Receiver analysis for synchronous coherent optical fiber transmission systems

A receiver sensitivity expression applicable for both PSK homodyne and heterodyne optical fiber transmission systems is derived taking account of polarization misalignment, reduced modulation depth, preamplifier thermal noise, power coupling ratio of the fiber coupler, local oscillator excess intensity noise, and reference phase errors. From a comparison of recent studies on system performance degradation due to laser phase noise a generalized expression relating beat linewidth to phase error variance for pilot carrier and Costas phase-locked-loop receivers is defined.