

power
• Maximum modulation bandwidth
• Frequency chirp induced by amplitude modulation
• Insertion loss
• Required driving voltage
• Polarization dependence
• Cost

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 Electro Absorption Modulators (EAMs)

• An electro-absorption modulator is a semiconductor device which can be

used for controlling (modulating) the intensity of a laser beam via an electric
voltage.
• Its principle of operation is based on the Franz–Keldysh effect , i.e., a
change in the absorption spectrum caused by an applied electric field,
which changes the bandgap energy (thus the photon energy of an
absorption edge).
• Most electro-absorption modulators are made in the form of a waveguide
with electrodes for applying an electric field in a direction perpendicular to
the modulated light beam.
 For v(t) = 0, the material is transparent at λ0: high transmittance.
 For v(t) > 0, absorption at λ0 increases: low transmittance. 9
 Continue…..

• Pros:
– low-drive voltages (typ. 2 V)
– cheap in volume production
– low polarization dependence
• Cons:
– they still produce some residual chirp
– dynamic extinction ratios typically not
exceeding 10 dB
– limited optical power-handling capabilities
(typ. 10 dBm)
– high fiber-to-fiber insertion losses of
about 10 dB

• To avoid the high losses at the input fiber-to-chip interface:

– on-chip integration with laser diodes
– integration with semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs)
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 Mach-Zehnder Modulators (MZMs)

• Mach-Zender modulators are based on interference principle.

• They are commonly realized in LiNbO3 by exploiting electro-optic
effect
• The output power depends on the phase difference:
– If Φ(v1)- Φ(v2) = 0: constructive interference;; maximum transmission
– If Φ(v1)- Φ(v2) = π: destructive interference;; minimum transmission
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MZM Transfer Function

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Continue…….

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 Continue………..

• Pros:
– excellent extinction
performance (typ. 20 dB)
– can be made chirp free
by balanced driving
– lower insertion losses
than EAMs (typ. 5 dB)
• Cons:
– required (high-speed)
peak-to-peak drive voltages of
some 6 V

The MZM transfer characteristic is sinusoidal, owing to the Mach-Zehnder

structure of the device
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Driving Condition of MZM

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Non-Return to Zero On-OFF Keying (NRZ-OOK)

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Optical PSD of NRZ-OOK

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MZM with Finite DC Extinction Ratio
V1(t)

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 Return to Zero On-Off Keying (RZ-OOK)

• NRZ suffers from bandwidth-limitations => intersymbol interference

(ISI)
• In optical communications, ISI is particularly harmful, since detection
noise often grows linearly with signal amplitude
• NRZ formats degrade rapidly in many important fiber transmission
scenarios
• Return-to-zero (RZ) coding mitigates these problems, and leads to
enhanced system performance
• By well centering the pulses in the bit slots, pattern effects coming from
limited NRZ drive signal bandwidths are largely eliminated
• The advantages found for RZ coding come at the expense of higher
optical transmission bandwidth requirements, as well as of more
complicated transmitter structures 19
 EAM as a Pulse Carver

Using an EAM, short (a few ps) optical pulses can be realized by biasing the
modulator well in its absorption region, and letting only the peak portion of the
sinusoidal drive signal reach appreciable transmission. This technique is
therefore widely used in optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) transmitters
where modulated trains of short optical pulses (OTDM tributaries) are
temporally interleaved to generate a higher aggregate bit rate
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MZM as a Pulse Carver

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MZM as a Pulse Carver (Cont’d)

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Optical PSD of RZ-OOK

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