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Homodyne Phase-Shift-Keying Systems: Past Challenges and Future Opportunities

Leonid G . Kazovsky'
Departmen1 of Electrical Engineering, Stanford lJniversi@ Packard 362. Stanford, CA 94305, USA. E-mail: kccovsh&stunlbrd. edit *mrrent!r: on sabburicnl with Scuolu Superiore Sunt Anna, Pisa, Italy

Abstract: Homodyne phase-shift-keying systems can achieve the best sensitivity and the longest transmission distance, This paper reviews past research efforts and examines future possibilities in this field. 02005 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (060.1660) Coherent communications; (060.2920) Homodyning; (060.45 10) Optical communications.

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1. Introduction Homodyne phase-shift-keying (PSK) systems remain one of the most promising ways to approach theoretical receiver sensitivity, excellent spectral efficiency, and longest transmission distance for both free-space and fiberbased optical communication systems [ 1,2]. Homodyne PSK attracted considerable attention in late eighties and early nineties, and early experiments employed optical phase-lock loops (OPLLs) to lock the phase of the local oscillator to that of the incoming signal [3-51. The main emphasis of the research efforts was receiver sensitivity since coherent homodyne PSK systems can, in principle, achieve the best receiver sensitivity. The interest in PSK systems dropped significantly after the development and deployment of Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) in the 90's. It has been revived recently in the context of differential phase-shift keying (DPSK). DPSK systems use self-homodyning provided by a Mach-Zehnder delay interferometer (MZDI) and balance detection 161. Therefore, a local oscillator is not necessary, and implementation is simpler than with phase-locked coherent receivers. Apart from receiver sensitivity, the emphasis is now on spectral efficiency and tolerance to fiber nonlinearities, two issues with increasing significance in ultra-long haul communication systems. Coherent homodyne PSK systems can be used in conjunction with optical amplifiers or in systems where in-line optical amplifiers cannot be used, such as satellite-to-satellite and ground-to-satellite laser communications. They can also serve an important role for fiber communications in wavelengtb regions where optical amplifiers are not available. A coherent receiver provides very narrowband filtering, and as a result the optical channels can be packed more closely together. This improved receiver selectivity combined with advanced modulation formats can drastically increase spectral efficiency. It has also been shown that coherent anaIog links have superior dynamic range aver direct detection systems in some cases [7].

2. Past Research Efforts

PSK optical homodyne detection offers the best sensitivity for optical coherent detection. It also requires smaller
receiver bandwidths as compared to heterodyne detection. However, it imposes stringent requirement on the linewidth of the lasers used. In the past this has been a serious challenge for homodyne PSK systems. Figure 1 summarizes linewidth requirements and theoretical sensitivity limits for common coherent techniques. Inspection of Pig. 1 reveals that linewidth is no longer a bottleneck problem for most coherent techniques. PLL design is critical for phase-locked coherent receivers. Several PLL architectures have been proposed and experimentally demonstrated, including the balanced pilot-carrier OPLL [9] and the decision-driven OPLL (DDOPLL) [XI. The balanced OPLL architecture has the advantage of suppressing the excess intensity noise ofthe lasers used, but imposes the most stringent requirements on the laser linewidths. Its implementation, on the other hand, is simpler that of the DD-OPLL. An experimental balanced OPLL has been demonstrated in Ref. [3]. Using that OPLL, receiver sensitivities of 25 photonshit at 140 Mbps over 28.6-km of SMF and 332 photonsibit at 2 Gbps were achieved [3]. In another experiment, a 4 Gbps pilot-camer homodyne system achieved a sensitivity of 72 photonshit 141. An experimental DD-OPLL was demonstrated with 297 photonsibit sensitivity at a bit rate of 10 Gbps 1171. Phase-diversity homodyne systems have been designed to be used in conjunction with ASK, and can be used in conjunction with DPSK as well. They don't need an OPLL and are able to tolerate much wider laser linewidths, even of the order of the bit rate [lo]. These receivers have the same sensitivity and linewidth requirements as heterodyne receivers, but require a much smaller receiver bandwidth since they operate in the baseband. Their main

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disadvantages are their complexity and sensitivity to implementation imperfections. An experimental three-branch phase-diversity homodyne DPSK receiver using HeNe h e r s and achieving sensitivity of 47.8 dEim at 320 Mbps was demonstrated in [ 181.

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Fig. 1 Sensitivity (in photonsibit) vs. lmewrdth requirements(normailzed to the bit rate) for selected coherent techniques [S-161

Another well-known problem with coherent transmission is associated with the state of polarization of the received signals. Complete fading occurs when the signal and LO states of polarization (SOP) are orthogonal to each other. Moreover, signal SOP varies randomly in time leading to random BER fluctuations. Common techniques used to counteract polarization fluctuations include polarization tracking, poIarization scrambling, and polarization diversity. Polarization diversity receivers generate two demodulated signals stemming from two orthogonal poIarizations of the received signal. The sum of the two is, in principle, independent of the state of polarization of the received signal. A DPSK receiver at 200 Mbps combining phase and polarization diversity was experimentally demonstrated with 4 9 dBm sensitivity [19]. In another experiment, a balanced polarization receiver was implemented using DPSK modulation format [20]. Self-homodyne DPSK transmission has attracted considerable interest in the past few years due to its superior receiver sensitivity; higher tolerance to fiber nonlinearities [21] as compared with on-of keying (OOK); its capability of high spectral efficiency; and its SOP-independent operation. Sensitivity of 45 photonshit has been demonstrated using an optically preamplified receiver operating at 43.2 Gbps [22]. Recently, a 96x10 Gbps RzDPSK field trial over 13,100 km of installed non-slope matched fibers was successfully conducted showing the potential of this modulation format for ultra long-haul transmission [23]. In another experiment, combined use of RZ-DPSK and polarization alternation at the bit rate showed considerable improvement in nonlinearities' tolerance at 40 Gbps, enabling high-power WDM transmission [24). Differential quadrature PSK was used in a third experiment to achieve a spectral efficiency of 1.14 bps/Hz for a 50x854 Gbps transmission over 300 km of NZ-DSF [25]. Table 1 summarizes these experiments. Most of recent experiments at rates above 40-Gbps use RZ format due to its robustness to intersymbol interference, and its superior performance when nonlinear effects are a limiting factor.
Table 1 Selected recent DPSK expenments

3. Future Prospects Coherent systems, in general, show superior performance in terms of sensitivity, spectral efficiency, and transmission distance as compared to their direct-detection counterparts. However, it still remains a challenge to build a high-performance coherent transceiver at reasonable complexity and cost. High performance and low cost optoelectronic ICs are a prerequisite towards future practical applications of coherent technology. Integration of coherent receivers offers several advantages, such as reduced power consumption and compactness [26-28]. An InPbased integrated polarization diversity heterodyne receiver, for example, achieved sensitivity of -33.5 dSm at 140 Mbps FSK transmission f29J. main challenges for those devices are polarization independence, tolerance to The

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mismatches, power consumption, and bandwidth. Advances in high-speed electronics enable the possibility to employ modern DSP techniques in coherent receiver design. One such possibility is the loop filter design, which is a critical part of a coherent OPLL. A multi-pole digital filter that is adaptive for optimized locking and tracking performance, and can equalize the laser FM response, would enhance the receiver performance and stability. In a recent paper [30] new coherent detection scheme using DSP for demodulationis proposed. The method is based on a phase diversity detection employing new high-speed DSP techniques. It has most advantages of coherent detection, but without the need for analog OPLL. Post-detection signal processing performs synchronous demodulationusing a digital PLL. In addition, it is possible to eliminate the chromatic dispersion penalty (that cannot be accomplished using direct detection, since the phase information of the signal is lost in the photodetection process). The principle was demonstrated at 10 Gbps using off-line signal processing. Applications of coherent systems in a relatively remote future might involve access or metropolitan networks. They could provide a large number of available channels dynamically allocated and reused due to the high selectivity and tunability of the coherent receivers. Use of optical amplifiers could also be avoided due to the high sensitivity of those receivers. Low-cost, polarization-insensitive integrated transceivers are a must for the deployment of such systems and networks. PSK homodyne systems, in particular, could find applications in free-space optical communications, in which a secure sateltite-to-satellite and ground-to-satellite optical link could be established. Since in-line optical amplifiers cannot be used in such a link, the high sensitivity of PSK homodyne receivers makes them appealing for this application. Low power consumption integrated transceivers and narrow-linewidth efficient lasers need to be developed to make such a system practical. Other challenges that need to be investigated and addressed towards that goal are the impact of atmospheric turbulence, Doppler shift and pointing and tracking subsystems. Self-homodyne RZ-DPSK format seems to be attractive for deployment in long-haul transmission systems. Non-linear phase noise, caused by conversion of ASE-to-phase noise through SPM and XPM, can cause severe performance degradation in long-haul systems employing some kind of PSK format [3 I]. Compensation of the nonlinear phase jitter may be needed for enhancing their performance. Several schemes have been proposed to mitigate the penalty induced by this effect, both in the optical and electronic domain [21,32]. All these schemes apply an intensity-derived correction to the phase of the received signal, effectively reducing the variance of the accumulated nonlinear phase jitter.
4. Summary

Coherent systems provide exceptional sensitivity, high spectral efficiency, and longer transmission reach compared to TMiDD systems. Past research efforts were successfid in designing and implementing poIarization independent receivers, optical PLLs,and sub-MHz linewidth lasers. Several spectacular experiments were carried out. Future research might focus on novel moduIation formats (e.g. QAM) for increased spectral efficiency, nonlinear phase noise compensation, receiver tunability, implementation of low-cost and low power consumption transceivers, and field trials for both fiee-space and fiber-based applications.
5. References
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