Advanced Optical Communications

Advanced Optical
Communications
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Course organization
 Teacher:
 Vittorio Curri
 (+39011090)-4178
 [email protected]
 Office: DELEN, old site, third floor
 Timetable
 Monday: 16.00-19.00, room 12D
 Wednesday: 10.00-11.30, room 21A
 To be defined: Simulation laboratory, it will start in november
 Examination
 Written exam
 Virtual lab report
 Oral examination (optional)
Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 2

Introduction to
optical communication
systems
Section 1.1
Introduction
and short history
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Fields of application
 Main applications: long haul high capacity transport networks
 usually employed to interconnect central offices of telephone
and data carrier
 bit rates higher than 100 Mbit/s
 transmission distances larger than 10 km
 At present, optical fibers are also used to provide connections

 for voice and data to “business” customers
 for home users offering triple play services (voice, data and
TV)
 Other fields of application, not considered in this course, are:

 Sensors
 Medical applications

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Fiber versus metallic conductor
 “Traditional” cable systems  Fiber optic systems
 Source  Source
 Voltage or current generator  Optical source
 Transmission medium  Transmission medium

 Metallic conductor (usually  Silica glass fiber (it is a
copper) waveguide for the light)
 System performances  System performances

 Maximum transmission  Maximum transmission
distance before distance before
amplification: few kilometers amplification: up to 100 km
 Maximum bit rate over such  Maximum bit rate over such
distances: around 100 Mbit/s distances: 100 Gbit/s and
beyond
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Basic concepts
…0010111010… …0010111010…
Electric Electric
signal signal
Optical Popt(t)
Photodiode
Source Fiber
Power
time

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
A short history
 Main milestones:
1966: development of glass optical fibers (Corning
laboratories, USA)
1970: development of first semiconductor lasers stable
at room-temperature (AT&T Bell Laboratories, USA)
1978: development of first single-mode lasers at 1550
nm (NTT laboratories, Japan)
1987: development of first Erbium-Doped Fiber
Amplifier (EDFA) (University of Southampton, England)
Around 1990: first attempt of transmission systems with
more than one channel at different wavelength:
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)
Around 2007: development of ADC allowing DSP-based
coherent receivers for optical communication
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Capacity and bit-rate evolution
 Research experiments:
1994: 100 Gbit/s (10 Gbit/s per channel)
1996: 1 Tbit/s (10 Gbit/s per channel)
2000: 10 Tbit/s (40 Gbit/s per channel)
2012: Multilevel modulation formats with DSP-baswed
coherent receiver, 32 Gbaud/channel, few modes fibers…
 Commercially available systems:

Bit-rate per channel (wavelength)
1995: 2.5 Gbit/s
1998: 10 Gbit/s
2000: 40 Gbit/s
Today: 100 Gbit/s towards 400 Gbit/s
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
For further reading Historical background
Operation in the Multichannel New Fiber types:

Multimode Low loss low loss window erbium doped  AT&T True Wave
fiber-optic Single mode of 0.2 dB/km @ fiber amplifiers Fiber (NZDSF)
waveguides optical fibers 1550 nm but (EDFAs) @
>5dB/km 1 dB/km @ high dispersion 1550 nm  Corning LEAF
attenuation 1310 nm @ 1550 nm deployed Large Effective
Area Fiber
Early 80s Mid to Late 80s Late 80s to Early 90s
Early 70s Mid 90s Mid 90s
Multimode Development New dispersion
Room Fabry-Perot of single mode shifted fiber Multichannel Dispersion
temperature 1310 nm lasers DFB 1310 nm yields Zero WDM @1550 nm. compensation
GaAs LEDs and and 1550 nm dispersion @ Number of
multimode FP lasers 1550 nm and channels and
Lasers @ 830 0.5 dB/km loss channel spacing
nm @ 1310 nm limited by fiber
four-wave
mixing (FWM)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
For further reading Early events
The following slides are for further reading only. We will skip them during the course.
 Late ‘700: “transmission” through light signals generated

manually using lamps and mechanical shutters mounted atop
towers
 1880: Alexander Graham Bell invents the Photophone,
Washington
 1950 - 1960: glass rods or fibers are used in mostly in
medicine for illumination and endoscopy
 1945 - 1960: optical communications in free space studied and
then abandoned because of atmospheric impairments
 May 16, 1960: Theodore Maiman demonstrates first laser at
Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu
 Circa 1960: Bell Telephone Laboratories begin investigating
hollow optical waveguides with regularly spaced lenses for
digital transmission: fibers are discarded because of high losses
(1000 [dB/km])
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
 January 1966: Kao says that fiber loss could be reduced below
20 [dB/km] down from 1000 [dB/km]
 Spring 1970: First continuous-wave room-temperature
semiconductor lasers made in St. Petersburg and at Bell Labs
 1970: Corning develops a single-mode fiber with loss of only 17
dB/km at 633 nanometers
 June 1972: multimode fiber with 4 [dB/km] loss at 800 [nm]
 Late 1972: STL modulates diode laser at 1 Gbit/s
 Early 1976: Masaharu Horiguchi (NTT Ibaraki Lab) and Hiroshi
Osanai (Fujikura Cable) make first fibers with low loss: 0.47
dB/km at 1.2 micrometers)
 Spring 1976: Lifetime of best laboratory lasers at Bell Labs
reaches 100,000 hours (10 years) at room temperature

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
 May 1977: Bell System starts sending live telephone traffic
through fibers at 45 Mbit/s fiber link in downtown Chicago
 June 29, 1977: Bell Labs announces one-million hours (100-
year) extrapolated lifetime for diode lasers
 Late 1977: AT&T and other telephone companies settle on 850
[nm] gallium arsenide light sources and graded-index multimode
fibers for commercial systems operating at 45 Mbit/s
 September 1978: France Telecom announces plans for fiber to
the home demonstration in Biarritz, connecting 1500 homes in
early 1983
 1978: AT&T, British Post Office and STL commit to developing a
single mode transatlantic fiber cable, using the new 1.3-
micrometer window, to be operational by 1988. By the end of
the year, Bell Labs abandons development of new coaxial cables
for submarine systems
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
 Late 1978: NTT Ibaraki lab makes single-mode fiber with record
0.2 dB/km loss at 1.55 micrometers
 1980: Bell Labs publicly commits to single-mode 1.3-micrometer
technology for the first transatlantic fiber-optic cable, TAT-8
 1981: Commercial second-generation systems emerge, operating
at 1.3 micrometers through graded-index fibers.
 1981: British Telecom transmits 140 Mbit/s through 49
kilometers of single-mode fiber at 1.3 micrometers, starts
shifting to single-mode
 1982: MCI leases right of way to install single-mode fiber from
New York to Washington. The system will operate at 400 Mbit/s
at 1.3 micrometers. This starts the shift to single-mode fiber in
America.

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
For further reading Recent History
 1985: Single-mode fiber spreads across America to carry long-
distance telephone signals at 400 Mbit/s and up
 1985: SIP (now Telecom Italia) stops installing coaxial cables in
Italy and shifts to fiber
 Summer 1986: All 1500 homes connected to Biarritz fiber-to-
the-home (FTTH) system
 1986: AT&T sends 1.7 Gbit/s through single-mode fibers
originally installed to carry 400 Mbit/s
 1987: Dave Payne at University of Southampton (UK) develops
erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) operating at 1.55
micrometers.
 December 1988: TAT-8 begins service, first transatlantic fiber-
optic cable, using 1.3-micrometer lasers and single-mode fibers,
with repeaters. It has a capacity of 7560 x 64 [kbit/s], bit-rate is
155 Mbit/s.

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
 1990: A “Submarine Festoon Network” is developed in Italy, 560
Mbit/s per fiber, 200 km unrepeated links.
 February 1993: Linn Mollenauer of Bell Labs sends 10 Gbit/s
through 20,000 kilometers of fibers using a soliton system with
EDFA amplifiers.
 1994: in the US, CATV migrates to hybrid fiber-coax with EDFAs
 October 1996: The first unrepeated trans-Atlantic link (TAT
12/13) comes to life: 240000 x 64 [Kbit/s], followed by the first
trans-Atlantic link TPC-5 (similar capacity) - single wavelength
per fiber, 5 Gbit/s transmission - longest leg 8000 km

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
 1996 - 2000: thanks to WDM (wavelength division multiplexing)
the performance of optical systems doubles steadily every nine
months
 2000: experimental long-distance systems with 100 channels at
10 Gbit/s per channel (1 Tbit/s) are demonstrated over 10000
km
 2000: experimental long-distance systems with 80 channels at
40 Gbit/s per channel (3.2 Tbit/s) are demonstrated over 500 km
 2000: several trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific systems are being
built at 160 Gbit/s (16 x 10 Gbit/s) per fiber
 2009: First product based on optical multilevel modulation
format and coherent receiver

Section 1.2
A quick review of
physics
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Goals
 Recall some fundamental concepts of electromagnetic
wave propagation
 Properties of an electromagnetic wave:

Frequency and wavelength
Power
Linewidth
Polarization
 Interaction of electromagnetic waves with dielectric

materials

Subsection 1.2.1
Fundamentals
of electromagnetic wave
propagation
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Physics constants
Description Value Symbol

Velocity of Light 2.9979 x 10 8 m/s c
Electron Charge 1.6 x 10-19 C q
Planck Constant 6.66 x 10-34 J•s h
Boltzman Constant 1.38 x 10-23 J/K k
Description Value Symbol

Micron 1 x10-6 Meters m
Nanometer 1 x10-9 Meters nm
Kilometer 1 x103 Meters km
Megahertz 1 x 106 Hz MHz
Gigahertz 1 x 109 Hz GHz
Terahertz 1 x 1012 Hz THz

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Electromagnetic wave propagation
 Propagation in the vacuum in z direction:
 Sinusoidal oscillation in time and in space of the
electromagnetic field
t1 t2 > t1 t3 > t2 t4 > t3
Wave Amplitude
A0
Electric Field
z
Direction of wave
propagation
Wavelength
l0

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Electromagnetic waves
 The evolution of the electromagnetic field in t and z
can be written as:
E (t , z )  A0 cos(2f 0t   o z  0 )
 where:
A0 = amplitude
f0 = frequency
f0 = initial phase
0 = propagation constant = 2p/l0 (rad/m)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Mathematical notation
 The electromagnetic field is
E (t , z )  A0 cos(2f 0t   o z  0 )
 It is usually expressed in terms of “analytic signal”
ˆ
E (t , z )  A0 e j ( 2f 0t  o z 0 )
or in terms of complex envelope

~  j ( o z  0 )
E (t , z )  A0 e
We can notice that the frequency f0
does not appear in the formula for
the complex envelope, and the field
result in a complex baseband signal.
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Complex envelope
 Conversion formulas:
ˆ  ~
 
E (t , z )  Re E (t , z )  Re E (t , z )e j 2f 0t 
 Signal spectrum:
F  E ( f )
Real signal
spectrum f
 f0 f0
Analytic signal 
F Eˆ ( f ) 
spectrum f
f0

~
F E( f ) 
Complex envelope
spectrum f

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Frequency and wavelength
 The wavelength is mostly used in the community of
optical communication engineers
 However, since 1998 absolute frequencies have
been standardized for WDM channels
ITU-T G.692 Recommendation
 Conversion formulas:
c
Frequencies – absolute frequencies f 

c
f   2 
Intervals-Bandwidths 
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Frequency and wavelength
Around a central wavelength of 1550 nm

f  100 GHz    0.8 nm (0.8014 nm)
  1 nm  f  125 GHz (124.78 GHz )
Around a central wavelength of 1310 nm

f  100 GHz    0.57 nm (0.5724 nm)
  1 nm  f  175 GHz (174.6936 GHz )

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
The “optical” electromagnetic spectrum
10
8 UV Visible Infrared
Frequency (1014 Hz)
6
“First” Communication
5 Window (830 nm)
“Second” Communication
Window (1310 nm)
4
“Third” Communication
3 Window (1550 nm)
1
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Optical Frequency Wavelength (nm)
vs. wavelength f=c/l
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
“Third window”: 1550 nm
200
2.9979e + 005
f [THz ] 
198
196
[nm]
Frequency (THz)
ITU-T reference
194
193.1 THZ
192
190
188 1552.52 nm
186
1500 1510 1520 1530 1540 1550 1560 1570 1580 1590 1600
Wavelength (nm)

Subsection 1.2.2
Parameters of an
electromagnetic wave
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Parameters
In addition to frequency (and phase) an

electromagnetic wave is characterized by the
following parameters:
Power
Linewidth
Polarization

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Power
 Power
Optical power is measured as the total power flowing
through a plane orthogonal to the direction of
propagation
 Usually, the power is expressed in units of
mW, if we use linear units
dBm, if we use logarithmic units
 By definition:
PdBm  10 log10  PmW 
PmW  10 PdBm /10
 Examples of conversion:
1 mW = 0 dBm  - 10 dBm = 0.1 mW = 100 μ W
10 mW = 10 dBm  - 20 dBm = 0.01 mW = 10 μW
100 mW = 20 dBm  - 30 dBm = 0.001 mW = 1 μW

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Logarithmic units
1
 An example of a very common expression is: Pout   G  Pin
Where: L
Pin and Pout are powers measured in mW
G is a gain and L is an attenuation (both dimensionless
quantities)
 The same expression in logarithmic units becomes:
Pout dBm
  L dB  G dB  Pin dBm
 Notice that logarithmic units are expressed in:

dB when referring to dimensionless quantities
dBm when referring to optical powers

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Power and complex envelope
 In optics, the following convention is used
 If an electromagnetic field is described in terms of its

complex envelope:
~  j ( o z  0 )
E (t , z )  A0 e
then, its power is given by:
2
P  E  A02


Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Linewidth
 In case of an ideal optical source without modulation,
it emits a sinusoidal signal
 Constant amplitude
 Constant phase
 Constant frequency
 Any real optical source exhibits amplitude and phase

fluctuations
~  j 0 ( t )
E (t )  A0 (t ) e
 These fluctuations are called amplitude noise and phase

noise of the optical source
 These kinds of noise cause the source linewidth that is

evaluatedChapter
considering its FWHM width
1: Introduction to optical communication systems 35
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Classification of optical sources
 Optical sources (without modulation):

Linewidth smaller than 1 nm
Usually called “coherent” or “monochromatic” sources
Usually based on lasers, which can produce very narrow
spectral lines (few MHz)
Linewidth wider than 1 nm
Usually called “incoherent” sources
Usually based on LEDs (with a typical emission
bandwidth of the order of 10 nm)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Polarization
 When considering coherent electromagnetic waves, we
can define the evolution of the electric field in the xy,
the transversal plane with respect to the propagation
direction

E (t , z )  Ax cos(2f 0t   o z   x )  xˆ
 Ay cos(2f 0t   o z   y )  yˆ
ŷ 
 The vector evolves in time
and in z direction
E(t,z)  Polarization properties of
the electromagnetic field
depend on this evolution
x̂

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Examples of states of polarization
y Elliptic polarization y
45-degree
Linear polarization
x
x
 A laser source emits a linearly polarized light

Subsection 1.2.3
Modulated signals and
optical spectra
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Modulated optical signals
 A modulated optical signal can be expressed as an
electromagnetic field
~  j 0 ( t )
Field represented in terms of
E (t )  A0 (t ) e complex envelope, without
considering the dependence on z
 The (instantaneous) power will be given by:
~  j 0 ( t ) ~ 2 2
E (t )  A0 (t ) e  P(t )  E (t )  A0 (t )

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Modulation and optical spectrum - I
 Most optical transmission systems employ a simple
amplitude modulation
 Therefore, considering an ideal case, the electric field
can be written as:
ˆ
E (t )  A(t ) e  j ( 2f 0t  0 )
 We assume an ideal source without a spurious phase or

frequency modulation (chirp)
 In this case, as we know from signal theory, the spectrum
is equal to the spectrum of A(t), shifted around the
frequency f0

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Modulation and optical spectrum - II
 Since real optical sources are not ideal, we have:
 j  2f 0t  ( t ) 
E (t )  A(t ) e
 There is a spurious phase modulation Φ(t) depending on
the source characteristics
 This spurious phase/frequency modulation is called
“chirp”
 The resultant spectrum bandwidth occupation can be
larger than the bandwidth of A(t)
This effect is dominant in systems based on LED or directly
modulated laser

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Modulation and optical spectrum - III
A( f )  F  A(t )
Spectrum of the
baseband useful signal f
B
Spectrum of the optical
signal, with amplitude 2B f
modulation only
f0
Spectrum of the optical signal,  2 B
with amplitude modulation and
spurious phase/frequency
modulation (CHIRP) f
f0
Subsection 1.2.4
Interaction of light
with dielectric materials
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Interaction with dielectric materials
 Next slides will be devoted to recall some important

physical principles regarding the interaction of light
(an electromagnetic field) with dielectric materials,
and in particular:
Attenuation
Refraction, reflection and Snell’s law
Dispersion

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Attenuation
 An electromagnetic field propagating in a dielectric material
attenuates exponentially as a function of distance z
Optical power e-2az

P ( z )  P (0) e 2 z
z
 The attenuation is expressed in dB/km
 Pin 
 dB / Km  10  log10  
P
 out  1Km
 Therefore: P ( z ) dBm  P (0) dBm   z

dB / Km

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Attenuation – Example
 The best optical fibers, at 1550 nm, exhibit a minimum
attenuation of about 0.2 dB/km
 Example:
 Fiber attenuation: 0.2 dB/km
 Transmission length: 100 km
 Input power: +3 dBm
 Calculate the output power
 dB 
 tot   dB / km  Ltot  0.2   100  km  20 dB
 km 
PTX  3 dBm  2 mW
PRX  PTX   tot  3 dBm  20 dB  17 dBm  0.02 mW

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Refractive index
 The speed of light in a material depends on the
refractive index n of the material
c
v
n
 Typical values of the refractive index are:

n=1 vacuum (by definition)
n=1.4 to 1.5 glass
n=2.4 lithium niobate (material used for optical
components)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Reflection and transmission
 At the interface (plane) between two dielectric materials
with refractive index n1 e n2, reflected and transmitted rays
obey the following two laws:
Re
fle
c ted
m itt ed
s
Tran
qr qt
qi
ent
id
Inc n1 Interface n2
Law of reflection qi = qr
Snell’s law n sinq = n sinq

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Snell’s law
 We consider: n1  n2
 In this case we have:  t   i
i
n1
Interface between two
dielectric materials
n2
t

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Total reflection - I
 For angles of incidence qi larger than a critical value
 n2 
 c  arcsin 
 n1 
there is no refracted ray and the light is totally
reflected
i  c
Total reflection is the physical
phenomenon which allow the
n1 propagation of light inside an
optical fiber
n2
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Total reflection - II
 Example:
n1  1.48, n2  1.46   c  81 
Glass-glass interface: n1 = 1.48, n2 = 1.46

90
80
Transmitted Angle (qt)
70
60
50
40
30  c  81
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Incident Angle (qi)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Refractive index
 The refractive index is (also) a function of:

Wavelength or frequency
This dependence causes “Dispersion” effects
Optical polarization
This dependence causes “Birefringence” effects
Optical power
This dependence causes “Non-linear effects”
Other electromagnetic fields
This dependence causes “Electro-optical effects”

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Material dispersion
 Let us consider the dependence of the refractive
index on the wavelength
“Rainbow” effect
in a prism
qt(l)
qi
White Light n2(l)>1
n0=1
 The velocity of light varies with wavelength

 This effect is called “material dispersion”

Section 1.3
Optical fibers
Subsection 1.3.1
Introduction to optical
fibers
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Structure of optical fibers
 An optical fiber is a very thin cylinder (usually in glass)
consisting of a central “core” surrounded by a
“cladding”
 The core has a refractive index slightly higher than the
cladding
Glass
Core n1
Cladding n2

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Physical dimensions
 Glass fibers have the following typical diameters:
 Multi-mode fibers
Cladding: 125 mm
Core: 65 mm
 Single-mode fibers
Cladding: 125 mm
Core: 9 mm

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Why glass?
 Usually optical fibers are made of glass
(Si02), since it has very low attenuation
values at optical frequencies
 Glass must be as pure as possible
Core is doped with TiO2, GeO2, P2O5, Al2O3
to increase the refractive index
Glass preform

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Glass fiber attenuation - I
10
Attenuation (dB/km)
Optical fiber
Infrared
1.0 absorption
Rayleigh
scattering
0.1
UV
0.01 absorption
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

First Wavelength (nm) Second Third
Window Window Window
a=1.2 dB/Kkm a=0.4 dB/km a=0.2 dB/km

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Fiber losses
 The attenuation of glass has a theoretical limit of 0.18
dB/km at 1550 nm
Most of the commercial fibers have now attenuation values
of 0.18 –0.22 dB/km at 1550 nm
On the market, fibers with attenuation 0.16 dB/km are
available
Best fibers produced today (pure-silica core fibers) exhibit
a minimum value of attenuation very close to 0.16 dB/km
 At 1300 nm, typical attenuation values are around 0.4-
0.5 dB/km
 At 850 nm, typical attenuation values are of the order of
2-3 dB/Km
 Moreover, each connector or splice on a fiber introduce
a lumped attenuation of the order of 0.1-0.5 dB
Subsection 1.3.2
“Step Index” optical
fibers
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
“Step Index” fibers
 Most common optical fibers are “step index”:
They are characterized by an abrupt change in
refractive index between core and cladding
Refractive index profile

n1
n2
Fiber core
r
Fiber cladding

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
“Step Index” fibers
 An important parameter of “step index” fibers, in
addition to core diameter, is the relative refractive
index difference, defined as:
n1  n2

n1
 For a glass fiber, typical values are:
D between 10-2 to 10-3
n1 = 1.5,

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Propagation of light in optical fibers
 In order to obtain high performances, light must be confined (or
“guided”) within the core when propagating through the fiber
 The total reflection enables light to be confined within the core
 Total reflection depends on
 Angles of incidence (it has to be small enough to allow total
reflection)
 Value of D
Cladding n2
Unguided ray
Air n0 = 1.0 q0 Core n1
Ray guided by the core

Ray not guided by the core

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Acceptance angle
 If incident rays on the air-core interface are confined within
the “acceptance angle” q0,max, then total reflection occurs
enabling rays to be guided inside the core:
 The acceptance angle is given by the following formula:
 n2 n 2   
1 n1 2
 0,max  sin 1  1 2
  sin 
 n 
 n0   
  0
Fiber acceptance angle
Unguided ray
q0,max

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Source-fiber coupling
 In order to obtain high coupling efficiency between
the optical source and the fiber, a source has to emit
rays confined within the fiber acceptance angle
Example: if D = 0.02 and n1 = 1.5 (typical values for
multi-mode fibers), we obtain q 0,max ≈ 17˚
Fiber acceptance angle

q0,max ≈ 17˚
Unguided ray

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Fiber-to-fiber coupling
 In case of fiber-to-fiber coupling, it is very important
the axial alignment
 Axial alignment should be realized with a precision
higher than the core diameter
 For single-mode fibers, it is required a precision of the
order of few m m
Core
diameter Dc
Axial
alignment
error << Dc
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Fiber connectors
 Single-mode fiber
connectors must have a
mechanical precision of the
order of ≈1 mm
 This causes very high costs
 Typical values of the
insertion loss of a connector
are higher than 0.1 dB
 In order to obtain insertion
loss lower than 0.1 dB,
fiber-to-fiber coupling can
also be realized by means of
fusion splices

Section 1.4
Light propagation in
optical fibers
Subsection 1.4.1
Propagation Modes in
optical fibers
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Propagation Modes in optical fibers
 The electromagnetic field
propagates in an optical fiber
according to “modes” First-order Second-order
 To each “mode” corresponds mode mode
a specific field profile in the I I

cross section, and a specific
wave propagation behavior r r
 A detailed understanding of
the concept of modes
requires the solution to
Maxwell's equations in a
cylindrical geometry
 Analytical solutions can be
expressed by means of Bessel
functions

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Geometric interpretation
 In this course we consider a simple geometric
interpretation: light can be thought consisting of a number
of "rays“.
 Definition: each mode is associated with a ray that
propagates along the fiber with a specific propagation
angle.
 This is an approach valid for multi-mode fibers.
Mode
#2
z
Mode
#1
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Propagation modes in optical fibers
 By means of a rigorous mathematical analysis based on

Maxwell’s equations, it is possible to demonstrate that:
1. The number of modes (angles) propagating in a fiber is discrete

and finite
2. Under particular conditions, only a single mode propagates along

the fiber (in the geometrical interpretation, this single mode
propagates parallel to the fiber axis)
In such case we have single-mode fibers

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Normalized Frequency Parameter: V
 Given:
1. the parameters of a step index fiber (diameter and
refractive indexes of core and cladding)
2. the wavelength of the light
 It is possible to evaluate the parameter V, called
“Normalized Frequency Parameter”:
V  a n n 
1 where:
2 2 2
0 1 2 a = radius of fiber core
n1 = core refractive index
 2  n2 = cladding refractive
  an 2 1
index

l0 = considered
0  wavelength
D = relative refractive
index systems difference
Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication 75
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Single-mode condition
 It is possible to demonstrate that an optical fiber is

single-mode if its Normalized Frequency Parameter V
is below a threshold value
It can be shown that:

An optical fiber is a single-mode fiber if: V ≤ 2.405
An optical fiber is a multi-mode fiber if: V > 2.405

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Example - I
 Let us consider typical values for a step-index
fiber: D = 0.003 and n1 = 1.5
 An optical fiber is single-mode if:
a
V  2.405   3.2943 a is the radius
0 of fiber core
 Therefore, a single-mode fiber has the core

diameter comparable with respect to the
wavelength of the propagating light
 In particular, at 1550 nm, a fiber is single-mode if:
a  3.2943 0  5.1 m
diameter  2a  10.2 m
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Example - II
 As an alternative, we can say that a fiber is
single-mode if, given their geometrical and
material parameters, the wavelength of the
propagating light is higher than a specific value:
a
0 
3.2943
 This wavelength is called “cut-off wavelength”
 Example: a fiber with diameter = 9 mm, a = 4.5 mm

Cut-off wavelength = 1360 nm

Subsection 1.4.3
Single-mode fibers vs.
multi-mode fibers
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Dispersion in single-mode fibers
 We have seen that in a single-mode fiber only one
mode propagates along the fiber, that is a ray parallel
to the fiber axis
 Therefore, intermodal dispersion is null (by definition)

 Performance of single-mode fibers are much better
than multi-mode
Chapter 1: fibers
Introduction to optical communication systems 80
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Single-mode fibers
 The most common
single-mode fibers
(called SMF “Single SMF
Mode Fiber”, ITU fiber
G.651) are:
Step index
Core diameter: 9 or
10 mm
Cladding diameter:
n
125 mm n  n2  n1  3.5 10 3     2.3 10 3
n1
 SMF are the most used
in telecommunication
networks

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Single-mode fibers and cables
 Due to mechanical
reasons, fibers are
surrounded by several
layers of plastic material
as a protection
 Then, cables carry
several fiber pairs

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Single-mode fibers vs multi-mode fibers
 Multi-mode fibers  Single mode
 Even graded-index fibers,  Intermodal dispersion does
have a maximum limit of not occur at all
the order of 1 Gbit/s·km,  Due to a very small core:
due to intermodal they are more sensitive
dispersion to mechanical stresses
 Thanks to a bigger and bends
diameter: it is more difficult to
they are more resistant to connect them
mechanical stresses and  In general: installation is
bends more expensive
they are easier to connect  Single-mode fibers are
 At present, thay are used for transmission
employed in LAN networks distances longer than 1 km
 In the following chapters,
we will mainly focus on
single-mode fiber
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Chromatic dispersion
 Also in single-mode fibers a dispersion
effect occurs: chromatic dispersion
 Chromatic dispersion: different Transmitted signal spectrum
frequency components of a pulse
propagate through a fiber with
different velocities
 Main cause: refractive index depends f
on frequency f1 f2 Velocity
 Main effect: the received pulse is v2
broadened and causes ISI
 Chromatic dispersion effect is as much v1
higher as the spectrum of the
transmitted signal is larger

Photonics
Dispersion limits for SMF (intensity modulation)
Transmission
Systems
 We list only some numerical results:

2.5 Gbit/s, broad spectral width source (1
nm): transmission distances up to 10 km
2.5 Gbit/s, external modulation: transmission
distances up to 1500 km
10 Gbit/s, broad spectral width source (1
nm): transmission distances up to 3 km
10 Gbit/s, external modulation: transmission
distances up to 60-70 Km

Section 1.4
Perfomance and optical
multiplexing
Subsection 1.4.1
Multiplexing techniques
in optical transmission systems
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Multiplexing techniques
 Multiplexing: simultaneous transmission of multiple
data stream on a shared physical medium
 Multiplexing techniques employed in existing optical
transmission infrastructure are:
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
Optical Frequency Division Multiplexing,
normally called “Wavelength Division
Multiplexing” (WDM)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Time Division Multiplexing - TDM
 Different data streams are
interleaved (at bit, byte or
word level) in time
Channel 1
t
Channel 2
. t TDM t
MUX
.
.
Channel N TBout
t
TBch Output Digital Stream
Input channels
B ch
 bit rate per channel B Rout  N  B Rch
R
1 T Bch
T ch
 bit duration  ch T Bout 
B
BR N
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Typical bit-rates
 SONET/SDH bit-rates:
SONET Optical SDH Bit Rate Bit Rate

Carrier approx.
STS-1 OC-1 51.840
Mbit/s
STS-3 OC-3 STM-1 155.520 155 Mbit/s
Mbit/s
STS-12 OC-12 STM-4 622.080 622 Mbit/s
Mbit/s
STS-48 OC-48 STM-16 2488.320 2.5 Gbit/s
Mbit/s
STS-192 OC-192 STM-64 9953.280 10 Gbit/s
Mbit/s
OC-768 STM-256 39813.12 40 Gbit/s
Mbit/s

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Wavelength Division Multiplexing - WDM
 It is the classical
Optical
Channel 1 spectrum Frequency Division
1 Multiplexing

1 Optical
spectrum
Channel 2
2

.
WDM
. 2
. MUX …
. 
. 1 2 N
.
Channel N An optical WDM multiplexer is

N 
N implemented with a passive device
(filter or coupler)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Wavelength Division Multiplexing - WDM
 At the receiver side, a
multi-port filter is used
to separate each WDM Optical
channel: Channel 1 spectrum
 it is called “WDM 1

demux” or “WDM
1
demultiplexer”
Channel 2
Optical WDM 2

spectrum
DE- . . 2
MUX . .
. .
… 
1 2 N Channel N
N 
N

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
WDM: terminology
 WDM transmission is also called “Colored
Transmission”
From the analogy between wavelengths and colors in
the visible range
 Coarse WDM (CWDM): few channels (from 2 to 16)
widely spaced in wavelength (20 nm spacing)
 Dense WDM (DWDM): many channels (up to 80-100)

with narrow spacing (down to 0.4 nm)
Commercial optical systems combine up to 80
wavelengths on a fiber, each one at 10 Gbit/s with a
total capacity of 800 Gbit/s per fiber

Subsection 1.4.2
Photodiodes
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Photodiodes
 Photodiodes convert the input optical
power in an output current
P(t)
 They are based on semiconductor p-n
junctions
The most common photodiodes are called i(t)
PIN (p-intrinsic-n)
 They are based on the absorption effect
E2
Incident photon
E1
 Each electron traveling through the p-n junction can
generate, with a certain probability, a carrier in the
conduction band
 Therefore the amount of generated current is proportional to
the optical power
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Ideal photodiode
 For an ideal photodiode we have:
Optical input power Popt Photon energy h f

Probability of photon
Po p t
Number of photons
per unit time
absorption and
carrier generation
d  1
h f (quantum efficiency)
Number of carriers Popt

per unit time d  Carrier charge q
h f
q
Generated current i  d   Popt
h f
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Example
 Calculate the generated current:
 Received optical power = - 30 dBm at a wavelength of 1550 nm
 Quantum efficiency of the photodiode = 0.95
 Check carefully the units of measure!!
Optical input 30
power Popt  30dBm  10 10
 103 mW  1W
c
38
1
0
m/s


Optical frequency 
f  1
.
9
3
11
04
Hz
1
9
3T
H
z
1
5
5
0
19
0m
q 1.6  1019  A
d   0.95  34 14
 1.18  
h f 6.62  10  1.93  10 W 
Generated
current 
i 
d
q

h

f

P
op
t1
.
1
8
1
03
mA
1
.
18A 
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Responsivity and noise
 Through photo-detection, an additional noise term
is added to the electrical signal
 Therefore: i (t )  R  Popt (t )  inoise (t )
 where:
d  q
R is the “Responsivity” of the photodiode R
h f
inoise(t) is a random process. It takes into account
noise generated during photo-detection: shot noise

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Avalanche photodiodes
 Avalanche Photodiode (APD) basic principle:
Unlike PIN photodiodes, each input photon can generate
multiple carriers
Therefore APDs amplify the signal during the detection
process
i (t )  R  GAPD  Popt (t )  i APD

noise (t )
 Given the same input power, APDs generate much

more output current than PINs
 However, APDs generate also more detection noise
than PINs
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Photodetector model
Photodiode response is not instantaneous,

therefore the photodiode complete scheme is the
following one:
PR  t  Quantum PR  t  Photoelectric
i p (t ) Avalanche i(t )
efficiency effect gain (APD)
i (t )  h  t 
 In PIN photodiodes i(t)=ip(t)

 h(t) accounts for all the filrtering
effects occuring in the photodetection
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Signal and shot-noise current
The output current can be expressed as the

average current plus a noise component
The noise component is called shot noise
h(t )  i (t )  mi  ish (t )  is  ish

Noiseless signal current
Zero-mean shot noise current. It is a zero-mean

Poisson random process that can be well
approximated with a zero-mean Gaussian
random process
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
qd
Responsivity: R ˆ
hf
PR  t  h(t )  i t 
PR0 R PR0

Photonics
Transmission
Systems


is  G  R  PR 0  h(t ) dt


 h(t )
2 2 x 2
 sh  q G  R  PR 0  dt

x is the avalanche noise factor
If PIN photodetector is used: G=1, x=1

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Amplifier(s) and low-pass filter model
i(t)=is+ish
v(t)
Trans-impedance
amplifier
In general, this receiver section is modeled as:
i(t)=is+ish
h(t)
Rt v(t)
vth(t)
(noise)
v(t )  vs (t )  vsh (t )  vth (t )
Subsection 1.4.3
Impairments on
optical links
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Optical systems performance
At transmission (physical) level, optical
communication systems performance are
limited by following effects:
Noise accumulation
Distortion
Next slides show the different impacts of these

effects on eye diagrams

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Ideal eye diagram
 If an optical signal propagates ideally through a transmission
line, without any noise or distortion, we should get an ideal
eye diagram:
Pattern representation Eye diagram
Ideal eye
opening
Optimum sampling time
Time Time (2 bit-times)

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Eye diagram and noise
 Eye diagram for signal with noise: the eye diagram opening
is reduced
 In this case, resultant eye diagrams have a random behavior
Noise on the “1” level
Noise on the “0” level

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Distortion and ISI
 Distortion: a series of effects that cause a deterministic
(not random) closure of the eye diagram
 Distortion is caused by:
Linear effects (narrow-band filtering, fiber dispersion, etc.)
Non-linear effects (electrical devices saturation, Kerr effect
in optical fiber, etc.)
 Usually distortion causes a broadening of the signal in

time domain
At the transmitter, the time duration of a pulse associated
with a bit is less than (or equal to) a bit-time Tb
At the receiver, distortion tends to broaden the pulse that
can result having a duration larger than a bit-time Tb,
resulting in ISI-effects
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
ISI: Inter-Symbol-Interference
“1” “0” “1”

Transmitted signal
(without noise)
t
-Tb 0 +Tb +2Tb
Received and filtered
signal (without noise)
t
-Tb 0 +Tb +2Tb
t0

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Eye diagram and distortion
 Impact of distortion  Impact of distortion

and noise
Eye diagram
ISI closure

Subsection 1.4.4
Performance parameters
in optical communications
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
The Q factor
 As for every digital communications systems, also in
optical communications the unique quality parameter
is the error probability on bits p(e), or, using the
commercially used acronym bit error rate (BER)
 Traditionally, in optical communications, a parameter
with a one-to-one relationship to the BER is used, and
it is called quality or Q-factor. It is related to the BER:
1  1 
BER  erfc Q   Q  2  inverfc 2  BER
2  2 
 And it is usually expressed in dB units as
QdB  20 log10  Q 

BER vs. Q factor
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Remember!!! QdB = 20 log10(Q)

0 6 9.5 12 14 15.516.9
1  1 
BER  erfc Q
BER
2  2 
Q (linear)
Subsection 1.4.5
Performance evaluation of
nonamplified optical links
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Non-amplified links
PTx P Rx
Tx Channel Rx
BER  F  PRx 
The function F depepends on the modulation format

and on the Tx/Rx structure
Given BERtarget the sensitivity is defined as:
Psens  invF  BER target 

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
IMDD: BER vs. PRx
d1 1
d0 0
1  1 d 1  d 0 
BER  erfc   d 1  d 0  c  PRX
2  2  1   0 
1  c PRX 
BER  erfc  
2 to optical
Chapter 1: Introduction  1   0systems
 2communication  117
Photonics
Non-amplified links: back-to-back performance
Transmission
Systems
BER
BERtarget
P sens
P Rx
Photonics
Non-amplified links: propagation impairments
Transmission
Systems
BER Impairments
BERtarget
Penalty
P Rx
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Penalty [dB]
Penalty vs. impairment strength
D dB
robustness
Impairment strength
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Link Budget and Power Budget
 The Link Budget is the balance between the Power
Budget and all the other signal attenuations and
impairments Since it is the
difference between
 The Power Budget is given by: transmitted power and
minimum received
 P sens
power, it is important
PTX dBm dBm
for determining system
performance
 In addition to fiber loss, other signal impairments

can attenuate or distort the signal
 A common approach tries to take into account of
each signal impairment as an “equivalent loss”
that can be added to actual losses

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
System margin
 m is the SYSTEM MARGIN: a safety margin to take into
account other possible impairments (known or
unknown) or component imperfections
 Moreover, it takes into account performance
degradation due to components ageing during the
expected life
 Note: components ageing is sometime already taken
into account in components data sheets

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Loss Budget
 Signal attenuation and degradation are included in

the Loss Budget (in dB):
 dB / km  L   splices   connectors   bends   propagatio n  

where:
asplices is the loss of all fusion splices, usually 0.10.2
dB per splice
aconnectors is loss of all connectors, usually 0.20.3 dB
each
abends is the total loss due to optical cable bends
apropagation is an equivalent loss due to signal
transmission impairments, such as fiber dispersion
m what’s?
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Balancing the budget
 In order to satisfy BER requirement specified for

the receiver sensitivity, the following condition
has to be fulfilled:
Power Budget  Loss Budget
Therefore:
PTX dBm  PsensdBm   dB / km  L   splices   connectors   bends   propagation  
 Hence, in realistic systems the maximum

transmission distance, Lmax,eff , is given by:
PTX dBm  PsensdBm   splices   connectors   bends   propagation  
Lmax,eff 
 dB / km
Subsection 1.4.6
Forward Error Correction
(FEC)
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Forward Error-Correction
 Typical BER requirements for high capacity
optical communication systems are in the range of
10-9  10-12
 Recently, high capacity optical systems employ
sophisticated transmission technologies such as
Forward Error-Correcting codes (FEC)
 FEC can improve of many dB the optical receiver
sensitivity or, similarly, can reduce of many dB
the OSNR required to obtain a desired BER
 However, this performance comes at the cost of a
bit-rate increment required to transmit
redundancy bits generated by the code

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
How to take into account FEC
Usually, a FEC is characterized by the following
two parameters:
increment of the bit-rate
coding gain (usually given in dB)
How to take into account the coding gain:
For non-amplified systems: adding the coding gain
to the power budget
For systems with optical amplification (single or
multi-span):
calculating the required OSNR
subtracting the coding gain from the required OSNR

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
FEC standards
 At present, there is an international standard for FEC
in optical communications:
Reed Solomon (255,239) code with
Coding gain of 5.8 dB
Overhead of 7%
Bit-rate at physical level has to be increased of 7%
 Moreover there is a further solution:
Concatenated code which utilizes Reed-Solomon
(255,223) and Reed Solomon (255,239)
Coding gain of 7.7 dB
Overhead of 22%
 Other codes are under study

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Link using FEC
PTx P Rx
Tx Channel Rx
 OH FEC 
R B'  R B   1 
 100


R B'
Precoder Decoder
RB
Digital Digital
data data
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
FEC coding gain
BER
BERtarget on channel
BERtarget on data
FEC
P Rx
FEC GAIN
Subsection 1.4.7
Performance evaluation of
amplified optical links
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Amplified links
PTx Noisy OSNR

Tx Rx
Channel
P Rx  Psens
BER  G  OSNR 
The function G depepends on the modulation format

and on the Tx/Rx structure

Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Optical Signal-to-Noise-Ratio - I
 As we have seen previously for non-optically amplified
systems, the performance (sensitivity) is expressed in
function of the average power at the receiver input
 On the contrary, for systems with optical pre-
amplifier, BER is usually expressed in function of a
parameter called OSNR
 The acronym stands for Optical Signal-to-Noise-Ratio
 Therefore, before to examine in depth BER in systems
with an optical pre-amplifier, it is necessary to give an
accurate definition of the OSNR
133
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Example: IMDD
1 0.98OSNR
BER  e
2
134
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Amplified links: back-to-back performance
BER
BERtarget
OSNR target
OSNR
135
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
Optical Signal-to-Noise-Ratio -II
 We define the optical signal-to-noise-ratio as:
Pamp
OSNR 
PN
where:
 Pamp is the average power of the signal carrying the information at
the optical pre-amplifier output
 PN is the ASE noise power add by the optical pre-amplifier
 This is captured by a pass-band optical test filter with equivalent
noise bandwidth BN equal to the bit rate RB, centered at the optical
carrier frequency:
BN  RB
136
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
OSNR measurement
OSNR measurements must be taken after
the optical pre-amplifier and before the
receiver optical filter:
Receiver Electrical
optical filter amplifier
PRX (t ) Pamp (t ) clock
recovery
and
RX input decision
photodiode
Optical pre-amplifier
OSNR measurements
must be performed
HERE
 Important: the test filter, used to define and

measure OSNR, has no relationship with the
receiver optical filter
137
Photonics
Transmission
Systems
OSNR measurement
The ideal procedure to measure PN requires the
pre-amplifier output to be disconnected from the
receiver and connected to the test filter followed
by an optical power meter
pass-band
optical test
no input filter with
signal B N = RB
PN
Receiver optical pre- optical power

amplifier meter
(ASE noise)
138

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Advanced Optical

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 2

 At present, optical fibers are also used to provide connections

 Other fields of application, not considered in this course, are:

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 5

 Transmission medium  Transmission medium

 System performances  System performances

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 7

 Commercially available systems:

Operation in the Multichannel New Fiber types:

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 10

 Late ‘700: “transmission” through light signals generated

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 12

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 14

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 15

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 16

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 17

 Properties of an electromagnetic wave:

 Interaction of electromagnetic waves with dielectric

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 19

Description Value Symbol

Description Value Symbol

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 21

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 22

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 23

or in terms of complex envelope

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 25

Around a central wavelength of 1550 nm

Around a central wavelength of 1310 nm

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 27

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 29

In addition to frequency (and phase) an

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 31

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 32

 The same expression in logarithmic units becomes:

 Notice that logarithmic units are expressed in:

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 33

 If an electromagnetic field is described in terms of its

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 34

 Any real optical source exhibits amplitude and phase

 These fluctuations are called amplitude noise and phase

 These kinds of noise cause the source linewidth that is

 Optical sources (without modulation):

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 36

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 37

 A laser source emits a linearly polarized light

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 38

 The (instantaneous) power will be given by:

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 40

 We assume an ideal source without a spurious phase or

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 41

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 42

 Next slides will be devoted to recall some important

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 45

Optical power e-2az

 Therefore: P ( z ) dBm  P (0) dBm   z

Chapter 1: Introduction to optical communication systems 46