Fiber Optic Communication and

Networks (ECE4005)
Dr. Sangeetha R.G
Associate Professor
School of Electronics Engineering
(SENSE)

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G 1

Module :6 Multichannel Systems

WDM Lightwave Systems and Components,

Operational principles of WDM-Passive optical
coupler:2x2 Fiber coupler-Wave guide coupler-Star
couplers-MZI Multiplexers , Isolators and Circulators -
Fiber Bragg Grating-FBG Applications, WDM System
Performance Issues.

© Dr. Sangeetha R.G 2

 What is WDM?
• The technology of combining a number
of independent information-carrying
wavelengths onto the same fiber is
known as Wavelength Division
Multiplexing (WDM)
– The wavelengths are separated from several tens up to
200nm
– However, wavelengths spaced less than 1 nm apart shall
be placed owing to high quality lasers with extremely
narrow spectral width
 Why WDM?
• Capacity upgrade of existing fiber networks
(without adding fibers)
• Transparency: Each optical channel can carry
any transmission format (different
asynchronous bit rates, analog or digital)
• Scalability– Buy and install equipment for
additional demand as needed
• Wavelength routing and switching:
Wavelength is used as another dimension to
time and space
Evolution of the Technology
 Wavelength Division Multiplexing

Each wavelength is like a separate channel (fiber)

 Ex: SONET

TDM Vs WDM
 Wavelength Division Multiplexing

• Passive/active devices are needed to

combine, distribute, isolate and amplify
optical power at different wavelengths
 WDM, CWDM and DWDM
• WDM technology uses multiple wavelengths to
transmit information over a single fiber
• Coarse WDM (CWDM) has wider channel spacing (20
nm) – low cost
• Dense WDM (DWDM) has dense channel spacing (0.8
nm) which allows simultaneous transmission of 16+
wavelengths – high capacity
 DWDM
• First WDM networks used just two wavelengths, 1310
nm and 1550 nm
• Today's DWDM systems utilize 16, 32,64,128 or more
wavelengths in the 1550 nm window
• Each of these wavelength provide an independent
channel (Ex: each may transmit 10 Gb/s digital or
SCMA analog)
• The range of standardized channel grids includes 50,
100, 200 and 1000 GHz spacing
• Wavelength spacing practically depends on:
– laser linewidth
– optical filter bandwidth
ITU-T Standard Transmission DWDM windows

 c 
   2  
 
 Principles of DWDM
• BW of a modulated laser: 10-50 MHz  0.001
nm
– Should be temperature controlled
• Typical Guard band: 0.4 – 1.6 nm
• 80 nm or 14 THz @1310 nm band
• 120 nm or 15 THz @ 1550 nm
• Discrete wavelengths form individual channels
that can be modulated, routed
c  and switched
individually    2   Ex. 10.1
 
• These operations require variety of passive and
 DWDM Limitations
Theoretically large number of channels can
be packed in a fiber
For physical realization of DWDM networks
we need precise wavelength selective
devices
Optical amplifiers are imperative to
provide long transmission distances
without repeaters
Click to add text
 DWDM Standards
ITU-T G.694.1 DWDM grid for 100 and 50-GHz spacing in L & C bands
 CWDM
ITU-T G 694.2
• G.652C and G 652D – low water content fibers
• Relatively inexpensive optical sources
• Low cost optical links in access networks
• G694.2 - 18 wavelengths – 1270 to 1610 nm – O
through L bands spaced 20 nm, wavelength drift
tolerance of 2nm.
Part II: WDM Devices
 Key Components for WDM
Passive Optical Components
• Wavelength Selective Splitters
• Wavelength Selective Couplers
Active Optical Components
• Tunable Optical Filter
• Tunable Source
• Optical amplifier
• Add-drop Multiplexer and De-multiplexer
 Passive Devices
• These operate completely in the optical domain (no O/E
conversion) and does not need electrical power
• Split/combine light stream Ex: N X N couplers, power splitters,
power taps and star couplers
• Technologies: - Fiber based or
– Optical waveguides based

– Micro (Nano) optics based

• Fabricated using optical fiber or waveguide (with special

material like InP, LiNbO3)

 Wavelength Selective Devices
These perform their operation on the incoming
optical signal as a function of the wavelength
Examples:
• Wavelength add/drop multiplexers
• Wavelength selective optical combiners/splitters
• Wavelength selective switches and routers
Filter, Multiplexer and Router
Passive Optical Couplers
 Passive Optical Couplers
• Passive devices operate completely in the optical domain to
split and combine light streams.
• They include N  N couplers (with N ≥ 2), power splitters,
power taps, and star couplers.
• They can be fabricated either from optical fibers or by means
of planar optical waveguides using material such as LiNbO3,
InP, silica, silicon oxynitride, or various polymers.

23
 Fused-Biconical coupler OR
Directional coupler

• P3, P4 extremely low ( -70 dB below Po)

• Coupling / Splitting Ratio = P2/(P1+P2)
• If P1=P2  It is called 3-dB coupler
 The 2  2 Fiber Coupler
• P0 is the input power, P1 is the throughout power, and P2 is the power coupled
into the second fiber.
• P3 and P4 are extremely low signal levels (-50 to -70 dB below the input level)
resulting from backward reflections and scattering in the device

The evanescent tail

from one fiber core
couples into
another closely
spaced fiber core

Optical power
coupling

25
 Fused Biconical Tapered Coupler
• Fabricated by twisting together, melting and
pulling together two single mode fibers
• They get fused together over length W;
tapered section of length L; total draw length
= L+W
• Significant decrease in V-number in the
coupling region; energy in the core leak out
and gradually couples into the second fibre
 Coupler Characteristics
• power ratio between both output can be
changed by adjusting the draw length of a simple
fused fiber coupler

• It can be made a WDM de-multiplexer:

• Example, 1300 nm will appear output 2 (p2) and 1550 nm
will appear at output 1 (P1)
• However, suitable only for few wavelengths that are far
apart, not good for DWDM
Performance of an Optical Coupler

• 3-dB coupler: P1 = P2 = 0.5 P0

• Tap coupler: P2 = 0.005 P0 (- 23 dB)

28
Example Coupler Performance

29
 Basic Star Coupler
May have N inputs and M outputs

• Can be wavelength selective/nonselective

• Up to N =M = 64, typically N, M < 10
 Star Couplers
• In general, an N  M coupler has N inputs and M outputs

31
 N  N Star Coupler
• Can construct star couplers by cascading 3-dB couplers
• The number of 3-dB couplers needed to construct an N  N
star is

32
 Scattering matrix representation
• Scattering matrix – Propagation matrix

• b=Sa where
Optical Add/Drop
Multiplexers
 OADM Requirements
In general an OADM should be able to:
 Add/Drop wavelengths in any order
 Be locally and remotely configurable
 Pass-through wavelengths should not be demultiplexed
 Provide a low loss and low noise path for pass-through wavelengths
 Reducing disturbance to pass-through wavelengths reduces need for OEO
regeneration

Wavelengths 1 2 3 4 Wavelengths 1 2 3 4

OADM

1234 1234
 Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer
An Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer allow access to individual DWDM signals without
conversion back to an electronic domain
In the example below visible colours are used to mimic DWDM wavelengths
 Wavelengths 1,3 and 4 enter the OADM
 Wavelengths 1 and 4 pass through
 Wavelength 3 (blue) is dropped to a customer
 Wavelengths 2 (green) and a new signal on 3 (blue) are added
 Downstream signal has wavelengths 1,2,3 and 4

Wavelengths 1 2 3 4 Wavelengths 1 2 3 4

OADM

1234 1234
Dropped Wavelength(s) Added Wavelength(s)
 First Generation
Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer
Simple OADM structure
 ODU demultiplexes all wavelengths and drops off wavelengths as required
 OMU multiplexes added wavelengths as well as those that pass through
Disadvantages:
 Unnecessary demultiplexing and multiplexing of pass-through wavelengths
 Typical number of drop channels is limited to 25-50% of total payload

Added Wavelengths
Pass-through
wavelengths

OMU
ODU

DWDM in DWDM out

ODU: Optical Demultiplex Unit

Dropped Wavelengths OMU: Optical Multiplex Unit
 Simple Optical Network Example
OADM: Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer
Wavelengths 1 2 3 4
N N
o o
d d
e OADM OADM e

A B

123 123
4 4

N
o 123
N
d 4
o
e
OADM d
e
D OADM
C

Note wavelength reuse of "blue" wavelength (no. 3), links Node A and B as well as Node C and A
 Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Multiplexers
• By splitting the input beam and introducing a phase shift in one of the
paths, the recombined signals will interfere constructively at one output
and destructively at the other.
• In the central region, when the signals in the two arms come from the
same light source, the outputs from these two guides have a phase
difference

39
 Cascaded MZIs
• Using basic 2  2 MZIs, any size N  N
multiplexer (with N = 2n) can be constructed.
• Each module i has a different ΔLi in order to
have all wavelengths exit at port C

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MZI- Demux Example
Optical Isolators
and Circulators
 Optical Isolators
Optical isolators allow light to pass in only one direction.
• This prevents scattered or reflected light from traveling in the reverse direction.
• A polarization independent isolator consists of 45⁰ Faraday rotator placed between
birefringent wedges
• E.g., can keep backward-traveling light from entering a laser diode and possibly
causing instabilities in the optical output.

Polarization-
independent isolator
made of three
miniature optical
components

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 Optical Circulators
• It directs light sequentially from port to port in
only one direction.
 Circulators..
• Adv:
– Low insertion loss
– High isolation over a wide wavelength range
– Minimal polarization dependent loss (PDL)
– Low polarization mode dispersion (PMD)
 Fiber Bragg Grating
• This is invented at Communication Research
Center, Ottawa, Canada
• The FBG has changed the way optical filtering
is done
• The FBG has so many applications
• The FBG changes a single mode fiber (all pass
filter) into a wavelength selective filter
 Fiber Brag Grating (FBG)
• Basic FBG is an in-fiber passive optical band reject
filter
• FBG is created by imprinting a periodic
perturbation in the fiber core
• The spacing between two adjacent slits is called
the pitch
• Grating play an important role in:
– Wavelength filtering
– Dispersion compensation
– Optical sensing
– EDFA Gain flattening
– Single mode lasers and many more areas
Reflection grating
 Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)
Example formation:
Two ultraviolet beams will
create a permanent
interference pattern in a
GeO2-doped silica fiber to
form a periodic index
variation along the axis.

Operating Principle: Incident optical wave at l0 will be reflected back

if the following grating condition is met: l0 = 2neffL, where neff is
average weighting of n1 and n2 and L = grating period (periodicity of
index variation)

Incident l0
n2
Reflected l0 n1

49
 Fiber Bragg Grating Application
Demultiplexing (wavelength dropping) process:
• Consider 4 wavelengths entering a circulator at port 1.
• All wavelengths exit from port 2.
• The fiber Bragg grating is designed to reflect λ2 and pass all
other wavelengths.
• After reflection, λ2 enters port 2 and comes out of port 3.

50
Wavelength Selective DEMUX
 Tunable Filters
• Tunable filters are made by at least one branch of an
interferometric filter has its
– Propagation length or
– Refractive index altered by a control mechanism
• When these parameters change, phase of the
propagating light wave changes (as a function of
wavelength)
• Hence, intensity of the added signal changes (as a
function of wavelength)
• As a result, wavelength selectivity is achieved
Tunable Optical Filters
 Tuneable Filter Considerations
• Tuning Range (Δν): 25 THz (or 200nm) for the
whole 1330 nm to 1500 nm. With EDFA
normally Δλ = 35 nm centered at 1550 nm
• Channel Spacing (δν): the min. separation
between channels selected to minimize
crosstalk (30 dB or better)
• Maximum Number of Channels (N = Δν/ δν):
• Tuning speed: Depends on how fast switching
needs to be done (usually milliseconds)
Extended Add/Drop Mux
Arrayed Wave Guide Filters

Each waveguide has

slightly different length
 Phase Array Based WDM Devices
• The arrayed waveguide is a generalization
of 2x2 MZI multiplexer
• The lengths of adjacent waveguides differ
by a constant L
• Different wavelengths get multiplexed
(multi-inputs one output) or de-multiplexed
(one input multi output)
• For wavelength routing applications multi-
input multi-output routers are available
 Dispersion Compensation

Longer wavelengths
take more time

Reverse the operation of

dispersive fiber
 Issues in WDM Networks
• Nonlinear inelastic scattering processes due to
interactions between light and molecular or
acoustic vibrations in the fibre
– Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS)
– Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS)
• Nonlinear variations in the refractive index due
to varying light intensity
– Self Phase Modulation (SPM)
– Cross Phase Modulation (XPM)
– Four Wave Mixing (FWM)
 Kerr Effect
The refractive index (n=c/v) of optical fibre dependent on the optical
signal intensity, I: n=n0 + n2I = n0 + n2 P/Aeff

Where P is optical signal power, Aeff is the effective area of the fibre
core cross section, n0 is the linear refractive index, n2 is the “nonlinear
index coefficient”

When I is large, the nonlinear component of the refractive index becomes

significant, resulting in the kerr effect (change in the refractive index of a
material in response to an applied electric field)

Kerr effect
Self and Cross Phase Modulation (SPM & XPM )

The refractive index changes induced by the kerr effect cause phase
changes in different parts of the optical pulse to travel at different
speeds, resulting in new frequencies being introduced into the pulse

The kerr effect inducing phase changes of a signal due to its own
intensity variation is known as self phase modulation

The kerr effect induces phase modulation in a signal due to intensity

variations in other channels, this effect is known as cross phase
modulation
 Four Wave Mixing (FWM)

Multiple channels at different wavelengths (frequencies) propagate

down a single fibre. The signals of these channels interact to produce
new signals

FWM generated by
FWM generated by three signals
two signals f1 & f2

In general, for N signal channels, the number of generated mixing

product M will be:
M= N2.(N-1)/2
And the generated FWM frequencies are given by: fijk=fi+fj-fk , i!=k, j!=k
 Summary
• DWDM plays an important role in high capacity optical
networks
• Theoretically enormous capacity is possible
• Practically wavelength selective (optical signal
processing) components and nonlinear effects limit the
performance
• Passive signal processing elements like FBG, AWG are
attractive
• Optical amplifications is imperative to realize DWDM
networks