Arrayed-waveguide gratings for dense-WDM systems

We experimentally and theoretically investigate GeSi-based photonics for future on-chip optical interconnect on bulk Silicon substrates with dense wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system. We experimentally show that Ge-rich Si_1-xGe_x can be used as both a passive low loss waveguide and a substrate to facilitate low-temperature epitaxial growth of Ge-based active devices working at low optical loss wavelength of Ge-rich Si_1-xGe_x waveguides. We also theoretically discussed the possibilities to realize a compact passive component based on Ge-rich Si_1-xGe_x material system on bulk Si wafer. From simulation the system based on Ge-rich Si_1-xGe_x waveguide and the Si_1-yGe_y (y < x) lower cladding layer is good enough to ensure compactness of important on-chip photonic components including passive waveguide and GeSi-based array waveguide grating (AWG). The small refractive index contrast between Ge-rich Si_1-xGe_x waveguide and the Si_1-yGe_y lower cladding layer potentially avoid the polarization dependent loss and detrimental fabrication tolerance of WDM system. Our studies show that GeSi-based photonics could uniquely provide both passive and active functionalities for dense WDM system.

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems are widely deployed in high-capacity long-haul transmission systems. They can provide cost-effective additional capacity on fibers overloaded by the increase in data traffic. Current WDM systems are used mainly for point-to-point transmission links. Next generation WDM technologies are expected to provide full functionality at both the system and network levels. Next generation WDM system will require many optical components, including optical filters, add/drop multiplexers, circuit switches and wavelength converters. Optical components using planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) are now widely used in WDM systems. Arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs), in particular, play an important role in current WDM systems. In the next generation system, optical components using PLCs are expected to provide many functions that counterparts cannot. In this paper, we will describe the current and future WDM components using PLCs, focusing on AWGs and switchable add/drop filters.

Determining how to improve the non-uniformity of arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is of great significance for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. In this work, a silicon nanowire-assisted AWG structure is proposed, which can achieve high uniformity with a low insertion loss. The article compares the effect of nanowire number and shape on uniformity and insertion loss, finding that double nanowires provide the best performance. Double nanowires with a width of 230 nm and length of 3.5 μm can consist of a slot configuration between arrayed waveguides, both connecting to the star coupler and spacing 165 nm from the waveguides. Compared with conventional 8- and 16-channel AWGs with channel spacing of 200 GHz, the non-uniformity of the presented structure can be improved from 1.09 and 1.6 dB to 0.24 and 0.63 dB, respectively. The overall footprint of the device would remain identical, which is 276 × 299 or 258 × 303 μm2 for the 8- or 16-channel AWG. The present high uniformity design is simple and easy to fabricate without any additional insertion loss, which is expected to be widely applied in the highly integrated DWDM systems.

This paper describes the performance improvement of 10-Gb/s four-channel WDM dispersion-supported transmission systems by using broadened passband arrayed-waveguide grating demultiplexers. Multimode interference couplers are assumed to be used to broaden the passaband of these demultiplexers. Performance Improvement of 40-Gb/s Capacity Four-Channel WDM Dispersion-Supported Transmission by Using Broadened Passband Arrayed-waveguide Grating Demultiplexers Mario M. Freire Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Beira Interior Rua Marques d'Avila e Bolama, P-6200 Covilha, Portugal Telephone: +351 75 3101700, Fax: +351 75 26198, E-mail: mfreire@ alpha.ubi.pt Henrique J. A. da Silva Department of Electrical Engineering, Pole II of University of Coimbra Pinhal de Marrocos, P-3030 Coimbra, Portugal Telephone: +351 39 7006248, Fax: +351 39 7006247, E-mail: hjas@ci.uc.pt Summary Integrated N×N wavelength multiplexers based on arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWG) are being developed for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems and networks, since they can offer four basic functions: multiplexing, demultiplexing, add/drop multiplexing, and N×N full-interconnection [1]. The use of this technology for demultiplexing in high density WDM systems may impose very stringent requirements on the alignment of signal wavelengths and demultiplexers due to their peaked (Gaussian-like) spectral passband. However, the passband of these demultiplexers may be broadened by the use of multimode interference couplers (MMI), as proposed and demonstrated in [2]. In this paper, we describe the performance improvement due to the use of broadened passband AWG demultiplexers in 40-Gb/s capacity four-channel WDM dispersion-supported transmission (DST) systems with 0.5 nm channel spacing. The block diagram of the simulated 10-Gb/s four-channel WDM-DST system is shown in Fig. 1. The system model is broadly similar to the one reported in [3] and includes a rate equation model for quantum-well lasers, and the frequency responses of a PIN photodiode and of a standard singlemode fiber (SMF) with chromatic dispersion of 17 ps/(nm.km) at 1532 nm. The frequency response of the AWG filter is assumed to be Gaussian and the frequency response of the broadened passband AWG filter is modeled by the double Gaussian approximation [2] with r = 2 , which is the ratio between the peak separation and the FWHM of each simple Gaussian profile. The optical amplifiers (EDFAs) have been considered as linear with a noise figure of 6 dB and an equivalent noise bandwidth of 1 THz. A RC lowpass filter was used to provide the 3-dB bandwidth required by the DST method [4]. The receiver sensitivity was estimated taking into account the signal-ASE and ASE-ASE beat noises, the thermal and shot noises, as well as the contribution due to frequency-to-intensity conversion of laser phase noise after propagation via dispersive fibers [5]. Fig. 2 shows the receiver sensitivity for channel 2 versus fiber length for single-channel DST, without optical filters, and for four-channel WDM-DST using an arrayed-waveguide grating demultiplexer with (BP-AWG) and without (AWG) broadened passband. For comparison purposes, the receiver sensitivity of four-channel WDM-DST using a three-mirror Fabry-Perot demultiplexer (TMF) is also shown. For distances larger than 80 km, the performance of four-channel WDM-DST systems using three-mirror Fabry-Perot demultiplexers is close to the performance of single-channel DST systems without optical filters. Compared with the performance of single-channel DST without optical filters, the use of conventional arrayed-waveguide grating filters as demultiplexers in four-channel WDMDST degrades the system performance at least 0.6 dB for link lengths larger than 11 km. However, the use of broadened passband AWG demultiplexers instead of the conventional AWG demultiplexers improves the performance of the four-channel WDM-DST system at least 1.5 dB, for link lengths larger than 11 km (see Fig. 2). Detailed BER characteristics for channel 2 are displayed in Fig. 3 for four-channel WDM-DST via 204 and 253 km SMF. For the 204 km transmission simulation, sensitivities of -23.886, -23.169 and -24.827 dBm have been estimated for TMF, AWG and BP-AWG demultiplexers, respectively. The BER curves for 253 km clearly indicate an error floor due to laser phase noise. In conclusion, the use of broadened passband AWG demultiplexers improves the performance of four-channel WDM-DST systems with 0.5 nm channel spacing, while conventional AWG demultiplexers are less suitable to operate at this channel spacing.

Silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) devices are starting to be introduced into commercial optical communication systems. PLC devices such as optical splitters, wavelength-insensitive coupler (WINC) arrays, and hybrid- integrated wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) transceivers are used to construct cost effective optical access systems. In trunk lines, on the other hand, arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWG) are employed for dense WDM systems to increase the transmission capacity. This paper reviews the current status and recent progress on these practical PLC devices.

Performance of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) System is analyzed using Dispersion Compensating Fiber. In this work, Optimized link of 8-channel WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) system using OptiSystem is designed. Comparison of the link performance is investigated at different wavelength i.e. 980nm, 1300nm and 1550nm. The better Performance of the WDM link can be achieved at wavelength of 1550nm as compared to 1300 and 980nm using dispersion compensating fiber along with single mode fiber for link length of 105 km operating at data rate of 3Gb\s with 8-channel of WDM System. The BER, Q-factor and eye diagram have been used for evaluating the performance of the system.

We propose novel large-scale optical-switch architectures that utilize delivery and coupling (DC) switches and wavelength routing (WR) switches based on the cyclic arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs). To suppress the passband-frequency deviation inherent in cyclic AWGs, we propose two-stage WR structures in which multiple small-scale cyclic AWGs are cascaded to create a large-scale WR switch. We introduce two configurations for constructing a WR switch; the degrees of the first- and second-stage cyclic AWGs are coprime or not. We fabricate both types of optical switches with planar lightwave circuit technologies. A 270 × 270 switch comprised of coprime cyclic AWGs and a 180 × 180 switch comprised of cyclic AWGs whose degrees have a common divisor are compactly fabricated. Transmission experiments confirm their excellent performance.

The authors have studied the possibilities to obtain the maximum spectral efficiency for a combined wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system by minimizing the channel spacing. The fiber optic transmission systems under study can be considered in the context of next generation optical networks and is offered as a model for designing the future backbone networks. In the case of different telecom operators' optical networks merging, in the nearest future the necessity may arise to transmit variously modulated optical signals over a single optical fiber (even with different per channel bitrates). In this paper the authors show an optimal combined WDM system configuration that provides the least bit-error-rate values for the signals detected in system's channels. It is found that the minimal channel spacing for differently modulated optical signals in the investigated mixed data rates WDM system is 75 GHz if these signals are transmitted with 10 Gbit/s and 40 Gbit/s per channel bitrates. It is revealed that such a system's average spectral efficiency depends also on a combined system's configuration in the case of channel separation with equal frequency intervals.

With rapidly increasing demand for communication channels, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system are being deployed to expand the capacity. WDM systems require devices for the manipulation of multi-wavelength channels. Among these devices, the integrated acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is rapidly gaining importance in the field of WDM communication systems because it has the combined features of rapid switching time, broad tuning range and parallel processing capability. The technology of hybrid unidirectional and focused transducer was adopted for the design of the AOTF. The AOTF consisted of a single-mode optical waveguide placed along the SAW propagation direction. Extensive researches areas, which were in optical add-drop multiplexers (OADM), gain equalization and optical switches, have been done.

Arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) are widely used as wavelength division multiplexers (MUX) and demultiplexers (DEMUX) in optical networks. Here we propose and demonstrate that conventional AWGs can also be used as integrated spectral filters to realize a Fast Fourier transform (FFT) and its inverse form (IFFT). More specifically, we point out that the wavelength selection conditions of AWGs when used as wavelength MUX/DEMUX also enable them to perform FFT/IFFT functions. Therefore, previous research on AWGs can now be applied to optical FFT/IFFT circuit design. Compared with other FFT/IFFT optical circuits, AWGs have less structural complexity, especially for a large number of inputs and outputs. As an important application, AWGs can be used in optical OFDM systems. We propose an all-optical OFDM system with AWGs and demonstrate the simulation results. Overall, the AWG provides a feasible solution for all-optical OFDM systems, especially with a large number of optical subcarriers.

Tunable optical filters are important components for controlling light in dense wavelength division multiplex (DWDM) systems. They can be used in many optical components, and their tunability can be realized using mechanical equipment, or/and changing the refractive index in transmission media. In DWDM systems several types of tunable filters are used. They are produced with different technologies, and they have different technical parameters, but the most important one is still their price

We propose and demonstrate a novel technique that uses a FabryPerot laser diode （FPLD） to perform simultaneous alloptical individual channel clock extraction and wavelength conversion. The nonlinear dynamical period1 oscillation can occur when a semiconductor laser is optically injected. By utilizing the crossgain modulation effect and the period1 oscillation harmonic frequencylocked in an optically injected semiconductor laser, we can extract the wavelength conversional individual channel optical clock from the opticaltimedivisionmultiplexing （OTDM） signal. In a FPLD, we numerically simulate the extraction of 20 GHz optical clock at 1550 nm from the 2×20 Gb/s OTDM signal at 1555 nm, and experimentally obtain the -105 dBc/Hz phase noise frequency division clock of 1236 GHz to 618 GHz with simultaneous wavelength conversion from 155024 nm to 154591 nm. Moreover, we investigate the influence of the injection optical power level, wavelength detuning, the FPLD's bias current level and the longitudinal mode selection on the optical clock extraction. This method is potential to technologically apply in the alloptical demultiplexing and wavelength routing in the OTDM mixed wavelengthdivisionmultiplexing （WDM） communication system.

Large capacity optical networks require flattened gain spectrum and large gain bandwidth of the optical networks. In order to achieve this large number of hybrid optical amplifiers are designed. Here we proposed a competent flat gain hybrid optical amplifier with an optimum combination of Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) and Raman amplifier. Attempts are made to design a hybrid optical amplifier for 100 channels, 10 Gbps Super Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexed (SDWDM) systems at different channel spacing of 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 nm. Work capacity of the network was compared on the basis of various parameters viz., gain and noise figure that determined the performance of the system. The gain spectrum of the hybrid optical amplifier depends upon the parameters viz., pump wavelength, pump power and laser input power of the amplifier. Various efforts were conceded out to optimize these parameters. It was found that for wavelength range 1,570.5–1,580.75 nm, a flat gain of 5.36 dB is achieved for input power of −15 dB with noise figure variation of 0.57 dB without using any gain flattering scheme. Being simple and cost effective, this hybrid optical amplifier could be recommended for gain flatness characteristics and acceptable noise figure for super dense wavelength division multiplexed system.

Semianalytic models are developed to deterministically calculate the variances of degenerate and nondegenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) noises for dispersion-managed dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems with 8-Ary modulations [i.e., 8-level amplitude- and differential phase-shift keying (8APSK) and constant-amplitude optical differential 8-level phase-shift keying (D8PSK)]. The semianalytic models include various important propagation effects for exact numerical results. A 5.28-Tb/s (40-Gs/s/ch) 100-GHz-spaced 33-channel DWDM system with a dispersion map is then numerically analyzed by using the newly derived semianalytic models. It is numerically validated that FWM impacts coming from 8APSK pump channels are more severe than those coming from D8PSK ones, where pump channels denote the channels whose energies are transferred to a probe channel through the FWM process. The numerical results show that although FWM tolerance of a central channel with 8APSK is worse than that with D8PSK, a central channel with 8APSK is still superior to that with D8PSK when some linear noises and FWM noise are simultaneously taken into account for our given system conditions, which is mainly attributed to a relatively larger minimum Euclidean distance for the 8APSK constellation than the D8PSK one.

A multichannel optical wavelength selective switch is investigated, which can switch signals at arbitrary wavelengths between multichannels in wavelength division multiplexing systems. It is based on the combination of an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer and an array of optical space-division switches. A monolithically integrated 2/spl times/2 optical wavelength selective switch is successfully fabricated for four multiplexed signals in the 1.55 /spl mu/m wavelength region. Here, an AWG and four 2/spl times/2 thermooptic switches are laid out on a 30/spl times/60 mm/sup 2/ chip. Wavelength selective switching operations for four wavelength signals between two lines are demonstrated in a time slot of 40 ms with a switching speed of 1 ms.