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     

Experimental characterization of a dynamically gain-flattened erbium-doped fiber amplifier

We have designed and experimentally characterized an erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) which possesses a wavelength-independent gain spectrum, independent of the operating level of the gain (dynamic gain flatness), and without requiring any gain-level-dependent control of any parameters. In the wavelength range 1542-1552 nm, the gain was flat to within the experimental uncertainties of /spl plusmn/0.3 dB even as the gain level changed by 17 dB. The EDFA was based on a low-Al-content alumino-germanosilicate EDF and a Mach-Zehnder filter. We believe that this type of EDFA, which has not been demonstrated before, can significantly simplify the design of amplified wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems and increase the robustness of long-distance WDM transmission.     

Long-haul WDM transmission using higher order fiber dispersionmanagement

We propose a fiber dispersion management scheme for large-capacity long-haul wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems that considers not only second- but also third-order dispersion characteristics using transmission fibers with opposite dispersion signs. It eliminates the waveform distortion of WDM signals that originates from the existence of third-order dispersion, which is a constraint placed on WDM capacity in conventional dispersion management, while reducing the interchannel interaction caused by the interplay of fiber nonlinearity and second-order dispersion. Design concept of the scheme is discussed to show the feasibility of using actual fiber parameters. An experimental investigation on transmission performance regarding the signal pulse format, nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ), and interchannel interaction caused by four-wave mixing (FWM) and cross-phase modulation (XPM) is described for optimizing WDM system performance. It is experimentally shown that RZ pulse transmission is possible without significant spectral broadening over a wide wavelength range in dispersion managed fiber spans. Using these results together with a wideband optical amplifier gain-bandwidth management technique, yields long-distance WDM transmission with the capacity of 25×10 Gb/s over 9288 km     

Long-distance WDM transmission experiments using the dispersionslope compensator

Recently, long-haul transmission experiments of more than 100-Gbit/s capacity were reported. Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is a key technology to achieve this kind of high-capacity transmission. One technical problem of the long distance WDM transmission is the dispersion slope of the transmission fiber. It causes the difference of the chromatic dispersion accumulation upon the WDM channels, and it will lead to transmission performance degradation. In order to solve the problem, equalization of the dispersion slope should be quite effective. This paper describes the results of the long-distance transmission experiments using the dispersion slope equalization. Both IM-DD WDM and optical soliton WDM are discussed     

EDFA和DCM在长途传输OLP系统中的应用

随着OLP在光通信网络的大量应用,将不可避免地对超长距离、超大容量传输系统干线也采取相应的保护措施,EDFA和DCM是目前广泛应用于解决超长距离、超大容量传输系统在OLP中存在问题的优选技术。以西武40Gbit/s波分干线为例,对EDFA和DCM在长途传输OLP系统中的应用提供一些参考。     

10-Gb/s, 4-channel wavelength division multiplexing fibertransmission using semiconductor optical amplifier modules

A dense wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) transmission system with very-high-speed channels was investigated experimentally. A 10-Gb/s four-channel WDM optical transmission (total capacity of 40 Gb/s) over a 40-km dispersion-shifted fiber was achieved by using hybrid-integrated DFB-LD/driver modules for transmitters and two cascaded semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) modules for receivers. The experiment confirmed that the SOA is applicable for WDM transmission systems with high bit rates because of its inherent wide bandwidth. The transmission capacity of 40 Gb/s, achieved using an intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) scheme, is the highest ever reported. This technology will make possible ultralarge capacity (up to several-hundred gigabits per second) and long-haul transmission systems in the future     

Transmission of many WDM channels through a cascade of EDFA's inlong-distance links and ring networks

We analyze the transmission of many wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) channels through a cascade of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) in both long-distance links and ring-based networks. For a megameter long-distance system, optimal operating conditions are found for achieving a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) per channel with as small an SNR differential as possible between 20 WDM channels spaced 0.5 nm apart. Critical issues addressed in this paper include: (a) the non-uniformity of the EDFA gain with wavelength: (b) the link loss between amplifiers; (c) the small-signal gain per amplifier; and (d) the input signal power     

WDM系统中采用EDFA的主要技术

在论述了 EDFA (掺铒光纤放大器 )基本原理的基础上 ,主要对用于 WDM (波分复用 )系统中的 EDFA的性能要求、相关参数、结构等进行了较详细的分析。EDFA不仅会在长途干线中广泛使用 ,也必然将会在接入网和未来的全光网络中扮演越来越重要的角色。     

Design and experimental characterization of EDFA-based WDM ring networks with free ASE light recirculation and link control for network survivability

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the performance of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)-based WDM ring networks with free amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) light recirculation. We show that, with proper network and amplifier design, the lasing light generated by free ASE recirculation within the looped network provides an effective gain clamping technique, ensuring limited signal power excursions under WDM channels add-drop operations. Considering a ring network composed of eight fiber sections and eight EDFAs, maximum signal power overshoots below 2.5dB have been measured under 23/24 WDM channels drop. Optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) analysis and bit-error rate (BER) measurement at 10 Gb/s confirm acceptable performances and negligible penalties due to polarization effects and relative intensity noise transfer from laser light to WDM signals. We also propose and demonstrate a new link control technique which overcomes the main limiting factors of such networks, respectively, related to OSNR degradation, stability and survivability to fiber and EDFA breakages.     

Dynamic power-equalized EDFA module based on strain tunable fiberBragg gratings

An adaptive power-equalized erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) module is proposed and experimentally demonstrated by using strain tunable fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). In a demonstration for a five-channel wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) system, the EDFA module can effectively reduce the power variation from 11 dB to 0.3 dB. Measured power penalty for 2.5-Gb/s data is less than 0.5 and 1.1 dB for 5 and 17 dB of signal attenuation by tunable FBGs, respectively. The power-equalized EDFA module can find wide applications in WDM lightwave transmission systems     

基于沃尔泰拉理论的集总光纤非线性噪声补偿

通过沃尔泰拉(Volterra)级数理论求得了非线性薛定谔方程(NLSE)的半解析解,在考虑光纤损耗、色散及非线性效应的情况下,推出了长距离在线级联掺铒光纤放大器(EDFA)光纤通信系统中信号和自发辐射噪声(ASE)之间耦合串扰的半解析表达式,得到了多跨距传输接收端输出信号和发射端输入信号之间的关系式.根据维纳(Wiener)滤波理论的时域滤波原理,在多跨距传输系统接收端设计了对非线性乘性噪声有滤波作用的维纳滤波器,并对预集总色散补偿、后集总色散补偿、分布链路色散补偿系统及一对三"跨距成比例平移对称的色散非线性同步补偿系统进行了仿真模拟研究.结果表明了提出的设计思路及方法的可行性,为进一步提高传输距离增大入纤功率提供了新的思路.     

Scalability of a Metropolitan Bidirectional Multifiber WDM-Ring Network

We analyze the scalability of a metropolitan bidirectional multifiber wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) ring network. The analysis is carried out by using a bidirectional transmission model for optical networks and by building an experimental network. The model includes major limiting factors in WDM-ring networks such as relative intensity noise (RIN) due to multiple Rayleigh backscattering, amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) accumulation in a cascade of bidirectional erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA), tilting of the EDFA gain spectrum and input saturation power of the EDFA. We found that in metropolitan areas the scalability of a WDM-ring network using bidirectional transmission is not mainly limited by the RIN arising from the Rayleigh backscattering. The result was verified experimentally. The maximum size of the demonstrated network is 33–43 nodes with a spacing of 5–10 km between nodes. With this spacing, which is typical in metropolitan areas, the scalability of the network is mainly limited by the gain tilt and the input saturation power of the EDFA.     

Gain-flattened Er/sup 3+/-doped fiber amplifier for a WDM signal in the 1.57-1.60-/spl mu/m wavelength region

A gain-flattened Er/sup 3+/-doped silica-based fiber amplifier (EDFA) has been constructed for a 1.58-/spl mu/m band WDM signal. This EDFA exhibits uniform amplification characteristics with a gain excursion of 0.9 dB for a four-channel WDM signal in the 1.57-1.60 /spl mu/m wavelength region. The average signal gain and the noise figure for the WDM signal are 29.5 dB and less than 6.3 dB, respectively. The use of this EDFA in parallel with a 1.55-/spl mu/m band EDFA will expand the WDM transmission wavelength region.     

WDM+EDFA+DCF光纤传输系统中色散补偿方案的分析

由于在ＷＤＭ＋ＥＤＦＡ光纤传输系统中使用常规单模光纤（ＳＭＦ）在１５５０ｎｍ窗口的大色散限制了传输距离,采用色散补偿光纤（ＤＣＦ）进行色散补偿是上前一种较为理想的方法。本文基于光纤ＷＤＭ＋ＥＤＦＡ＋ＤＣＦ的长距离传输系统,讨论了ＤＣＦ色散补偿对光纤非线性效应交叉相位调制和四波混频（ＦＷＭ）的影响,提出了采用ＤＣＦ集总、后置、非完全补偿的色散补偿方案,这种方案可合系统具有更佳的传输性能。     

波分复用系统中四波混频引入光信噪比的恶化及其抑制

本文对陆上级联接掺铒光纤放大器（ＥＤＰＡ）波分复用光纤通信系统中国波混频所造成的各个光信道光信噪比的恶化提出了一套计算方法，并结合常规单模光纤及一种特殊设计的色散位移光纤进行了分析计算。结果表明：在四波混频所引入的光信噪比恶化中，因新生频率分量导致的噪声增加一般远大于光信号功率的减弱。不等信道间隔划分能有效地避免四波混频的影响，而光滤波器的带宽应在允许范围内尽量压窄。对采用色散补偿技术的级联ＥＤＦＡ波分复用系统，在同一光中继段内，使常规单模光纤置于特殊设计的色散位移光纤之前，能进一步减少四波混频带来的光信噪比的恶化。     

新型副载波调制EDFA远程在线监控技术的原理论证

从理论和实验上论证了一种用于掺铒光纤放大器 (EDFA)远程在线监控和判断级连EDFA系统级间断点位置的技术方案。该方案利用频移键控 频分复用 (FSK FDM)技术进行声频副载波调制 ,通过光强度调制实现远程在线EDFA监控信息随主信号的传输。实验测得在副载波调制度为 3 %和 15 %时 ,10Gbit s波分复用 (WDM)光传输系统的功率代价分别为 0 16dB和 0 86dB。采用锁相技术 ,成功进行了 3 %调制度的监控信息解调。说明该方案可以实现对 5级EDFA系统的监控     

Wavelength division multiplexing in long-haul transoceanic transmission systems

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology used in long-haul transmission systems has steadily progressed over the past few years. Newly installed state-of-the-art transoceanic systems now have terabit per second maximum capacity, while being flexible enough to have an initial deployed capacity at a fraction of the maximum. The steady capacity growth of these long-haul fiber-optic cable systems has resulted from many improvements in WDM transmission techniques and an increased understanding of WDM optical propagation. Important strides have been made in areas of dispersion management, gain equalization, modulation formats, and error-correcting codes that have made possible the demonstration of capacities approaching 4 Tb/s over transoceanic distances in laboratory experiments.     

An EDFA gain control and power monitoring scheme for fault detection in WDM networks by employing a power-stabilized control channel

Schemes are proposed for the highly reliable gain control of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) and for power monitoring to detect faults in wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) networks. These schemes employ one WDM channel (a control channel). The EDFA gain and output power levels are controlled by monitoring the control channel power that is automatically controlled and stabilized in the node. This prevents the uncontrolled EDFA operation that might result from any serious change in the control channel power. The use of a power stabilized control channel for power monitoring makes it possible to detect transmission system faults correctly because the monitoring of the control channel power is unaffected by the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) generated in the EDFA. We also report experimental results on the dependence of the transient response of the EDFA gain and output power on the signal channel power and channel number input into the EDFA, when the power of the control channel changes due to problems with its light source. Numerical calculation of the gain transience explains the experimental results.     

A study of green wavelength-division multiplexed optical communication systems using cascaded fiber bragg grating

This paper studies the performance analysis of wavelength-division multiplexed optical communication systems (WDM). First, flat-gain erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are seriously needed to obtain proper and equal amplification of all channels. Such amplifiers can be designed by intrinsically modifying the host material or extrinsically using proper filters. In this research, we benefit from both the intrinsic and extrinsic methods to achieve sharp flat EDFA output gain using cascaded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). Second, the performance of our technique has been evaluated through calculating the bit error rate (BER) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a WDM system embedded with the reported EDFA flattening system. The parametric simulations of the FWHM of FBGs, SNR, optical power and the transmission distance have shown a noticeable improved performance. Sending data via an optical WDM system will be proven from comprehensive simulations to achieve high quality signal transmission spectrums, increased transmission distances and low power consumption. By extension, the reported design using cascaded FBGs can also be generalized to equalize the gain of any arbitrary profile.     

Analysis of channel addition/removal response in all-opticalgain-controlled cascade of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers

Application of the all-optical gain-controlled (AOGC) erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for protection surviving channels in a multiwavelength network in which several EDFAs are cascaded is studied. The effects of addition and/or dropping of wavelength channels in a network comprising six concatenated EDFAs have been analyzed by numerical simulation. Only the first EDFA in the cascade is gain clamped using a ring laser configuration. A large-signal EDFA model which incorporates time variation numerical effects and the downstream propagation of signal and pump and downstream and upstream propagation of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) has been used. In particular, the effects of relaxation oscillations from the gain-controlled EDFA on the surviving channel protection are investigated. It is shown that power excursions caused in an eight-channel wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network by the loss/addition of 6 channels will be lower than 1 dB and free of relaxation oscillations if the gain-controlled EDFA is strongly inverted and the average normalized population density of the metastable level does not drop below 0.74