Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Optical fiber communications'

The ever-increasing demand for broadband services by end-user devices utilising 3G/4G/LTE and the projected 5G in the last mile will require sustaining broadband supply from fibre-linked terminals. The eventual outcome of the high demand for broadband is strained optical and electronic devices. The backbone optical fibre transport systems and techniques such as dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), higher modulation formats, coherent detection and signal amplification have increased both fibre capacity and spectrum efficiency. A major challenge to fibre capacity and spectrum efficiency is fibre-faults and optical impairments, network management, routing and wavelength assignment (RWA). In this study, DWDM and flexible spectrum techniques such as wavelength assignment and adjustment, wavelength conversion and switching, optical add and drop multiplexing (OADM) and bitrate variable transmission have been experimentally optimized in a laboratory testbed for short- and long-haul optical fibre networks. This work starts by experimentally optimising different transmitters, fibre-types and receivers suitable for implementing cost effective and energy efficient flexible spectrum networks. Vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and distributed feedback (DFB) lasers have been studied to provide up to 10 Gb/s per channel in 1310 nm and 1550 nm transmission windows. VCSELs provide wavelength assignment and adjustment. This work utilises the non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off keying (OOK) modulation technique and direct detection due to their cost and simplicity. By using positive intrinsic negative (PIN) photo-receivers with error-free BER sensitivity of -18±1 dBm at the acceptable 10-9-bit error rate (BER) threshold level, unamplified transmission distances between 6 km and 76 km have been demonstrated using G.652 and G.655 single mode fibres (SMFs). For the first time, an all optical VCSEL to VCSEL wavelength conversion, switching, transmission at the 1550 nm window and BER evaluation of a NRZ data signal is experimentally demonstrated. With VCSEL wavelength conversion and switching, wavelength adjustments to a spectrum width of 4.8 nm (600 GHz) can be achieved to provide alternative routes to signals when fibre-cuts and wavelength collision occurs therefore enhancing signal continuity. This work also demonstrates a technique of removing and adding a wavelength in a bundle of DWDM and flexible channels using an OADM. This has been implemented using a VCSEL and a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) providing a wavelength isolation ratio of 31.4 dB and ~0.3 𝑑𝐵 add/drop penalty of 8.5 Gb/s signal. As a result, an OADM improves spectrum efficiency by offering wavelength re-use. Optical impairments such as crosstalk, chromatic dispersion (CD) and effects of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) have been experimentally investigated and mitigated. This work showed that crosstalk penalty increased with fibre-length, bitrate, interfering signal power and reduced channel spacing and as a result, a crosstalk-penalty trade-off is required. Effects of CD on a transmitted 10 Gb/s signal were also investigated and its mitigation techniques used to increase the fibre-reach. This work uses the negative dispersion fibres to mitigate the accumulated dispersion over the distance of transmission. A 5 dB sensitivity improvement is reported for an unamplified 76 km using DFB transmitters and combination of NZDSF true-wave reduced slope (TW-RS) and submarine reduced slope (TW-SRS) with + and – dispersion coefficients respectively. We have also demonstrated up to 52 km 10 Gb/s per channel VCSEL-based transmission and reduced net dispersion. Experimental demonstration of forward Raman amplification has achieved a 4.7 dB on-off gain distributed over a 4.8 nm spectral width and a 1.7 dB improvement of receiver sensitivity in Raman-aided 10 Gb/s per wavelength VCSEL transmission. Finally, 4.25-10 Gb/s PON-based point to point (P2P) and point to multipoint (P2MP) broadcast transmission have been experimentally demonstrated. A 10 Gb/s with a 1:8 passive splitter incurred a 3.7 dB penalty for a 24.7 km fibre-link. In summary, this work has demonstrated cost effective and energy efficient potential flexible spectrum techniques for high speed signal transmission. With the optimized network parameters, flexible spectrum is therefore relevant in short-reach, metro-access and long-haul applications for national broadband networks and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) fibre-based signal and data transmission.

A class of low nonlinearity dispersion-shifted and dispersion-flattened fibers for broadband and long haul applications is presented. The refractive index profiles of these fibers assume a depressed-core multi-clad geometry in order to achieve effective-areas much larger than those in conventional optical fibers. A systematic approach for designing large effective-area dispersion-shifted fibers, using a reference W-index profile to initiate the design, is presented. Transmission properties, including effective-area, mode-field-diameter, dispersion, dispersion slope, cutoff wavelength, and bending, microbending and splice losses are evaluated for several design examples. To ascertain that the proposed fibers can be practically fabricated, the effects of varying fiber dimensions and indices on effective-area, mode-field-diameter and dispersion are assessed. It is shown that there is a trade-off between effective-area and mode-field-diameter and, generally, larger effective-areas are associated with larger mode-field-diameters. In other words, less signal distortion due to fiber nonlinearity (larger effective-area) is associated with higher power loss due to bending of fiber (larger mode-field-diameter). Thus, a large effective-area and low bending loss are conflicting requirements. A parameter Q is defined as a performance indicator, considering effective-area and mode-field-diameter. Dispersion-shifted single-mode fiber designs with effective-areas of 78 mm 2 to 210 mm2 and the corresponding mode-field-diameter of 8.94 mm to 14.94 mm, dispersion less than 0.07 ps/nm.km, and dispersion slope of about 0.05 ps/ nm2.km are presented. Numerical simulations for propagation of pulses in few designed fibers are performed.Designs of large effective-area dispersion-flattened fibers are also presented, for the first time we believe. These fibers provide large effective-area and low dispersion over an extended range of wavelengths. For our design, over the wavelength range of 1.48 mm < l < 1.58 mm, the effective-area is 75 mm2 to 100 mm2, while the dispersion remains below 0.7 ps/nm.km.
Ph. D.

CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
Os efeitos que causam limitações nas comunicações ópticas referentes a polarização se resumem essencialmente na Dispersão dos Modos de Polarização (PMD), nas Perdas Dependentes da Polarização (PDL), e no Ganho Dependente da Polarização (PDG). Estes efeitos podem aparecer na transmissão de forma isolada ou combinada, gerando distorções no sinal. Primeiramente estes efeitos foram estudados individualmente, cada efeito sendo analisado e quantificado sob diversos aspectos. Através de uma analise teórica e experimental foi proposto uma nova técnica de medida de penalidade de potência envolvendo os efeitos estudados. Depois de um estudo detalhado sobre os efeitos isolados, analisou-se os efeitos combinados de PMD e PDL. Diversos emuladores de PMD, elementos com PDL variável e emuladores de PMD e PDL fizeram parte de um longo estudo sobre estes efeitos combinados. Procurou-se ressaltar a importância e os cuidados necessários que se deve tomar para a construção de um emulador de PMD. Na última etapa, foram estudados os efeitos de PMD e PDG oriundos de um sistema utilizando amplificação Raman. Desta forma foi possível evidenciar, caracterizar e relacionar os efeitos da polarização nas fibras ópticas.
The polarization effects that cause limitations in optical communications are essentially the Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD), the Polarization Dependent Loss (PDL), and the Polarization Dependent Gain (PDG). These effects can appear either isolated or in combinations, generating signal distortion. These effects were first investigated individually under different experimental situations and then combined effects were studied. A new technique for measuring the power penalties corresponding to these effects was proposed. The combined effects of PMD and PDL in PMD emulators were evaluated and quantified. Thumb rules for the manufacture of PDL-free emulators were proposed. The effects of PMD and PDG originated from Raman amplification were also studied and compared with theoretical predictions.

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
As comunicações quânticas estão rapidamente integrando-se às redes de fibras ópticas, entretanto muitos desafios de engenharia ainda existem para essa aglutinação. Esta tese discute algumas soluções práticas para a melhoria de aplicações reais em comunicações quânticas em fibras ópticas. No primeiro experimento uma fonte de pares de fótons emaranhados não-degenerados, de banda-estreita, empregando conversão espontânea paramétrica descendente (CEPD) é utilizada para demonstrar a viabilidade da distribuição quântica de chaves (DQC) através de 27 km de fibras ópticas, com o canal de sincronismo presente na mesma fibra com uma separação de 0.8 nm em comprimento de onda. A outra demonstração utilizou uma fonte heráldica de fótons únicos também baseada em CEPD para a realização de DQC através de 25 km de fibras ópticas com a utilização do protocolo de decoy states pela primeira vez. Houve também um estudo dos impactos gerados por ruído Raman espontâneo causado por um canal óptico clássico presente na mesma fibra que o canal quântico. Um protocolo para gerar números verdadeiramente aleatórios em um sistema de DQC independente da taxa de transmissão do sistema é proposto, e um experimento prova-de-princípio demonstra a idéia. Finalmente um sistema de controle automático de polarização é utilizado para a realização de uma sessão de DQC através de 16 km de fibras ópticas utilizando codificação em polarização, mesmo sob a presença de um embaralhador rápido do estado de polarização.
Quantum communications is quickly becoming integrated within fiber optical networks and still many engineering challenges remain towards this interweaving. This thesis deals with some practical solutions toward improving real-world applications in quantum communications within optical fibers. In the first experiment, a non-degenerate narrowband entangled pair single-photon source based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is used to show the feasibility of performing quantum key distribution (QKD) through 27 km of optical fiber, with the synchronization channel wavelength multiplexed in the same fiber with a channel spacing of just 0.8 nm. A second experiment uses a heralded single-photon source also based on SPDC to perform QKD over 25 km of optical fiber with the decoy state modification for the first time. Then there is a study of the problems caused by spontaneous Raman induced noise due to the presence of a classical signal in the same fiber as the quantum channel. A protocol to generate truly random numbers in a QKD setup independent of the system s transmission rate is proposed, and a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrates the idea. Finally an automatic polarization control system is used to perform a QKD session over 16 km of optical fiber using polarization encoding, even in the presence of a fast polarization scrambler.

The primary aim of the thesis is to determine the spectrum efficiency and power penalty of multi-level Subcarrier Multiplexing (SCM) transmission. To perform quantitative analysis, this thesis first develops a fiber transmission model. When there is one SCM transmission channel, it is found that the power penalty due to multi-level is 5 dB per bit at the same bit error rate (BER). For multiple channel SCM transmission, to reduce adjacent channel interference (ACI), it is found that binary transmission has the best spectrum efficiency for Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) pulses at the same BER. However, if raised-cosine pulses are used, 32-ary transmission is found to be the most efficient in spectrum use because of the smaller ACI.

This thesis reports original work on suppression of transient gain excursions in an erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA). The work presented in this thesis is a detailed investigation of four closed-loop systems that control the EDFA gain dynamically. The performance of the four closed-loop systems is evaluated by analytical work, supplemented by computer simulations and insystem measurements performed on a hardware EDFA. In addition, a stability analysis of the four closed-loop systems is presented. In the stability analysis presented in this thesis, nonlinear nature of the four closed-loop systems is taken into consideration. In the stability analysis, in addition to proving that the four closed-loop systems considered are stable, it is proven that for any practical values of the EDFA gain at the initial time of observation, the EDFA gain is restored to the desired value in steady state. These outcomes of the stability analysis are supported by simulation results and experimental results. Errors in system modelling, change in the operating point of the nonlinear closed-loop system, and measurement noise are important aspects of practical implementations of systems that control the EDFA gain dynamically. A detailed analysis of the effects these practical aspects have on the performance of the four closed-loop systems considered is presented. The analysis is validated using computer simulations and experimental measurements. In most of the work reported in the literature on controlling the EDFA gain, controllers that include feedforward and/or feedback components are employed. In the traditional approaches to combining the feedforward and the feedback components, large transient excursions of the EDFA gain can still occur due to errors in the control provided by the feedforward component. In this thesis, a novel approach to combining the feedforward and the feedback components of the controller is presented. Based on the analytical work, the computer simulations and the experimental work presented in this thesis, the novel approach provides a significant reduction in the excursions of the EDFA gain in the transient period.

Many erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) based multi-wavelength optical networks employ techniques such as burst-switching or packet switching where the time interval between traffic blocks can be long enough to induce EDFA optical power transients. The optical power transients are created by abrupt changes in the average input power to the EDFAs and can adversely affect the performance of the network. To mitigate the effects of EDFA optical power transients on optical networks, a method called power shaping where heads and tails are joined to the beginning and end of a traffic block is investigated. A head (tail) gradually increases (decreases) the channel power by employing a bit sequence in which the probability of a \"1\" (\"0\") increases from 0 to 0.5. Theoretical and experimental results both show that EDFA optical power transients can be significantly reduced with adequate shaping periods. Experiments also show the bit error rate of the system is reduced for increased shaping periods. Power shaping is an economical means of suppressing EDFA optical power transients compared to other physical layer approaches that require the addition of specialized components and can be applied to EDFAs as well as other solid-state and Raman optical amplifiers.

The focus of this thesis is the computation of bit error rate in an optical fiber communication system when an avalanche photodiode (APD) is used for detection. The use of the APD increases the complexity of the BER calculation because it introduces an additional noise phenomenon: shot noise (plus multiplication noise). There are several methods to compute the BER. This thesis considers three of these methods: the Gaussian approximation, the saddlepoint approximation and a numerical quadrature method. An in-depth analysis of each computation method is presented after a thorough study of APD characteristics, involving its probability density function and its moment generating function. Numerical examples are shown and compared for each method. The examples show that the saddlepoint approximation method can be used to provide an accurate, simple form for the bit error rate, and that the Gaussian approximation tends to underestimate the BER at high gains. Different results with different photodetectors are illustrated throughout the thesis for a better understanding.

With ever-increasing networking bandwidth demand imposed by data explosion in recent years, optical source generation plays a more and more important role in fiber optical communications. Today wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) which refers to encoding independent information onto different wavelengths becomes a widely used technique to increase the transmission bandwidth. However, current WDM system usually requires one single laser source for each distinct wavelength channel which is relatively expensive and cumbersome. Moreover, current WDM system is usually confined to conventional band (C-band) due to the lack of proper gain medium outside C-band. Thus simultaneously generating multiple wavelengths beyond C-band is highly desirable and attractive. Fiber optical parametric amplifier (FOPA) which is based on χ^((3)) nonlinear effect of optical fiber exhibits remarkable properties such as high gain, wide gain bandwidth, and ultra-fast response and could act as a promising candidate for amplifying optical signal beyond C-band. In this thesis I propose and demonstrate several multiwavelength optical sources by taking advantaging of the parametric process. I first experimentally demonstrate the dual-cavity mode-locked FOPO by utilizing two intracavity branches which share the same highly-nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber (HNL-DSF) as gain medium. Simultaneous generation of 10-GHz pulse train at four different wavelengths located in short wavelength band (S-band) and long wavelength band (L-band) can be achieved. I then introduce the first dispersion distributed FOPO at 10-GHz. With this more advanced cavity configuration, narrower wavelength spacing and wider tuning range in the S- and L-band can be obtained more efficiently in a single cavity. In addition to multiwavelegnth 10-GHz FOPO, multiwavelength FOPO at higher repetition rate beyond C-band is also of great interest in fiber optical communication. I then achieve the first widely tunable 40-GHz dual-wavelength pulsed FOPO. Good quality pulses in both S-and L-band with relatively short duration and low timing jitter can be generated simultaneously. Apart from the parametric process in uniform fiber, I also explore the parametric process in dispersion oscillating fiber (DOF) whose dispersion is periodically modulated along the propagation direction. Based on quasi-phase matched parametric process in DOF, we generate two pairs (quad-wavelength) of modulation instability (MI) side lobes simultaneously. We then numerically and experimentally investigate the spectral correlation between multiple MI by leveraging the dispersive Fourier transformation method. My research efforts presented in this thesis will show the versatility of parametric process for generating multiwavelength optical waves. These schemes have the potential to become efficient optical sources for optical communication beyond C-band.
published_or_final_version
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

The topic of this thesis is aerial optical fibres in telecommunication systems: state of polarization (SOP) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) monitoring and tolerance of modulation formats. Errors in optical fibre telecommunication systems are introduced when these polarization effects (SOP and PMD) change. These changes are so intense especially in aerial optical fibres. Part of the backbone of South Africa’s national grid includes long distances of aerial optical fibre between transmission exchange stations. The work in this thesis can be divided into three parts which all deal with the major aspects of PMD in deployed aerial optical fibres: characterization, environmental effects plus other perturbations, and tolerance of different modulation formats. In our work, SOP and PMD field measurements revealed that they both fluctuate more rapidly in deployed aerial optical fibres especially on windy and hot days. The SOP and PMD changes in the aerial optical fibres showed a significant correlation with these environmental parameters. SOP and PMD are stochastic in nature due to changes in the properties of the optical fibres and its positions because of both intrinsic and extrinsic perturbations. In our work, with only 184 PMD values measured and obtained by use of the FTB-5700 single-ended dispersion analyzer, the predicted theoretical Gaussian fit was obtained with a mean of 0.47 ps and standard deviation of 0.08 ps. This small standard deviation was justification for its robustness and accuracy. The statistical distributions for first-order polarization mode dispersion (FO-PMD) and second-order polarization mode dispersion (SO-PMD) for the first time were experimentally confirmed when measured using the FTB-5700 single-ended dispersion analyzer instrument for deployed aerial optical fibres. We were also able to determine the time scale over which to compensate FO-PMD in deployed aerial fibres using the directional time drift autocorrelation function method. It is slightly higher than 390 s for SOP measurements made on a particular windy and hot day. This is due to the fact that the changes of the PMD vector are known to be slower than the SOP changes. vi We also investigated the theoretical statistical distribution that corresponds to output SOP variations. The SOP variations can either be with wavelength (for buried fibre) or with time (for aerial fibre). Our results showed that the statistics of the relative SOP changes approached the distribution proposed by Foschini et al. (2000). Advanced optical modulation formats have become a key ingredient in the design of modern state-of-the-art wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) optical transmission systems. In our work, we investigated which of these advanced modulation formats is best suited for the South African network especially on systems that have links of aerial optical fibres. Keywords: aerial optical fibre, polarization mode dispersion (PMD), principal states of polarization (PSP), state of polarization (SOP), first-order PMD, second-order PMD.

The ever-increasing data traffic demand drives the evolution of telecommunication networks, including the last-mile access networks as well as the long-haul backbone networks. This Ph.D. dissertation focuses on system design and signal processing techniques for next-generation converged optical-wireless access systems and the high-speed long-haul coherent optical communication systems. The convergence of high-speed millimeter-wave wireless communications and high-capacity fiber-optic backhaul networks provides tremendous potential to meet the capacity requirements of future access networks. In this work, a cloud-radio-over-fiber access architecture is proposed. The proposed architecture enables a large-scale small-cell system to be deployed in a cost-effective, power-efficient, and flexible way. Based on the proposed architecture, a multi-service reconfigurable small-cell backhaul network is developed and demonstrated experimentally. Additionally, the combination of high-speed millimeter-wave radio and fiber-optic backhaul is investigated. Several novel methods that enable high-spectral-efficient vector signal transmission in millimeter-wave radio-over-fiber systems are proposed and demonstrated through both theoretical analysis and experimental verification. For long-haul core networks, ultra-high-speed optical communication systems which can support 1Terabit/s per channel transmission will soon be required to meet the increasing capacity demand in the core networks. Grouping a number of tightly spaced optical subcarriers to form a terabit superchannel has been considered as a promising solution to increases channel capacity while minimizing the need for high-level modulation formats and high baud rate. Conventionally, precise spectral control at transmitter side is required to avoid strong inter-channel interference (ICI) at tight channel spacing. In this work, a novel receiver-side approach based on “super receiver” architecture is proposed and demonstrated. By jointly detecting and demodulating multiple channels simultaneously, the penalties associated with the limitations of generating ideal spectra can be mitigated. Several joint DSP algorithms are developed for linear ICI cancellation and joint carrier-phase recovery. Performance analysis under different system configurations is conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed joint DSP algorithms, and improved system performance is observed with both experimental and simulation data.

The global traffic is experiencing an exponential growth posing severe challenges to the communication networks in terms of capacity. As a future-proof technology fiber communication is widely implemented in different network segments, which can be categorized by transmission distance as long-haul and short-reach. This thesis focuses on the short-reach communication networks including fiber access network connecting the end users to the metro/core networks that covering tens of kilometers and optical datacenter network handling the traffic within the datacenter with distance up to a few kilometers. For fiber access networks, wavelength division multiplexing passive optical networks (WDM-PONs) assign a dedicated wavelength channel to each user guaranteeing high data rate. Dense channels enlarges the user count but makes the signals vulnerable to the wavelength drift. In this regard we propose two schemes based on optical frequency comb technique to generate stable carriers for WDM-PONs. Meanwhile, radio-over-fiber techniques allows the transmission of radio signals between central offices and the cells. Millimeter wave (MMW) over fiber, on the other hand, offer high bandwidth for future high capacity mobile access. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a palm-shaped spectrum generation where the high-power central carrier can be used for upstream transmission while multiple MMW bands are capable of transmitting different downstream data simultaneously. Regarding optical datacenter networks, passive optical interconnects (POIs) have been proposed as an energy-efficient solution since only passive optical components are used for server interconnection. However, the high insertion loss may result in a scalability problem. We develop a methodology that considers various physical-layer aspects, e.g., receiver types, modulation formats, to quantify the scalability of POIs. Both theoretical analyses and experimental measurements have been performed to assess the scalability of various coupler-based POIs.
Den globala datatrafiken växer exponentiellt, både på grund av nya bandbreddskrävande applikationer och ökningen av antalet användare. Detta innebär en utmaning för kommunikationsnätens kapacitet. Fiberoptisk kommunikation är en framtidssäker teknik för att möta detta kapacitetsbehov och används redan i stor utsträckning i olika delar av näten. Beroende på överföringsavstånd, kan fibernät kategoriseras som långdistansnät eller nät med kort räckvidd. Denna avhandling behandlar nät med kort räckvidd, innefattande dels 1) accessnät som förbinder slutanvändarna till stadsnätet/ huvudnätet och typiskt omfattar tiotals kilometer, dels 2) optiska datanätverk som hanterar den interna trafiken inom datacenter med överföringsavstånd upp till ett par kilometer.För fiberaccessnät är en av de lovande teknikerna våglängdsmultiplexade passiva optiska nät (WDM-PON), där en dedicerad våglängdskanal tilldelas varje användare vilket garanterar hög datahastighet. Genom ett litet kanalavstånd så kan antalet användare i WDM-PON utökas men det gör samtidigt systemet känsligt för våglängdsdrift hos lasrarna. För att råda bot på detta, föreslår vi två system baserade på optisk frekvenskams-teknik. Vi validerar experimentellt att de kan generera stabila optiska bärvågor för WDM-PON. Radio-över –fiber-tekniken gör samtidigt det möjligt att sända radiosignaler över en lång sträcka och används därför i mobilsystem för överföring mellan centralstationen och radiocellerna. Millimetervågor (MMW) över fiber erbjuder ännu större modulationsbandbredd och är lovande för framtidens mobilradiosystem med hög kapacitet. I denna avhandling föreslår vi, och demonstrerar experimentellt, generation av ett frekvenskams-spektrum som är format som en handflata, där en central bärare med hög effekt (långfingret på handflatan) kan användas i radiocellerna för uppströms överföring, medan multipla MMW band (övriga fingrar) samtidigt kan överföra olika data nedströms. När det gäller nätverk för optiska datacenter, har passiva optiska interconnects (POI) föreslagits som en energieffektiv lösning, där endast passiva optiska komponenter används för ihopkoppling av servrarna. Höga inkopplingsförluster hos passiva optiska komponenter kan emellertid leda till allvarliga skalbarhetsproblem. I denna avhandling presenterar vi en nyutvecklad metod för att kvantifiera skalbarheten, vilken tar hänsyn till olika faktorer i det fysiska lagret som t.ex. mottagartyp och modulationsformat. Både teoretiska analyser och experimentella mätningar har utförts för att utvärdera skalbarheten hos olika kopplarbaserade POI.

QC 20161117

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008.
Committee Chair: Chang, Gee-Kung; Committee Co-Chair: Yu, Jianjun; Committee Member: Altunbasak, Yucel; Committee Member: Ji, Chunayi; Committee Member: Ralph, Stephen; Committee Member: Xu, Jun.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1991.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-92).
by Peter Cheng-Lung Li.
M.S.

How to communicate ?Human beings use the voice or gestures to give shape to their ideas. In digital communications, a modulation scheme is used to give shape to bits of information, i.e. to convert zeros and ones into an analog waveform. The question of an ideal modulation scheme is discussed in this thesis and we study the one that seems the most promising to us. The orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation is the most popular multicarrier modulation scheme nowadays. The main advantage of OFDM is its simplicity. However, due to the rectangular pulse shaping of the Fast Fourier transform filters, OFDM systems exhibit very high frequency leakage and poor stopband attenuation. In the light of these limitations, the offset-QAM-based filterbank multicarrier (FBMC-OQAM) modulation has recently received increasing attention. Rather than using a rectangular pulse, FBMC-OQAM uses a pulse shape which is more spread out in time, which results in a much better frequency localization. This in turn translates into higher spectral efficiency and much more flexibility for spectrum allocation. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the applicability of the FBMC-OQAM modulation for next generations of communication systems. More specifically, we focus on two main directions. The first direction studies advanced equalization algorithms for multiple-antenna wireless systems characterized by highly frequency and/or time selective channels. The second direction studies two main linear impairments in optical fiber systems, namely, phase noise and chromatic dispersion.
Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Analogcircuit/IC design for high speed optical fiber communication is a fairly new research area in Dr. Haâ s group. In the first project sponsored by ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute) we started to design the building blocks of receiver for next generation 400 Gb/s optical fiber communication. In this thesis research a transceiver architecture based on 4x100 Gb/s parallel communication is proposed. As part of the receiver, a transimpedance amplifier for 100 Gb/s optical communication is designed, analyzed and simulated. Simulation results demonstrate the excellent feasibility of proposed architecture.

Bipolar technology based on III-V materials (e.g. - GaAs, InP based HBT, HEMT) has always dominated the high speed optical transceiver design because of their inherent properties of high mobility and low noise. But they are power hungry and bulky in size which made them less attractive for highly integrated circuit design. On the contrary, CMOS technology always drew attraction because of low cost, low power dissipation and high level of integration facility. But their notorious parasitic characteristic and inferior noise performance makes high speed transceiver design very challenging. The emergence of nano-scale CMOS offer highly scaled feature sized transistors with transition frequencies exceeding 200 GHz and can improve optical receiver performance significantly.

Increasing bandwidth to meet the target data rate is the most challenging task of TIA design especially in CMOS technology. Several CMOS TIA architectures have been published recently [6]-[11] for 40 Gb/s data rate having bandwidth no more than 40 GHz. In contrast to existing works, the goal of this research is to step further and design a single channel stand-alone

TIA compatible in serial 100 Gb/s data rate with enhanced bandwidth and optimized transimpedance gain, input referred noise and group delay variation.

A 100 Gb/s transimpedance amplifier (TIA) for optical receiver front end is designed in this work. To achieve wide bandwidth and low group delay variation a differential TIA with active feedback network is proposed. Proposed design also combines regulated cascode front end, peaking inductors and capacitive degeneration to have wide band response. Simulation results show 70 GHz bandwidth, 42 dBΩ transimpedance gain and 2.8 ps of group delay variation for proposed architecture. Input referred noise current density is 26 pA/â while the total power dissipation from 1.2V supply is 24mW. Performance of the proposed TIA is compared with other existing TIAs, and the proposed TIA shows significant improvement in bandwidth and group delay variation compared to other existing TIA architectures.
Master of Science

The presence of low frequency cutoffs in the forward path of the information signal leads to inter-symbol interference (ISI) and degradation of the signal to noise ratio at the sampling instant in digital on-off keying (OOK) systems. The low frequency cutoffs occur as a result of the presence of power separation filters in a line wire system and gain instability of APDâ s to D.C. in fiber optic systems. Also, it is easier to design amplifiers that do not extend to D.C. The ISI which manifests itself in the form of baseline wander can cause appreciable degradation in the signal to noise ratio. This thesis investigates two ways of combating the baseline wander problem. They are quantized feedback and line coding schemes. A detailed performance evaluation of quantized feedback scheme is performed. An overview of line coding schemes is given and some specific codes are evaluated in terms of S/N degradation at the receiver.
Master of Science

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-66). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

[ES] Con el continuo desarrollo de materiales y tecnologías de fabricación durante las últimas tres décadas, la atenuación de la transmisión de las fibras ópticas de polímero (POF) se ha reducido considerablemente. Las POF son ventajosas para las redes domésticas, así como para las interconexiones de almacenamiento, y tienen ventajas significativas para muchas aplicaciones de detección, que incluye el límite alto de tensión elástica, alta resistencia a la fractura, alta flexibilidad en la flexión, alta sensibilidad a la tensión y coeficientes termoópticos negativos. Esta tesis consigue mejorar la tecnología de irradiación con láser para POF e investiga dispositivos especiales basados en redes de difracción en POF para comunicaciones ópticas, microondas, fotónica y detección. En particular, desarrollamos la tecnología de fabricación rápida de FBGs en POF con un estudio detallado y la optimización de los parámetros de fabricación de redes de difracción de Bragg en fibra (FBG). Los resultados más destacados incluyen un FBG uniforme de 8 dB con un solo pulso láser Nd: YAG (26 nsm) (8 ns) basado en fibra dopada con BDK, que es el tiempo más corto presentado hasta ahora para la fabricación de FBGs en POF. La irradiación de fibras ópticas de polímero utilizando diferentes materiales basado en el láser KrF a 248 nm permitió demostrar un mejor rendimiento en comparación con el sistema que emplea el láser He-Cd a 325 nm. Además, se fabricaron FBGs uniformes en POFs de índice escalón dopadas con TS en menos de 1 segundo mediante la repetición de pulsos con baja energía. Finalmente, el estudio de la irradiación UV con pulsos de baja energía para la fabricación de redes de difracción estables permitió ahorrar energía en el proceso de fabricación de FBGs en POF, como uno de los principales requisitos para la producción en masa. Basándonos en la tecnología de fabricación mejorada, nos centramos en la fabricación de redes de difracción con diferentes estructuras: se fabricó un FBG con desplazamiento de fase utilizando dos pulsos de 15 ns a 248 nm KrF superpuestos por el método de Moiré; el primer FBG con chirp sintonizable se logró utilizando un solo pulso corto del láser, que abrió nuevas perspectivas a las aplicaciones basadas en redes de difracción con chirp en POF; también se propuso un nuevo método basado en gradientes térmicos para obtener FBG con chirp en POF basadas en FBG uniformes, y se demostró como la forma más conveniente publicada hasta la fecha para lograr este tipo de FBGs no uniformes en POF; y, finalmente, también se han fabricado redes de difracción de largo período utilizando un proceso de fabricación de corto tiempo, especialmente en comparación con investigaciones anteriores. En la última parte de la tesis, y en base a los dispositivos basados en redes de difracción obtenidos a lo largo de este trabajo, se han propuesto varias aplicaciones . De manera similar a los FBG en fibra de sílice, los FBGs con chirp en POF tienen muchas aplicaciones futuras en las áreas de comunicaciones ópticas y de los sensores. Este documento describe la aplicación de detección de tensión basada en una FBG con chirp sintonizable en POF, su aplicación para detección térmica en sistemas biomédicos; e ilustra el potencial de los dispositivos de dispersión sintonizables en el campo de las comunicaciones ópticas, bien como compensación de dispersión o en fotónica de microondas.
[CAT] Amb el continu desenvolupament de materials i tecnologies de fabricació durant les últimes tres dècades, l'atenuació de la transmissió de les fibres òptiques de polímer (POF) s'ha reduït considerablement. Els POF són avantatjosos per a les xarxes domèstiques, així com per a les interconnexions d'emmagatzematge, i tenen avantatges significatius per a moltes aplicacions de detecció, inclosos els límits de tensió elàstica alta, alta resistència a la fractura, alta flexibilitat en la flexió, alta sensibilitat a la tensió i potencials coeficients termoópticos negatius. Aquesta tesi va millorar la tecnologia d'irradiació amb làser per a POF i va investigar dispositius basats en xarxes difracció de Bragg (FBG) especials en POF per a comunicació òptica, microones, fotònica i detecció. En particular, desenvolupem la tecnologia de fabricació ràpida de FBG en POF amb un estudi detallat i l'optimització dels paràmetres per a la seua fabricació. Els punts destacats dels resultats inclouen un FBG uniforme de 8 dB amb un sol pols del làser Nd: YAG (266 nm) (8 ns) basat en fibra dopada amb BDK, que és el temps més curt reportat per a la fabricació de POF FBG. La irradiació de fibres òptiques de polímer utilitzant diferents materials sota el sistema de làser KrF a 248 nm va permetre demostrar un millor rendiment en comparació amb el sistema de làser Kimmon de 325 nm. A més, els FBG uniformes en el POF dopat amb TS d'índex escalonat es van aconseguir amb menys d'1 segon mitjançant la repetició de polsos de control i l'energia baixa de pols. Finalment, l'estudi de la irradiació d'energia de pols per a la fabricació de FBGs estables va permetre estalviar energia en el procés de fabricació de FBGs en POF, com un dels principals objectius de la producció en massa. Basant-nos en la tecnologia de fabricació millorada, ens centrem en la fabricació de diferents estructures de xarxes de difracció: es va fabricar un FBG amb desplaçament de fase utilitzant dos polsos de 15 ns a 248 nm KrF superposats pel mètode de Moiré; el primer FBG amb chirp sintonitzable es va aconseguir utilitzant un sol pols curt de làser, que va obrir les aplicacions basades en FBG amb chirp en POF; també es va proposar un nou mètode amb gradients tèrmics per a obtindre FBG en POF basat en FBG uniformes, i es va demostrar com la forma més convenient publicada fins hui per a aconseguir FBG POF estimulada; i, finalment, també s'han aconseguit xarxes de llarg període utilitzant un procés de fabricació de curt temps, especialment en comparació amb investigacions anteriors. Finalment, sobre la base dels dispositius de xarxes de difracció obtinguts al llarg d'aquest treball, s'han proposat diverses aplicacions potencials en aquesta tesi. De manera similar que per als FBG amb silici, el FBG amb chirp en POF té moltes aplicacions potencials en comunicacions òptiques i a l¿àrea de sensors. Aquest document descriu l'aplicació de detecció de tensió basada en FBG amb chirp sintonitzable en POF; a més, l'aplicació de detecció tèrmica en sistemes biomèdics; i el potencial dels dispositius de dispersió sintonitzables en les comunicacions òptiques, com per eixample a la compensació de dispersió o a la fotònica de microones.
[EN] With the continuing development of material and fabrication technologies over the last three decades, the transmission attenuation of polymer optical fibers (POF) has been greatly decreased. POFs are advantageous for home networks as well as storage interconnections and have significant advantages for many sensing applications, including high elastic strain limits, high fracture toughness, high flexibility in bending, high sensitivity to strain and potential negative thermo-optic coefficients. This thesis improved the laser irradiation technology for POF and investigated special grating devices in POF for optical communication, microware photonics and sensing. In particular, we developed fast POF grating fabrication technology with a detailed study and optimization of the polymer optical fiber Bragg grating (POFBG) fabrication parameters. Highlights of the results include an 8 dB uniform POFBG with one single Nd:YAG (266nm) laser pulse (8 ns) based on BDK doped fiber, which is the shortest time ever reported for POFBG fabrication. The irradiation of polymer optical fibers using different materials under 248 nm KrF laser system allowed to demonstrate a better performance compared with 325 nm Kimmon laser system. Furthermore, uniform FBGs in step-index TS doped POF were achieved with less than 1 second by means of controlling pulse repetition and low pulse energy. Finally, the study of low UV pulse power irradiation for fabricating stable gratings allowed to save energy in the POF grating fabrication process, as one of the main goals for mass production. Based on the improved fabrication technology, we focused on the fabrication of different grating structures: a phase-shifted FBG was fabricated by using two 15 ns 248 nm KrF pulses overlapped by Moiré method; the first tunable chirped FBG was achieved by using a single laser short pulse, which opened the applications based on chirped POF BGs; also a novel thermal annealing method was proposed to obtain chirped POFBGs based on uniform FBGs, and proved as the ever published most convenient way to achieve chirped POFBG; and finally, long period gratings have been also achieved by using a short time fabrication process, specially when compared with previous research. Finally, based on the grating devices obtained throughout this work, several potential applications have been proposed in this thesis. Similarly, to silica chirped FBG, chirped FBG in POF have many potential applications in optical communications and sensing area. This document described the potential strain sensing application based on tunable chirped POFBG; also, the thermal detection application in bio-medical systems; and the potential of tunable dispersion devices in optical communications, i.e., dispersion compensation or microwave photonics.
Min, R. (2019). Polymer optical fiber gratings for microwave photonics and communications application [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/125473
TESIS

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1997.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-173) and index.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
by Thomas E. Murphy.
M.S.

Le principal obstacle aux communications longue distance est l'interférence non linéaire (NLI), résultant des effets non linéaires dans les canaux de fibres optiques. Bien que les algorithmes de traitement du signal numérique offrent une atténuation partielle, la nature intrinsèquement non linéaire, couplée aux effets de dispersion prédominants, continue de défier la fidélité de transmission. Aborder la non-linéarité directement à la source par des modulations intrinsèquement moins sensibles aux distortions non-linéaires est au coeur de notre stratégie de recherche. Les schémas traditionnels de modulation, à mesure que l'efficacité spectrale augmente, i.e formats QAM, deviennent de plus en plus sensibles à NLI et la distance euclidienne moyenne au carré (MSED) diminue. Bien que la modulation multi-dimensionnelle (MD) offre des gains linéaires améliorés et non linéaires partiels, elle est insuffisante. L'émergence de la mise en forme probabiliste de constellation (PCS), privilégiée pour son gain linéaire accru et sa compatibilité avec le matériel de modulation conventionnel, introduit une NLI supplémentaire. Par conséquent, la conception de PCS tolérante aux non-linéarités émerge comme une direction de recherche cruciale. Notre thèse commence par une nouvelle modulation MD pour les signaux uniformes. Ensuite, nous proposons une approche novatrice combinant MD avec PCS pour examiner les variations de performance. En explorant la PCS, nous étudions le coupleur de distribution de mise en forme (DM) sphérique énumérative, initialement d'un point de vue MD, et concevons un DM optimisé pour la tolérance non linéaire sur de courtes distances. Par la suite, nous introduisons une nouvelle technique de mesure d'NLI, prenant en compte les effets de dispersion. En intégrant cela au cadre de sélection de séquence de la PCS, nous réalisons une transmission longue distance réussie avec des gains non linéaires notables
The main impediment in long-distance communications is nonlinear interference (NLI), stemming from nonlinear effects in optical fibers. While Digital signal processing algorithms offer partial mitigation, the inherent nonlinear nature of the fiber, coupled with predominant dispersion effects, continues to challenge the increase of transmission throughputs. Addressing nonlinearity at the information source through signal modulation technology is at the heart of our research. Traditional modulation schemes, as spectral efficiency climbs, such as QAM, become increasingly susceptible to NLI while their Mean Squared Euclidean Distance (MSED) diminishes. While multi-dimensional (MD) modulation yields improved linear and partial nonlinear gains, it has not yet demonstrated tangible benefits. On the other hand, the emergence of probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS), preferred for its enhanced linear gain and compatibility with conventional modulation hardware and software, introduces additional NLI. Consequently, the design of nonlinear-tolerant PCS is emerging as a pivotal research direction. Our thesis begins with a novel MD modulation for uniformly distributed signals. Then, we propose a novel approach combining MD with PCS to examine performance variations. Delving into PCS, we investigate the enumerative sphere shaping distribution matcher (DM), initially from an MD stance, and design a DM optimized for nonlinear tolerance over shorter distances. Subsequently, we introduce a new NLI measurement technique, accounting for dispersion effects. Integrating this with the sequence selection framework of PCS, we achieve successful long-distance transmission with notable nonlinear gains

Microstructure and photonic crystal fibers with periodic as well as random refractive-index distributions are investigated. Two cases corresponding to fibers with one-dimensional (1D) radial index distributions and two-dimensional (2D) transverse index distributions are considered. For 1D geometries with an arbitrary number of cladding layers, exact analytical solutions of guided modes are obtained using a matrix approach. In this part, for random index distributions, the average transmission properties are calculated and the influence of glass/air ratio on these properties is assessed. Important transmission properties of the fundamental mode, including normalized propagation constant, chromatic dispersion, field distributions, and effective area, are evaluated. For 2D geometries, the numerical techniques, FDTD (Finite-Difference Time-Domain) method and FDM (Finite Difference Method), are utilized. First, structures with periodic index distributions are examined. The investigation is then extended to microstructure optical fibers with random index distributions. Design of 2D microstructure fibers with random air-hole distributions is undertaken with the aim of achieving single-mode guiding property and small effective area. The former is a unique feature of the holey fiber with periodic air-hole arrangement and the latter is a suitable property for nonlinear fiber devices. Measurements of holey fibers with random air-hole distributions constitute an important experimental task of this research. Using a section of a holey fiber fabricated in the draw tower facility at Virginia Tech, measurements of transmission spectra and fiber attenuation are performed. Also, test results for far-field pattern measurements are presented. Another objective of this dissertation is to explore new applications for holey fibers with random or periodic hole distributions. In the course of measuring the holey fibers, it was noticed that robust temperature-insensitive pressure sensors can be made with these fibers. This offers an opportunity for new low-cost and reliable pressure fiber-optic sensors. Incorporating gratings into holey fibers in conjunction with the possibility of dynamic tuning offers desirable characteristics with potential applications in communications and sensing. Injecting gases or liquids in holey fibers with gratings changes their transmission characteristics. These changes may be exploited in designing tunable optical filters for communication applications or making gas/liquid sensor devices.
Ph. D.

This thesis provides in-depth information on the high speed optical transport requirements for the Square Kilometre Array. The stringent data rates as well as timing and synchronization requirements are dealt with respect to the optical fibre technology. Regarding the data transport, we draw a clear comparison between a typical telecommunication access network and a telescope network. Invoking simulations and experiments on the field and laboratory test bed, we successfully implement a suitable telescope network using vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) technology. Polarization effects on the KAT-7 telescope network, an operational prototype for the SKA is studied so as to estimate the expected effect in the MeerKAT telescope with transmission distances _ 12 km. The study further relates the obtained values to the expected impact on the distribution of the time and frequency reference in the MeerKAT array. Clock stability depends on the differential group delay (DGD) and polarization stability. On a 10:25 km link that includes the riser cable a DGD of 62:1 fs was attained. This corresponds to a polarization mode dispersion (PMD) coefficient of 19:4 fs=km1=2. This is a low PMD value considering telecommunication network. The PMD value is within the allowed budget in the telescope network. However, this may not be the case at longer baselines extending to over 1000 km as expected in SKA 2. The fibre's deployment contribution to the DGD is measured by comparing the deployed fibre to the undeployed of equal lengths. On the 10:25 km deployed single mode fibre, the maximum and mean DGDs measured were 217:7 fs and 84:8 fs respectively. The undeployed fibre of similar type and equal length, gave a maximum and minimum DGDs of 58:6 fs and 36:3 fs respectively. The deployment is seen to increase the maximum and minimum DGDs by factors of 3.7 and 2.3 respectively. This implies that fibre deployment is very critical in ensuring the birefringence is minimized. Polarization fluctuation recorded a maximum of 180o during the 15 hour real time astronomer use of the antenna. To ascertain the contribution of the riser cable, state of polarization (SOP) of the buried section of the single mode fibre in the link was established. A maximum SOP change of 14o over 15 hour monitoring was measured. From the stability realized on the buried section of the fibre, the change in polarization is contributed by the riser cable. The fluctuation in polarization can cause the phase of a clock signal to drift between the birefringent axes by an equal amount corresponding to DGD. We experimentally demonstrate how polarization stabilization can be attained using the polarization maintaining fibre. We also demonstrate the applicability of VCSEL technology in the SKA unidirectional data flow especially for shorter baselines < 100 km. The VCSEL is a low cost light source with attractive advantages such as low power consumption, high speed capabilities and wavelength tuneability. This work entails the use of traditional amplitude modulation commonly known as non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off keying (OOK) because of its simplicity and cost. For the MeerKAT typical distances, we show that even in a worst case scenario, the use of VCSEL on different fibres in MeerKAT distance is achievable. Using the impairment reduction approach, we successfully manage to achieve transmission distance beyond MeerKAT. Several in-line dispersion compensation mechanisms in telecommunication have been successfully employed. The work focused on the use of negative dispersion fibre to mitigate the chromatic dispersion effects in the optical fibre. The inverse dispersion fibre (IDF) is proposed for compensation in the conventional zero dispersion wavelength fibres, G.652 that are used at the third window. Similarly, the chromatic dispersion compensation of non-zero dispersion shifted fibre (NZDSF) is experimentally demonstrated using negative dispersion submarine reduced slope (SRS), G. 655 (-). With dispersion management, we demonstrate how transmissions beyond MeerKAT baselines can be achieved error free. A systematic investigation of the use of distributed Raman amplification to overcome the attenuation losses is provided. High on-off gains of up to 15 dB, 8 dB and 5 dB for bidirectional, forward and backward pumping respectively is achieved on a 25 km Raman optimized NZDSF-Reach fibre. Combined dispersion mitigation technique and low noise distributed Raman amplification, up to about 80 km transmission was achieved on a 4:25 Gbps modulated VCSEL using a single pump. Using bidirectional pumping, more than 100 km of transmission was achieved error free. The high gains enhance the VCSEL transmission distance. We further suggest a novel way of using the Raman pump to distribute the clock signal while amplifying the data signal streaming the astronomical data from the remote placed telescope receivers. In summary, the work presented in this thesis has demonstrated the potential use of VCSEL technology for data collection in the telescope array. We have studied the optical effects and mitigation so as to improve the clock and data transmission. This work is relevant and valuable in providing SKA with VCSELs, an option for extremely high network performance at reasonable costs.

In this study, focus is centred on the measurement and emulation of first-order (FO-) and second-order (SO-) polarization mode dispersion (PMD). PMD has deleterious effects on the performance of high speed optical transmission network systems from 10 Gb/s and above. The first step was characterising deployed fibres for PMD and monitoring the state of polarization (SOP) light experiences as it propagates through the fibre. The PMD and SOP changes in deployed fibres were stochastic due to varying intrinsic and extrinsic perturbation changes. To fully understand the PMD phenomenon in terms of measurement accuracy, its complex behaviour, its implications, mitigation and compensation, PMD emulation is crucial. This thesis presents emulator designs which fall into different emulator categories. The key to these designs were the PMD equations and background on the PMD phenomenon. The cross product from the concatenation equation was applied in order to determine the coupling angle β (between 0o and 180o) that results in the SO-PMD of the emulator designs to be either adjustable or fixed. The digital delay line (DDL) or single polarization maintaining fibre (PMF) section was used to give a certain amount of FO-PMD but negligible SO-PMD. PMF sections (birefringent sections) were concatenated together to ensure FO- and SO-PMD coexist, emulating deployed fibres. FO- and SO-PMD can be controlled by altering mode coupling (coupling angles) and birefringence distribution. Emulators with PMD statistics approaching the theoretical distributions had high random coupling and several numbers of randomly distributed PMF sections. In addition, the lengths of their PMF sections lie within 20% standard deviation of the mean emulator length. Those emulators with PMD statistics that did not approach the theoretical distributions had limited numbers of randomly distributed PMF sections and mode coupling. Results also show that even when an emulator has high random mode coupling and several numbers of randomly distributed PMFs, its PMD statistics deviates away from expected theoretical distributions in the presence of polarization dependent loss (PDL). The emulators showed that the background autocorrelation function (BACF) approaches zero with increasing number of randomly mode coupled fibre sections. A zero BACF signifies that an emulator has large numbers of randomly distributed PMF sections and its presence means the opposite. The availability of SO-PMD in the emulators made the autocorrelation function (ACF) x asymmetric. In the absence of SO-PMD the ACF for a PMD emulator is symmetric. SO-PMD has no effect on the BACF. Polarization-optical time domain reflectometry (P-OTDR) measurements have shown that certain fibre sections along fibre link lengths have higher FO-PMD (HiFO-PMD) than other sections. This study investigates the impact of a HiFO-PMD section on the overall FO- and SO-PMD, the output state of polarization (SOP) and system performance on deployed fibres (through emulation). Results show that when the wavelength-independent FO-PMD vector of the HiFO-PMD section is greater than the FO-PMD contributions from the rest of the fibre link, the mean FO-PMD of the entire link is biased towards that of the HiFO-PMD section and the SO-PMD increases (β ≠ 0o or 180o) or remains fixed (β = 0o or 180o) depending on the coupling angle β between the HiFO-PMD section and the rest of the fibre link. In addition, the FO-PMD statistics deviates away from the theoretical Maxwellian distribution. However, experimental results show that the HiFO-PMD section has negligible influence on the SOPMD statistical distribution. An increase in the amount of FO-PMD on a HiFO-PMD section reduces the output SOP spread to a given minimum, in this study the minimum was reached when the HiFO-PMD ≥ 35 ps. However, the outcome of the output SOP spread depends on the location of the HiFO-PMD section along the fibre link length. It was found that when the HiFO-PMD section introduces SO-PMD, the bit error rate (BER) is much higher compared to when it does not introduce SO-PMD.

An index grating is a periodic perturbation of the refractive index in a waveguide's axial direction. Gratings have important roles in optical communication as spectral filters and dispersion compensators. The spectral response characteristics of gratings can be controlled by shaping the profile of the index modulation, a process called apodization.

Apodizing different layers of the grating using different apodizing functions is proposed for adding more degrees of freedom to the design. An approach to designing a two-layer separately apodized grating that yields virtually the same reflectivity and dispersion responses as an arbitrary zero-"dc", apodized, un-chirped grating is proposed. A design example is presented, and coupled-mode theory is employed to compute the reflectivity responses of the original zero-"dc" design and the nearly equivalent separately-apodized design proposed in this thesis.

An approach to designing a four-layer separately apodized grating that yields virtually the same reflectivity and dispersion responses as an arbitrary chirped grating is proposed. The largest bandwidth a four-layer separately-apodized grating designed using this approach can yield is as large as the largest bandwidth a variable-period conventional design can yield. Also, a similar, less-capable design approach is proposed for two-layer separately apodized gratings that are equivalent to conventional, chirped gratings. Design examples are presented.

For all of the separately apodized gratings designed, the layers have a varying "dc" index change that is proportional to the varying "ac" index change. Furthermore, the period, which is the same in every layer, is constant, i.e. independent of the position. Both considerations enhance the prospects of fabricating the separately-apodized designs using a simple, reproducible technique. One such technique is proposed that separately-apodizes halves of the waveguide, instead of layers, but the design approaches are easily adjusted to this case.
Master of Science

Nowadays bandwidth requirements are increasing vertiginously. As new ways and concepts of how to share information emerge, new ways of how to access the web enter the market. Computers and mobile devices are only the beginning, the spectrum of web products and services such as IPTV, VoIP, on-line gaming, etc has been augmented by the possibility to share, store data, interact and work on the Cloud. The rush for bandwidth has led researchers from all over the world to enquire themselves on how to achieve higher data rates, and it is thanks to their efforts, that both long-haul and short-range communications systems have experienced a huge development during the last few years. However, as the demand for higher information throughput increases traditional short-range solutions reach their lim- its. As a result, optical solutions are now migrating from long-haul to short-range communication systems. As part of this trend, plastic optical fiber (POF) systems have arisen as promising candidates for applications where traditional glass optical fibers (GOF) are unsuitable. POF systems feature a series of characteristics that make them very suitable for the market requirements. More in detail, these systems are low cost, robust, easy to handle and to install, flexible and yet tolerant to bendings. Nonetheless, these features come at the expense of a considerable higher bandwidth limitation when compared to GOF systems. This thesis is aimed to the investigate the use of digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms to overcome the bandwidth limitation in short-range optical communications system based on POF. In particular, this dissertation presents the design and development of DSP algorithms on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) with the ultimate purpose of implementing a fully engineered 1Gbit/s Ethernet Media Converter capable of establishing data links over 50+ meters of PMMA-SI POF using an RC-LED as transmitter.

Fiber-optic networks are continually evolving to accommodate ever-increasing data transport rates demanded by modern applications, devices, and services. Network operators are now beginning to deploy systems with 100 Gb/s per-wavelength data rates while maintaining the 50 GHz dense wavelength division multiplexing grid that is (generally) standard for 10 Gb/s systems. Advanced modulation formats incorporating both amplitude- and phase-based data symbols are necessary to meet the spectral efficiency requirements of fiber-optic data transport. These modulation formats require coherent detection, enabling future networks to take advantage of advances in silicon CMOS via digital signal processing algorithms and techniques. The primary challenge for future networks is the fiber nonlinear response; changes in the intensity of the propagating optical signal induce changes in the optical fiber refractive index. Limiting the allowed propagation intensity will reduce these nonlinear effects and correspondingly limit the total available signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) within the channel. Predicting the nonlinear SNR limits of fiber-optic transport for data rates 100 Gb/s and beyond is a primary purpose of this research. This dissertation expressly matches several novel expressions for nonlinear interference accumulation to experimental data and demonstrates robust theoretical prediction of nonlinear transmission penalties. The experiments were performed to isolate the transmission performance of the fiber medium in the highly dispersive regime -- no dispersion compensation or Raman amplification was employed and all other hardware was kept static. These results are the first experimental validation of the nonlinear interference expressions on a fiber-type basis. Second, this dissertation moves to data transport beyond per-wavelength rates of 100 Gb/s by employing 16QAM at baud rates as high as 32 GHz. It examines signal processing strategies for 16QAM transport and extends the nonlinear interference prediction techniques to 16QAM. The results reveal that the SNR requirements of 16QAM as limited by nonlinear interference will likely limit deployments to high-density regional and metro networks.

El estudio e investigación en el campo de las redes ópticas de acceso han sido fomentadas en años recientes debido a la continua migración de Servicios multimedia que son ofrecidos a través de Internet. Aunque los dispositivos utilizados para implementar Fiber-to-the-Home (fibra a casa), que reemplazan las soluciones tradicionales basadas en cable de cobre, están basadas aún en micro-óptica, se puede prever una evolución hacia integración fotónica. Todavía queda la pregunta acerca de los diseños necesarios para este paso importante de integración, que debe ser optimizado en términos del desempeño de transmisión, eficiencia energética y costo con el fin de lograr todos los requerimientos de las redes fotónicas de siguiente generación. Como elemento más crítico en las redes de acceso ópticas es el equipo en los clientes, este trabajo se centra en éste. Los temes cubiertos abarcan una gama amplia e incluyen: el reciclado de longitudes de onda para transmisión de datos en full-dúplex a través de una sola frecuencia óptica; la generación de formatos de modulación avanzados con moduladores semiconductores de bajo costo y factor pequeño de integración; soporte de amplificación óptica a través de técnicas de sembrado y el soporte de funcionalidades de capes superiores en la capa física. Después de la prueba principal de las técnicas propuestas, se resaltan los beneficios, impedimentos y caminos de reemplazo hacia sistemas fotónicos multifuncionales a través de casos de estudio. Por su parte, los diseños más representativos se profundizan más sobre todo por su posibilidad de ser integrados fotónicamente.
Optical access technology has experienced a boost in the last years, thanks to the continuously migrating multimedia services that are offered over the internet. Though the devices used for deploying Fiber-to-the-Home instead of traditional copper-based solutions are still based on micro-optics, an evolution towards photonic integration can be foreseen. What remains is the question about the exact designs for this important step of integration, which should be optimized in terms of transmission performance, energy efficiency and cost to address all requirements of next-generation photonic networks. As the most critical element in optical access, the customer premises equipment is in primary focus of this discussion. The covered topics span over a wide range and include wavelength recycling for full-duplex data transmission on a single optical frequency, the generation of advanced modulation formats with low-cost semiconductor modulators with small form factor, support for optical amplification by means of seeding techniques and the support of higher layer functionality at the physical layer. Next to the principal proof of the proposed techniques, the benefits, impediments and upgrade paths towards multifunctional photonic systems are highlighted in different case studies, while the most representative designs are further discussed in their capability of being photonically integrated.

The demand for faster data transmission is ever increasing. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) presents as a viable solution to increase the data transmission rate significantly. WDM systems are based on the ability to transmit multiple wavelengths simultaneously down the fibre. Unlike time division multiplexing (TDM) systems, WDM systems do not increase the data transfer by increasing the transmission rate of a single channel. In WDM systems the data rate per channel remains the same, only multiple channels carry data across the link. Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) promises even more wavelengths packed together in the same fibre. This multiplication of channels increases the bandwidth capacity rapidly. Networks are looking into making use of technology that will ensure no electronic signal regeneration at any point within the DWDM network. Examples are; reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADM) and optical cross connect (OXC) units. These components essentially enable network operators to split, combine and multiplex optical signals carried by optical fibre. WDM allows network operators to increase the capacity of existing networks without expensive re-cabling. This provides networks with the flexibility to be upgraded to larger bandwidths and for reconfiguration of network services. Further, WDM technology opens up an opportunity of marketing flexibility to network operators, where operators not only have the option to rent out cables and fibres but wavelengths as well. Cross phase modulation (XPM) poses a problem to WDM networks. The refractive index experienced by a neighbouring optical signal, not only depends on the signal’s intensity but on the intensity of the co-propagating signal as well. This effect leads to a phase change and is known as XPM. This work investigates the characteristics of XPM. It is shown that, in a two channel WDM network, a probe signal’s SOP can be steered by controlling a high intensity pump signal’s SOP. This effect could be applied to make a wavelength converter. Experimental results show that the degree of polarization (DOP) of a probe signal degrades according to a mathematical model found in literature. The pump and probe signals are shown to experience maximum interaction, for orthogonal probe-pump SOP vector orientations. This may be problematic to polarization mode dispersion compensators. Additionally, experimental results point out that the SOP of a probe signal is much more active in the presence of a high intensity pump, as compared to the single signal transmission scenario.