Power budget optimization of STARNET II: an optically amplifieddirect-detection WDM network with subcarrier control

STARNET-II is a novel optically amplified direct-detection multi-Gb/s WDM LAN developed at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. STARNET-II is simpler than the coherent STARNET-I yet is functionally equivalent. Here, STARNET-II power budget is investigated and optimized. Power allocation between payload and subcarrier control streams at the transmitter, and power splitting ratio between the payload and subcarrier control receivers are investigated and optimized theoretically and experimentally. Critical parameter variations such as electro-absorption modulator nonlinearity, transmitter wavelength and power instability are investigated, and their effect on the power budget is analyzed. With the optimized design, experimental STARNET-II optical layer has a receiver sensitivity of -31.5 dBm at BER=10^-9 corresponding to 23.9 dB SNR, for simultaneous transmission and reception of 1.25 Gb/s payload and 125 Mb/s control data. Including the computer interface, STARNET-II has a power budget of 28.6 dB. For a 10-km network diameter, STARNET-II dispersion margin can support the modulation bandwidth up to 13 Gb/s     

Continuous-wave fiber optical parametric amplifier with 60-dB gain using a novel two-segment design

We have obtained 60 dB of internal (ON-OFF) gain with a continuous-wave fiber optical parametric amplifier by using an isolator between two fiber segments to increase the pump stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold. Subdecibel penalties were measured for transmission of 10-Gb/s signals, with 35 dB of gain.     

Balanced phase-locked loops for optical homodyne receivers: Performance analysis, design considerations, and laser linewidth requirements

Balanced phase-locked loops for optical homodyne receivers are investigated. When a balanced loop is employed in a communications system, a part of the transmitter power must be used for unmodulated residual carrier transmission. This leads to a power penalty. In addition, the performance of the balanced loops is affected by the laser phase noise, by the shot noise, and by the crosstalk between the data-detection- and phase-lock-branches of the receiver. The impact of these interferences is minimized if the loop bandwidthBis optimized. The value of Boptand the corresponding optimum loop performance are evaluated in this paper. Further, the maximum permissible laser linewidthdeltanuis evaluated and found to be5.9 times 10^{-6}times Rb, where Rb(bit/s) is the system bit rate. This number corresponds toBER = 10^{-10}and power penalty of 1 dB (0.5 dB due to residual carrier transmission, and 0.5 dB due to imperfect carrier phase recovery). For comparison, decision-driven phase-locked loops require onlydeltanu = 3.1 times 10^{-4}. R_{b}. Thus, balanced loops impose more stringent requirements on the laser linewidth than decision-driven loops, but have the advantage of simpler implementation. An important additional advantage of balanced loops is their capability to suppress the excess intensity noise of semiconductor lasers.     

Decision-driven phase-locked loop for optical homodyne receivers: Performance analysis and laser linewidth requirements

Optical homodyne receivers based on decision-driven phase-locked loops are investigated. The performance of these receivers is affected by two phase noises due to the laser transmitter and laser local oscillator, and by two shot noises due to the two detectors employed in the receiver. The impact of these noises is minimized if the loop bandwidthBis chosen optimally. The value of Boptand the corresponding optimum loop performance are evaluated in this paper. It is shown that second-order phase-locked loops require at least 0.8 pW of signal power per every kilohertz of laser linewidth (this number refers to the system with the detector responsivity 1 A/W, dumping factor 0.7, and rms phase error 10°). This signal power is used for phase locking, and is, therefore, lost from the data receiver. Further, the maximum permissible laser linewidthDeltanuis evaluated and for second order loops with the dumping factor 0.7 found to be3.1 times 10^{-4} cdot R_{b}, where Rb(bit/s) is the system bit rate. ForR_{b} = 100Mbit/s, this leads toDeltanu = 31kHz. For comparison, heterodyne receivers with noncoherent postdetection processing only requireDeltanu = 0.72-9MHz forR_{b} = 100Mbit/s. Thus, the homodyne systems impose much more stringent requirements on the laser linewidth than the heterodyne systems. However, homodyne systems have several important advantages over heterodyne systems, and the progress of laser technology may make homodyning increasingly attractive. Even today, homodyne reception is feasible with experimental external cavity lasers, which have been demonstrated to haveDeltanuas low as 10 kHz.     

Phase- and polarization-diversity coherent optical techniques

Progress in phase- and polarization-diversity coherent optical techniques has led to impressive receivers able to tolerate wide laser linewidth and large polarization fluctuations. The advantages and the drawbacks of diversity receivers, and recent experimental and theoretical research results are discussed     

Distributed slot synchronization (DSS): a network-wide slotsynchronization technique for packet-switched optical networks

Distributed slot synchronization (DSS) is a network-wide packet synchronization technique which coordinates node transmissions so that packets arrive aligned to one another at a reference point in the network, independent of propagation delays. DSS was developed for use in the contention resolution with delay-lines (CORD) project, a DARPA-funded 2.5 Gb/s/λ, wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) optical packet-switched network testbed. In this implementation, it was experimentally demonstrated that the DSS system, operating with 80 MHz control logic, achieves a packet arrival jitter of less than 13 ns with 12 km node spacings. DSS was also shown to be robust against noise and node failure or fiber breaks. The technique is data rate and format independent and can be used in other star, extended ring, or tree-and-branch network architectures for metropolitan area network (MAN) and access applications     

Implementation of STARNET: a WDM computer communications network

STARNET is a broadband backbone optical wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) local area network (LAN). Based on a physical passive star topology, STARNET offers all users two logical subnetworks: a high-speed reconfigurable packet-switched data subnetwork and a moderate-speed fix-tuned packet-switched control subnetwork. Thus, STARNET supports traffic with a wide range of speed and continuity characteristics. We report the analysis and implementation of an entire STARNET two-node network, from the optical to the computer layer, at the Optical Communications Research Laboratory (OCRL) of Stanford University. To implement the two logical subnetworks, we designed and implemented two different techniques: combined modulation and multichannel subcarrier multiplexing (MSCM). OCRL has already demonstrated several combined modulation techniques such as phase shift-keyed and amplitude shift-keyed (PSK/ASK), and differential phase shift-keyed and amplitude shift-keyed (DPSK/ASK), yielding combined ASK/DPSK modulation receiver sensitivities better than -32 dBm. OCRL has designed and implemented a high-speed high-performance packet-switched STARNET computer interface which enables high-throughput transfer to/from host computer, low latency switching, traffic prioritization, and capability of multicasting and broadcasting. With this interface board, OCRL has achieved average transmit and receive throughputs of 685 Mb/s and 571 Mb/s, respectively, out of the 800 Mb/s theoretical maximum of the host computer bus. The incurred packet latency due to the interface for a specified multihop network configuration has been simulated to be 24 μs. Using simulation and experimental results, it is shown that STARNET is highly suitable for high-speed multimedia network applications     

OBT: Optical Burst Transport in Metro Area Networks

For the past few years, the evolution of electro-optical technology has driven change in optical networks in the access and backbone areas. Optical bypassing and traffic aggregation mitigate the scalability problem in backbone networks, and burst mode transmission can provide a cost-efficient solution for access networks. Using those technologies, a new solution can be found for metro area networks, which interconnect access and backbone networks. In this article, we introduce a new solution for metro area networks, called optical burst transport (OBT). OBT is designed to use the promising technologies of backbone and access networks so that it provides all benefits, such as dynamic bandwidth provisioning, scalability, and robustness for unbalanced traffic. The performance evaluation of OBT also is verified by means of a testbed implementation.     

Multiple-wavelength conversion with gain by a high-repetition-rate pulsed-pump fiber OPA

The authors propose and demonstrate a novel multiple-wavelength converter with gain, based on a pulsed-pump fiber optical parametric amplifier (OPA). It generates multiple replicas of the signal, as well as spectrally inverted versions. The device is modeled by using quasi-steady-state OPA gain equations, as well as by the split-step Fourier method. Predicted conversion gains of up to 20 dB have been confirmed by experiments. A 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) input signal was converted into several replicas, with penalties ranging from 0.26 to 1.24 dB for frequency shifts of /spl plusmn/k/spl times/100 GHz (k=1, 2, 3, 4).     

Optical phase-locked PSK heterodyne experiment at 4 Gb/s

A 4 Gb/s phase-locked optical PSK (phase shift keying) heterodyne communication system is demonstrated. The receiver was implemented with a single 100-Ω loaded p-i-n photodiode and a 1320-nm diode-pumped miniature Nd:YAG laser as a local oscillator. For a 2⁷-1 PRBS (pseudorandom bit sequence), the receiver sensitivity was -34.2 dBm or 631 photons/bit. The corresponding power on the surface of the detector was -37.3 dBm or 309 photons/bit. With a 2¹⁵-1 PRBS, a 2.6 dB additional sensitivity degradation was observed due to the nonideal frequency response of the phase modulator and the receiver amplifiers