Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)

Presented by
Asst. Prof. Hamidullah Riaz
Introduction
• A powerful aspect of an optical communication link is that many different wavelengths selected from the spectral
regions ranging from the O-band through the L-band can be sent along a single fiber simultaneously. • The
technology of combining a number of wavelengths onto the same fiber is known as wavelength division
multiplexing, or WDM.
• Conceptually, the WDM scheme is the same as frequency division multiplexing (FDM) used in microwave radio
and satellite systems.
• Just as in FDM, the wavelengths (or optical frequencies) in WDM must be spaced properly to avoid interference
between adjacent channels.

WDM Key System Features

• Capacity upgrade. The classical application of WDM has been to upgrade the capacity of existing point-to-point
 fiber optic transmission links.
– If each wavelength supports an independent network channel of a few gigabits per second, then WDM can increase
the capacity of a fiber system dramatically with each additional wavelength channel.
• Transparency. An important aspect of WDM is that each optical channel can carry any transmission format. – Thus,
by using different wavelengths, fast or slow asynchronous and synchronous digital data and analog information can be
sent simultaneously, and independently, over the same fiber without the
need for a common signal structure.
• Wavelength routing. Instead of using electronic means to switch
optical
signals at a node, a wavelength-routing network can provide a pure
optical
end-to-end connection between users.
– This is done by means of lightpaths that are routed and switched at
intermediate nodes in the network.
– In some cases, lightpaths may be converted from one wavelength to
another
wavelength along their route.

Operational Principles of WDM

• When optical fiber systems were first deployed, they consisted of simple point-to- point links in which a single fiber
 line has one light source at its transmitting end and one photodetector at the receiving end.
• In these early systems, signals from different light sources used separate and uniquely assigned optical fibers. • In
addition to filling up ducts with fibers, these simplex systems represent a tremendous underutilization of the bandwidth
capacity of a fiber.
• Since the spectral width of a high-quality source occupies only a narrow slice of optical bandwidth, there are many
additional operating regions across the entire spectrum ranging from the O-band through the L-band that can be used
simultaneously.
• The original use of WDM was to upgrade the capacity of installed point-to-point transmission links. • This was
achieved with wavelengths that were separated from several tens up to 200 nm in order not to impose strict
wavelength-tolerance requirements on the different laser sources and the receiving wavelength splitters.

Operational Principles of WDM (Con.)

• With the advent of tunable lasers that have extremely narrow spectral emission widths, one then could space wavelengths by
less than a few nanometers.
• This is the basis of wavelength division multiplexing, which simultaneously uses a number of light sources, each emitting at a
slightly different peak wavelength.
• Each wavelength carries an independent signal, so that the link capacity is increased greatly. • The main trick is to ensure that
the peak wavelength of a source is spaced sufficiently far from its neighbor so as not to create interference between their spectral
extents.
• Equally important is the requirement that these peak wavelengths not drift into the spectral territory occupied by adjacent
channels.
• In addition to maintaining strict control of the wavelength, typically system designers include an empty guard band between the
channels.
• Thereby the fidelities of the independent messages from each source are maintained for subsequent conversion to electric
signals at the receiving end.

WDM Operating Regions

• A distributed-feedback (DFB) laser has a frequency spectrum on the order of 1 MHz, which is equivalent to a
spectral linewidth of 10−5 nm.
• With such spectral-band widths, simplex systems make use of only a tiny portion of the transmission bandwidth
capability of a fiber.
 • The regions can be viewed either in terms of spectral width (the wavelength band occupied by the light signal) or
by means of optical bandwidth (the frequency band occupied by the light signal).
• To find the optical bandwidth corresponding to a particular spectral width in these regions, we use the
fundamental relationship c = λf, which relates the wavelength λ to the carrier frequency f, where c is the speed
of light.
• Differentiating the relationship, we have:

c 2
Δf = λ Δλ

Example
• If one takes a spectral band of 0.8nm (or, equivalently, a mean frequency spacing of 100 GHz) within which
narrow-linewidth lasers are transmitting, then one can send about 36 independent signals in the 1530- to 1560-nm
C-band on a single fiber.
WDM Standards
• Since WDM is essentially frequency division multiplexing at optical carrier frequencies, the WDM standards
developed by the ITU specify channel spacings in terms of frequency.
• A key reason for selecting a fixed-frequency spacing, rather than a constant-wavelength spacing, is that when a
laser is locked to a particular operating mode, it is the frequency of the laser that is fixed.
• The first ITU-T specification for WDM was Recommendation G.692, in which the channels were selected from a
grid of frequencies and were spaced 100 GHz (about 0.8 nm) apart.
• Also, suggested alternative spacings in G.692 include 50 and 200 GHz, which correspond to spectral widths of 0.4
and 1.6 nm, respectively.
• The ITU-T Recommendation G.694.1 entitled as Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) specifies
WDM operation in the S-, C-, and L-bands for high-quality, high-rate MAN and WAN services. • It calls out for
narrow frequency spacings of 100 to 12.5GHz (or, equivalently, 0.8 to 0.1 nm at 1550 nm). • This implementation
requires the use of stable, high-quality, temperature-controlled and wavelength-controlled (frequency-locked) laser
diode light sources. For example, the wavelength drift tolerances for 25-GHz channels are ±0.02nm.

WDM Standards (Con.)

WDM Standards (Con.)
• With the production of full-spectrum (low-water-content) fibers, the development of relatively inexpensive optical
sources, and the desire to have low-cost optical links operating in metro- and local-area networks came the concept
of coarse WDM (CWDM) which is recommended in ITU-T G.694.2 Recommendation.
• The CWDM grid is made up of 18 wavelengths defined within the range of 1270 to 1610 nm (O- through L-bands)
 spaced by 20 nm with wavelength drift tolerances of ±0.02nm.

Generic WDM link

• The implementation of WDM networks requires a variety of passive and/or active devices to combine, distribute,
isolate, add, drop, attenuate, and amplify optical power at different wavelengths.
• Passive devices require no external control for their operation, so they have a fixed application in WDM networks.
• These passive components are used to split and combine or tap off optical signals.
• The performance of active devices can be controlled electronically, thereby providing a large degree of network
flexibility.
• Active WDM components include tunable optical filters, tunable sources, add/drop multiplexers, Variable Optical
Attenuators (VOAs), Dynamic Gain Equalizers (DGEs), optical switches, and optical amplifiers.

Multiplexers for WDM

• A key WDM component is the wavelength multiplexer.
• The function of this device is to combine independent signal streams operating at different wavelengths onto the
same fiber.
• Many different techniques using specialized components have been devised for combining multiple wavelengths
onto the same fiber and separating them at the receiver.
• Each of these techniques has certain advantages and of course various limitations.
• These include thin-film filters, arrayed waveguide gratings, Bragg fiber gratings, diffraction gratings, and
interleavers.
• The performance demands on these components are increasing constantly with the desire to support higher
channel counts and longer distances between terminals.

Thin-Film Filters (TFFs)

• A thin-film filter allows only a very narrow slice of spectral width to pass through it and reflects all other light
outside this band.
• To create a wavelength multiplexing device for combining or separating N wavelength channels, one needs to
cascade N-1thin-film filters.
• Since a light beam loses some of its power at each TFF because the filters are not perfect, this multiplexing
architecture works for only a limited number of channels.
• This usually is specified as being 16 channels or less.
Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs)
• An FBG allows optical channel spacings as narrow as 25 GHz.
• By using special packaging techniques, Bragg gratings can be made to have a very low thermal drift of less than
one-half of a picometer (pm) per degree celsius, and they exhibit very low interchannel crosstalk. • In contrast to a
thin-film filter, an FBG reflects a narrow spectral slice and allows all other wavelengths to pass through it.
• To create a device for combining or separating N wavelengths, one needs to cascade N-1 FBGs and N-1
circulators.
• Similar to the use of thin-film filters to form multiplexers, the size
 limitation when using fiber Bragg gratings is that one filter
is needed
for each wavelength and normally the operation is sequential
with
wavelengths being transmitted by one filter after another.
• Therefore the losses are not uniform from channel to channel,
since
each wavelength goes through a different number of
circulators and
fiber gratings, each of which adds loss to that channel.
• This may be acceptable for a small number of channels, but the loss
differential between the first and last inserted wavelengths is a
restriction for large channel counts.
Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs)
• An AWG consists of input and output slab waveguide arrays, two identical focusing star couplers, and an interconnection of
uncoupled waveguides called a grating array.
• In the grating array region the path length of each waveguide differs by a very precise amount Δ�� from the length in
adjacent arms.
• These path length differences introduce precisely spaced delays in the signal phase in each adjacent arm, so the array forms a
Mach-Zehnder type of grating.
• These devices are used widely since they have attractive characteristics such as 25-GHz (0.4-nm at 1550 nm) channel spacings,
are compact and can be easily fabricated on silica wafers, and can be made for a large number of WDM channels.
• Devices ranging in size from 8 to 40 channels are available commercially.

AWGs (Con.)
• An important property of the AWG is the free spectral range (FSR), which also is known as the demultiplexer periodicity.
• This periodicity is due to the fact that constructive interference at the output star coupler can occur for a number of
wavelengths.
• Basically the FSR specifies the extent of a spectral width that will be separated across the output waveguides. • The next chunk
of higher or lower spectral width having an equal width will be separated across the same output waveguides.
FSR is calculated as below:
�������� =����2
�� ��������
where ����is the center wavelength, �� is the path length difference between adjacent wavelengths and �������� is the effective
refractive index of the waveguides.
Diffraction Gratings
• A diffraction grating is a conventional optical device that spatially separates the different wavelengths contained
in a beam of light.
• The device consists of a set of diffracting elements, such as narrow parallel slits or grooves, separated by a
distance comparable to the wavelength of light.
• These diffracting elements can be either reflective or transmitting, thereby forming a reflection grating or a
transmission grating (phase grating), respectively.
• Adjacent-channel crosstalk in a diffraction grating is very low, usually less than 30 dB. • Insertion loss is also
low (typically less than 3 dB) and is uniform to within 1 dB over a large number of channels.

�� =2������
����Λ2cos ��
where �� is the wavelength, �� is the thickness of the grating, ���� is the refractive index of the material, Λ is the
grating period, and �� is the incident angle.

Interleavers
• Another wavelength multiplexing component is an interleaver, which is a passive, low-dispersion device that can
increase the channel density in a WDM system.
• This device can combine or separate very high-density channels with a spacing as low as 3.125 GHz. • A unique
feature is that it can be custom-designed to route or drop a group of channels while allowing all other wavelengths
to pass straight through.
• Interleavers are bidirectional, so they can be used as either a multiplexer or a demultiplexer. •
Interleavers are characterized by the designation 1 × ��, which indicates one input and N output
ports.
Wavelength Lockers
• The move toward spacing wavelengths very closely together in a DWDM system calls for strict wavelength
control of lasers since a spacing of 25 GHz, for example, requires a wavelength accuracy of ±0.02nm. •
Wavelength lockers can offer such accuracy with one device providing multiple wavelength locking across the S-,
C-, and L-bands.
• Normally a small percentage of the light is tapped off after the laser modulator and is fed into a beam splitter. •
One part of the beam goes to a reference photodiode, and the other part goes through an etalon. • The
microprocessor-based transmitter controller then compares the two signals and adjusts the laser wavelength and
optical power accordingly.
• An etalon is an optical cavity formed by two parallel, highly reflective mirror surfaces.