Theory of signal degradation in semiconductor laser amplifiers indirect detection systems

Theoretical studies are carried out on long haul direct detection optical fiber communication systems, with inline optical semiconductor amplifier repeaters. Calculations are made of the noise, eye diagrams, and bit-error-rate characteristics of lightwave systems with optical amplifiers. Indications are given of the effect of amplifier characteristics such as spontaneous noise and signal distortion due to gain saturation on the system performance. The nonlinear process within semiconductor laser amplifiers leads generally to pulse amplitude-temporal distortions due to gain saturation. This theoretical study demonstrates that the system penalty caused by these nonlinear effects appears progressively as the optical input power at each amplifier is increased. For example, nonregenerated fiber transmission using traveling wave semiconductor laser amplifiers was simulated, and results obtained at 0.5 and 2.5 Gb/s are presented. In order to improve the system performance, the influence of structure and bulk dimensions of the amplifier cavity is also considered     

1480-nm pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifiers with optimized noiseperformance for AM-VSB distribution systems

Within analog video transmission systems, optical amplifiers have to display simultaneously good noise and output power performance because of the very stringent carrier-to-noise ratio requirements imposed by the AM-VSB modulation format. We show, theoretically and experimentally, that properly designed forward 1480-nm pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifiers can deliver +16 dBm saturated output power with noise parameter (n_sp/C_x) as low as 3.5dB. These amplifiers do not exhibit significant degradation of their noise performance when the input powers are as large as +3 dBm. These characteristics make 1480-nm pumped amplifiers suitable for AM-VSB transmission systems     

Semiconductor laser optical amplifiers for multichannel coherentoptical transmission

The application of semiconductor laser optical amplifiers in multichannel coherent optical transmission systems is investigated. The amplifiers considered (λ=1.3 μm) exhibit a gain of 24 dB at a grain ripple <2 dB and a 3-dB bandwidth of about 4000 GHz. The characteristics of these amplifiers and transmission experiments with these amplifiers are described. The investigations concern noise accumulation in an amplifier chain, generation of echoes due to backward gain in cascaded amplifiers, crosstalk in multichannel transmission, and the effect of gain saturation due to spontaneous emission. A good fit is shown between the advantages of multichannel coherent optical transmission systems and the properties of semiconductor laser optical amplifiers, which are very promising for future long-haul optical transmission systems     

Propagation of signal and noise in concatenated erbium-doped fiberoptical amplifiers

Signal propagation and noise accumulation in lightwave systems using saturated optical amplifiers as repeaters are analyzed. Numerical simulations of amplified spontaneous emission in concatenated erbium-doped fiber amplifiers indicate that a reach beyond 10000 km is possible with a 1.55-μm system in the absence of fiber nonlinearities. Distributed optical amplifiers are shown to have low noise, but require higher pump power than lumped amplifiers. Three operating modes of an amplifier lightwave system are identified and their relative signal power efficiency and noise performance are described     

Optical fibers and amplifiers for WDM systems

The development of optical-fiber amplifiers allowed a dramatic increase in the capacity of optical transmission systems while reducing system costs. Capacity increases are possible because the high output powers afforded by optical-fiber amplifiers support higher bit rates, while their broad bandwidth and slow gain dynamics allow multichannel operation. This benefit comes at the expense of having to manage signal-to-noise ratio degradations due to the accumulation of amplifier noise and dispersion distortions accumulated over the total system link. Furthermore, nonlinear optical effects become significant with the use of high power signals over long lengths of fiber, causing cross talk among the different channels and increasing signal distortions. To fully exploit the potential capacity of wavelength division multiplexing systems, the optical characteristics of the fibers and optical-fiber amplifiers must be optimized. The optical amplifiers should have low noise and flat gain, which can be achieved by using 980-nm pump lasers, optimized fiber glass composition, and gain-flattening filters. The optical fibers should have a small nonzero dispersion and large effective area. Both features can be achieved by optimizing the fiber index profile. This paper summarizes the state of the art in these components and points to directions for future exploration     

Noise characteristics of nonlinear semiconductor optical amplifiersin the Gaussian limit

This paper addresses noise properties of nonlinear semiconductor optical amplifiers. From a basic point of view, noise properties of nonlinear optical amplifiers are sufficiently different from those of linear amplifiers to warrant detailed modeling which has not been formulated previously. From a practical point of view, nonlinear semiconductor optical amplifiers are important for future all-optical signal-processing applications which may involve the operation of these devices in a saturated regime. Nonlinear amplifiers are also common in systems operating near 1300 nm and in integrated booster amplifiers. Under nonlinear operating conditions, amplifier noise contains a narrow-band contribution that comes about due to the nonlinear coupling of noise and gain. The more conventional broadband spontaneous noise also changes as the inversion factor becomes power-dependent and varies along the amplifier axis. We analyze noise in nonlinear amplifiers in the Gaussian limit (meaning, for fields consisting of large photon numbers) for CW or NRZ modulated signals and separately for short pulses. We consider the case of a single input as well as configurations of multi-input signals interacting via four-wave mixing. Using a specific detection system for the calculations of electronic signal-to-noise ratios, we demonstrate a reduction in the narrow-band electronic noise due to saturation in the single input case. We also demonstrate a vast advantage of using short pulses in four-wave-mixing applications     

Power penalties due to multiple Rayleigh backscattering in coherenttransmission systems using in-line optical amplifiers

The power penalties due to double Rayleigh backscattering are calculated for coherent lightwave systems with optical in-line amplifiers. It is shown that coherent systems are less sensitive to Rayleigh noise than high-speed direct-detection systems. For PSK heterodyne systems, the maximum gain of in-line amplifiers that can be achieved without optical isolation is limited to about 25 dB     

Measurement and analysis of phase noise generated fromsemiconductor optical amplifiers

The phase noise generated from traveling-wave semiconductor optical amplifiers is measured. It is found that the phase noise is strongly correlated with the intensity noise and has bandwidth of 600 MHz. Phase-noise formulas are derived for semiconductor optical amplifiers to explain such phase-noise characteristics. It is shown that the phase noise is induced by the carrier density fluctuation associated with the intensity noise and the spontaneous carrier recombination. For the coherent heterodyne DPSK system, the phase noise, instead of the intensity noise, is found to be the limiting factor on the number of repeater amplifiers     

Optical amplifiers transform long-distance lightwavetelecommunications

Optical amplifiers and wavelength-multiplexing technology are transforming lightwave communications by providing cost-effective upgrades that will increase immensely the transmission capacity of long-distance telecommunications networks. A new generation of undersea cable systems using fiber optical amplifiers as repeaters has been developed for transoceanic applications, yielding a capacity almost ten times larger than conventional systems using opto-electronic regenerators. Terrestrial long-haul networks will benefit significantly from amplified wavelength-multiplexed transmission systems designed to access the large inherent bandwidth in the installed fiber. Successful deployment of these advanced systems requires a thorough understanding of optical amplifiers and the optical fiber medium, as their requirements interrelate through optical bandwidth, noise, dispersion, optical nonlinearities, and their impact on signal transmission. While the first commercial WDM amplified lightwave systems are deployed for point-to-point applications, optical transparency and wavelength multiplexing will be exploited for networking leading to the higher functionality and improved cost-effectiveness expected of photonic networks     

采用喇曼光纤放大器的长距离光纤传输系统中双重瑞利散射噪声的抑制

本文研究了在长距离光纤通信系统中,采用多级喇曼光纤放大器的情况下,双重瑞利散射波的产生和放大过程,提出了采用在喇曼光纤放大器中加入隔离器的办法进行双重瑞利散射噪声抑制。比较信号和双重瑞利散射噪声在入隔离器前后沿传输光纤的功率变化,加入隔离器以后,双重瑞利散射噪声得到了有效地抑制,而信号所受的影响不大。     

Optimization of WDM lightwave systems (BAC) design using error control coding

In a binary asymmetric channel (BAC) it may be necessary to correct only those errors which result from incorrect transmission of one of the two code elements. In optical fiber multichannel systems, the optical amplifiers are critical components and amplified spontaneous emission noise in the optical amplifiers is the major source of noise in it. The property of erbium doped fiber amplifier is nearly ideal for application in lightwave long haul transmission. We investigate performance of error correcting codes in such systems in presence of stimulated Raman scattering and amplified spontaneous emission noise with asymmetric channel statistics. Performance of some best known concatenated coding schemes is reported.     

Observation of equivalent Rayleigh scattering mirrors in lightwavesystems with optical amplifiers

Experimental and theoretical studies that indicate that Rayleigh scattering acts as an equivalent mirror which can generate high levels of multiple reflection noise in lightwave systems employing optical amplifiers are discussed. The relative intensity noise can be calculated as a simple function of the amplifier gain and the ratio of total backscattered to incident power in the fibers. In high-speed digital systems, this noise limits the maximum usable repeater gain to less than 20 dB, unless optical isolators are employed     

用于光纤传输系统的半导体激光放大器

本文主要介绍用于光纤传输系统的行波半导体激光放大器(TWSLA)。首先描述 TWSLA 的激光器刻面抗反射(AR)涂层的特性,然后描述半导体激光放大器(SLA)的重要特性,如小信号增益、信号增益饱和及噪声特性,最后讨论了 TWSLA 的结构设计。     

Relative intensity noise in semiconductor optical amplifiers

The spontaneous noise spectrum of high-gain semiconductor optical amplifiers is normally assumed to be dominated by spontaneous-spontaneous and signal-spontaneous beat noise, which is white over the frequency range important to fiber-optic systems. Recent measurements have shown that a strong resonance peak in the spontaneous noise spectrum appears well below the threshold current, indicating the existence of relative intensity noise. This noise term has important implications for system design, and its effect on several transmission systems is described. Relative intensity noise in semiconductor optical amplifiers is compared to the similar relative intensity noise found in semiconductor lasers     

Bit-error rate of lightwave systems at the zero-dispersionwavelength

The author derives approximate expressions for the bit-error rate of very long lightwave systems with optical amplifiers that are operated at the zero-dispersion wavelength. In this case, the nonlinear interaction of the signal wave with the spontaneous emission noise of the amplifiers corrupts the signal. Its spectrum broadens by several orders of magnitude, and the instantaneous optical power assumes the appearance of bandlimited thermal or spontaneous emission noise. This observation suggests that the bit-error rate should be computed under the assumption that the optical signal and the optical spontaneous emission noise obey Gaussian statistics. The approximate expressions for the bit-error rate are derived under this assumption. The formulas are written in such a way that the signal and the noise may be either completely polarized or completely unpolarized     

WDM transmission system performance: influence of non-Gaussiandetected ASE noise and periodic DEMUX characteristic

This paper presents the first unified wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission model for systems incorporating cascaded optical amplifiers and a realistic demultiplexing (DEMUX) characteristic with periodic transfer function. The bit error ratio (BER) is evaluated accounting in rigorous form for the influence of non-Gaussian detected amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise, noise correlation between stochastic noise samples in the receiver, the bandwidth of the electrical receiver noise filter, the gain tilt and effective noise figure of optical amplifiers (with as well as without optical ASE noise filtering), channel crosstalk, signal extinction ratio and a one-or two-stage DEMUX implementation. The model is compared to the Gaussian receiver model in realistic design cases providing important information as to the validity of the Gaussian model. Practical design results indicate the link budget dependence on the DEMUX design and the ASE noise filtering     

Masers and millimeter waves

The characteristics of a number of different kinds of masers are reviewed to estimate their usefulness in the region between one and a tenth millimeter. An estimate of the maximum power output for these systems is made and compared with the output to be expected from mixing two optical signals in a nonlinear dielectric and on a photocathode. Additionally, the noise characteristics of maser amplifiers are briefly reviewed for this region of the spectrum.     

Noise and error rate performance of semiconductor laser amplifiers in PCM-IM optical transmission systems

Applications of semiconductor laser amplifiers in intensity modulated digital optical transmission systems were studied theoretically. An optical linear amplifier repeater between electronically regenerating terminal repeaters and an optical linear preamplifier in front of a photodetector in an electronically regenerating repeater are discussed. Both traveling-wave type and Fabry-Perot cavity type laser amplifiers are considered. The noise and error rate performance in these systems are evaluated using formulations for semiconductor laser amplifiers. The mean and variance in the optical amplifier output photons calculated by the photon master equation [1] is used to obtain the worst case variance in the equalized output voltage [2] for these systems. The required receiving power reduction from direct detection scheme by a preamplifier system and the repeater spacing expansion between two electronically regenerating terminals by an optical linear amplifier repeater system are delineated.     

Statistical analysis of coherent ultrashort light pulse CDMA with multiple optical amplifiers using additive noise model

This paper describes a study of the performance of various configurations for placing multiple optical amplifiers in a typical coherent ultrashort light pulse code-division multiple access (CULP-CDMA) communication system using the additive noise model. For this study, a comprehensive performance analysis was developed that takes into account multiple-access noise, noise due to optical amplifiers, and thermal noise using the saddle-point approximation technique. Prior to obtaining the overall system performance, the input/output statistical models for different elements of the system such as encoders/decoders, star coupler, and optical amplifiers were obtained. Performance comparisons between an ideal and lossless quantum-limited case and a typical CULP-CDMA with various losses exhibit more than 30 dB more power requirement to obtain the same bit-error rate (BER). Considering the saturation effect of optical amplifiers, this paper discusses an algorithm for amplifiers' gain setting in various stages of the network in order to overcome the nonlinear effects on signal modulation in optical amplifiers. Finally, using this algorithm, various configurations of multiple optical amplifiers in CULP-CDMA are discussed and the rules for the required optimum number of amplifiers are shown with their corresponding optimum locations to be implemented along the CULP-CDMA system.     

On the noise properties of linear and nonlinear quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers: the impact of inhomogeneously broadened gain and fast carrier dynamics

We present a detailed analytical model describing the noise properties of quantum-dot (QD) optical amplifiers operating in the linear and saturated regimes. We describe the dependence of the optical noise on the main physical parameters characterizing the QD gain medium as well as on operating conditions. The optical noise at the amplifier output shows a broad-band spectrum with an incoherent spectral hole due to the gain inhomogeneity. A coherent spectral dip stemming from noise-signal nonlinear interactions is superimposed on that broad-band spectrum. The broad-band incoherent component is also calculated using an approximate model which makes use of an equivalent inhomogeneous population inversion factor. The validity of the approximation is examined in detail. We also calculate the electrical relative intensity noise and observe a spectral hole corresponding to the spectral shape of the optical noise. The most important characteristics of the optical and electrical noise spectra are determined by the degree of inhomogeneous broadening and by the fast carrier dynamics of QD amplifiers. The fast dynamics causes a very wide noise spectral hole which has important potential consequences for detection of fast data and for all optical signal processing.