Sub-kHz RF electrical linewidth from a 10GHz passively mode-locked quantum-dot laser diode

A packaged 10GHz monolithic two-section quantum-dot mode-locked laser is presented, with record narrow 500Hz RF electrical linewidth for passive mode-locking. Single sideband noise spectra show 147fs integrated timing jitter over the 4MHz-80MHz frequency range. © 2009 Optical Society of America.

Status and trends of short pulse generation using mode-locked lasers based on advanced quantum-dot active media

In this review, the potential of mode-locked lasers based on advanced quantum-dot ( QD) active media to generate short optical pulses is analysed. A comprehensive review of experimental and theoretical work on related aspects is provided, including monolithic-cavity mode-locked QD lasers and external-cavity mode-locked QD lasers, as well as mode-locked solid-state and fibre lasers based on QD semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors. Performance comparisons are made for state-of-the-art experiments. Various methods for improving important characteristics of mode-locked pulses such as pulse duration, repetition rate, pulse power, and timing jitter through optimization of device design parameters or mode-locking methods are addressed. In addition, gain switching and self-pulsation of QD lasers are also briefly reviewed, concluding with the summary and prospects.

40 Gbits/s all-optical clock recovery for degraded signals using an amplified feedback laser

All-optical clock recovery for the return-to-zero modulation format is demonstrated experimentally at 40 Gbits/s by using an amplified feedback laser. A 40 GHz optical clock with a root-mean-square (rms) timing jitter of 130 fs and a carrier-to-noise ratio of 42 dB is obtained. Also, a 40 GHz optical clock with timing jitter of 137 fs is directly recovered from pseudo-non-return-to-zero signals degraded by polarization-mode dispersion (PMD). No preprocessing stage to enhance the clock tone is used. The rms timing jitter of the recovered clock is investigated for different values of input power and for varying amounts of waveform distortion due to PMD.

Generation of 10 GHz, 1.9 ps optical pulse train using semiconductor optical amplifier and silica-based highly nonlinear fiber

We propose a simple approach to generate a high quality 10 GHz 1.9 ps optical pulse train using a semiconductor optical amplifier and silica-based highly nonlinear fiber. An optical pulse generator based on our proposed scheme is easy to set up with commercially available optical components. A 10 GHz, 1.9 ps optical pulse train is obtained with timing jitter as low as 60 fs over the frequency range 10 Hz-1 MHz. With a wavelength tunable CW laser, a wide wavelength tunable span can be achieved over the entire C band. The proposed optical pulse generator also can operate at different repetition rates from 3 to 10 GHz.

Generation of optimized wavelength-tunable optical pulse from an uncooled gain-switched Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser using optical amplifier as external light injection

We present a novel system design that can generate the optimized wavelength-tunable optical pulse streams from an uncooled gain-switched Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser using an optical amplifier as external light source. The timing jitter of gain-switched laser has been reduced from about 3 ps to 600 fs and the pulse width has been optimized by using our system. The stability of the system was also experimentally investigated. Our results show that an uncooled gain-switched FP laser system can feasibly produce the stable optical pulse trains with pulse width of 18 ps at the repetition frequency of 5 GHz during 7 h continuous working. We respectively proved the system feasibility under 1 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz operation. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Properties and applications of injection locking in 1.55 μm quantum-dash mode-locked semiconductor lasers

Mode-locked semiconductor lasers are compact pulsed sources with ultra-narrow pulse widths and high repetition-rates. In order to use these sources in real applications, their performance needs to be optimised in several aspects, usually by external control. We experimentally investigate the behaviour of recently-developed quantum-dash mode-locked lasers (QDMLLs) emitting at 1.55 μm under external optical injection. Single-section and two-section lasers with different repetition frequencies and active-region structures are studied. Particularly, we are interested in a regime which the laser remains mode-locked and the individual modes are simultaneously phase-locked to the external laser. Injection-locked self-mode-locked lasers demonstrate tunable microwave generation at first or second harmonic of the free-running repetition frequency with sub-MHz RF linewidth. For two-section mode-locked lasers, using dual-mode optical injection (injection of two coherent CW lines), narrowing the RF linewidth close to that of the electrical source, narrowing the optical linewidths and reduction in the time-bandwidth product is achieved. Under optimised bias conditions of the slave laser, a repetition frequency tuning ratio >2% is achieved, a record for a monolithic semiconductor mode-locked laser. In addition, we demonstrate a novel all-optical stabilisation technique for mode-locked semiconductor lasers by combination of CW optical injection and optical feedback to simultaneously improve the time-bandwidth product and timing-jitter of the laser. This scheme does not need an RF source and no optical to electrical conversion is required and thus is ideal for photonic integration. Finally, an application of injection-locked mode-locked lasers is introduced in a multichannel phase-sensitive amplifier (PSA). We show that with dual-mode injection-locking, simultaneous phase-synchronisation of two channels to local pump sources is realised through one injection-locking stage. An experimental proof of concept is demonstrated for two 10 Gbps phase-encoded (DPSK) channels showing more than 7 dB phase-sensitive gain and less than 1 dB penalty of the receiver sensitivity.

The structure and precision of retinal spike trains

Assessing the reliability of neuronal spike trains is fundamental to an understanding of the neural code. We measured the reproducibility of retinal responses to repeated visual stimuli. In both tiger salamander and rabbit, the retinal ganglion cells responded to random flicker with discrete, brief periods of firing. For any given cell, these firing events covered only a small fraction of the total stimulus time, often less than 5%. Firing events were very reproducible from trial to trial: the timing jitter of individual spikes was as low as 1 msec, and the standard deviation in spike count was often less than 0.5 spikes. Comparing the precision of spike timing to that of the spike count showed that the timing of a firing event conveyed several times more visual information than its spike count. This sparseness and precision were general characteristics of ganglion cell responses, maintained over the broad ensemble of stimulus waveforms produced by random flicker, and over a range of contrasts. Thus, the responses of retinal ganglion cells are not properly described by a firing probability that varies continuously with the stimulus. Instead, these neurons elicit discrete firing events that may be the fundamental coding symbols in retinal spike trains.

Picosecond soliton transmission using concatenated nonlinear optical loop mirror intensity filters

We investigate the use of nonlinear optical loop mirrors as saturable absorbers in picosecond soliton transmission systems. It is found that they allow short (1–5-ps) pulses to be propagated through chains of optical amplifiers spaced at intervals of typically 10 km. The loop mirror removes dispersive waves and stabilizes the peak amplitude of the soliton. An additional advantage is that the self-frequency shift of the soliton may be suppressed by bandwidth filtering without causing growth of dispersive waves at the center of the passband. The timing jitter and soliton interactions present in the scheme are also described.

Long distance dispersion managed soliton transmission experiments

This thesis presents results of transmission experiments using optical solitons in a dispersion managed optical fibre recirculating loop. The basic concepts of pulse propagation in optical fibre are introduced before optical solitons and their use in optically amplified fibre systems are discussed. The role of dispersion management in such systems is then considered. The design, operation and limitations of the recirculating loop and soliton sources which were used and the experimental techniques are described before the experimental work is presented. The experimental work covers a number of areas all of which used dispersion management of the transmission line. A novel ultra-long distance propagation scheme which achieved low timing jitter by suppression of the amplifier noise and by working close to the zero dispersion wavelength has been discovered. The use of fibre Bragg gratings as wavelength filters to suppress noise and reduce timing jitter has been investigated. The performance of the fibre grating cornpared favourably with that of a bulk device and was in good agreement with theoretical predictions. The upgrade of existing standard fibre systems to higher bit rates is currently an important issue. The possibility of using solitons with dispersion compensation to allow an increase in data rate of existing standard fibre systems to 10Gbit/s over 5000km has been demonstrated. The applicability of this technique to longer distances, higher bit rates or longer amplifier spans is also investigated by optimisation of the dispersion management scheme. The use of fibre Bragg gratings as the dispersion compensating elements in such standard fibre transmission experiments has been examined and the main problem that these devices currently have, high polarisation mode dispersion, is discussed. The likely future direction of optical communications and what part solitons and dispersion management will play in this development is discussed in the thesis conclusions

WDM of solitons in dispersion managed transmission systems

This thesis investigates the physical behaviour of solitons in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems with dispersion management in a wide range of dispersion regimes. Background material is presented to show how solitons propagate in optical fibres, and key problems associated with real systems are outlined. Problems due to collision induced frequency shifts are calculated using numerical simulation, and these results compared with analytical techniques where possible. Different two-step dispersion regimes, as well as the special cases of uniform and exponentially profiled systems, are identified and investigated. In shallow profile, the constituent second-order dispersions in the system are always close to the average soliton value. It is shown that collision-induced frequency shifts in WDM soliton transmission systems are reduced with increasing dispersion management. New resonances in the collision dynamics are illustrated, due to the relative motion induced by the dispersion map. Consideration of third-order dispersion is shown to modify the effects of collision-induced timing jitter and third-order compensation investigated. In all cases pseudo-phase-matched four-wave mixing was found to be insignificant compared to collision induced frequency shift in causing deterioration of data. It is also demonstrated that all these effects are additive with that of Gordon-Haus jitter.

All optical networking beyond 10 Gbits/s OTDM networks based on electro-optic modulators and fibre ring lasers

This thesis examines options for high capacity all optical networks. Specifically optical time division multiplexed (OTDM) networks based on electro-optic modulators are investigated experimentally, whilst comparisons with alternative approaches are carried out. It is intended that the thesis will form the basis of comparison between optical time division multiplexed networks and the more mature approach of wavelength division multiplexed networks. Following an introduction to optical networking concepts, the required component technologies are discussed. In particular various optical pulse sources are described with the demanding restrictions of optical multiplexing in mind. This is followed by a discussion of the construction of multiplexers and demultiplexers, including favoured techniques for high speed clock recovery. Theoretical treatments of the performance of Mach Zehnder and electroabsorption modulators support the design criteria that are established for the construction of simple optical time division multiplexed systems. Having established appropriate end terminals for an optical network, the thesis examines transmission issues associated with high speed RZ data signals. Propagation of RZ signals over both installed (standard fibre) and newly commissioned fibre routes are considered in turn. In the case of standard fibre systems, the use of dispersion compensation is summarised, and the application of mid span spectral inversion experimentally investigated. For green field sites, soliton like propagation of high speed data signals is demonstrated. In this case the particular restrictions of high speed soliton systems are discussed and experimentally investigated, namely the increasing impact of timing jitter and the downward pressure on repeater spacings due to the constraint of the average soliton model. These issues are each addressed through investigations of active soliton control for OTDM systems and through investigations of novel fibre types respectively. Finally the particularly remarkable networking potential of optical time division multiplexed systems is established, and infinite node cascadability using soliton control is demonstrated. A final comparison of the various technologies for optical multiplexing is presented in the conclusions, where the relative merits of the technologies for optical networking emerges as the key differentiator between technologies.

Ultra high-speed transmission using dispersion managed solitons

This thesis presents the results of numerical modelling of ultra high-speed transmission using DM solitons. The theory of propagation in optical fibres is presented with specific reference to optical communication systems. This theory is then expanded to. incorporate dispersion-managed transmission and the dispersion managed soliton. The first part of this work focuses on ultra high-speed dispersion managed soliton propagation in short period dispersion maps. Initially, the cbaracteristics .of dispersion managed soliton propagation in short period dispersion maps are contrasted to those of the more conventional dispersion managed regime. These properties are then utilised to investigate transmission at single channel data rates of 80 Gbit/s, 160 Gbit/s and 320 Gbit/s. For all three data rates, the tolerable limits for transmission over 1000 km, 3000 km and·transoceanic distances are defined. A major limitation of these higher bjt rate systems arises from the problem of noise-induced interactions, which is where the.accumulation of timing jitter causes neighbouring dispersion-managed solitons to interact. In addition, the systems become more sensitive to initial conditions as the data rate increases, .. The second part of the work focuses on contrasting the performance of a range of propagation regimes, from quasi-linear through to soliton-like propagation at 40 Gbit/s for both single channel and WDM dispersion managed transmission. The results indicated that whilst the optimal single channel performance was achieved for soliton-like propagation, the optimal WDM performance was achieved for propagation regime that lay between quasi-linear and soliton-like.

Nonlinearly regenerated long haul data transmission

This thesis experimentally examines the use of different techniques for optical fibre transmission over ultra long haul distances. Its format firstly examines the use of dispersion management as a means of achieving long haul communications. Secondly, examining the use concatenated NOLMs for DM autosoliton ultra long haul propagation, by comparing their performance with a generic system without NOLMs. Thirdly, timing jitter in concatenated NOLM system is examined and compared to the generic system and lastly issues of OTDM amplitude non-uniformity from channel to channel in a saturable absorber, specifically a NOLM, are raised. Transmission at a rate of 40Gbit/s is studied in an all-Raman amplified standard fibre link with amplifier spacing of the order of 80km. We demonstrate in this thesis that the detrimental effects associated with high power Raman amplification can be minimized by dispersion map optimization. As a result, a transmission distance of 1600 km (2000km including dispersion compensating fibre) has been achieved in standard single mode fibre. The use of concatenated NOLMs to provide a stable propagation regime has been proposed theoretically. In this thesis, the observation experimentally of autosoliton propagation is shown for the first time in a dispersion managed optical transmission system. The system is based on a strong dispersion map with large amplifier spacing. Operation at transmission rates of 10, 40 and 80Gbit/s is demonstrated. With an insertion of a stabilizing element to the NOLM, the transmission of a 10 and 20Gbit/s data stream was extended and demonstrated experimentally. Error-free propagation over 100 and 20 thousand kilometres has been achieved at 10 and 20Gbit/s respectively, with terrestrial amplifier spacing. The monitor of timing jitter is of importance to all optical systems. Evolution of timing jitter in a DM autosoliton system has been studied in this thesis and analyzed at bit ranges from 10Gbit/s to 80Gbit/s. Non-linear guiding by in-line regenerators considerably changes the dynamics of jitter accumulation. As transmission systems require higher data rates, the use of OTDM will become more prolific. The dynamics of switching and transmission of an optical signal comprising individual OTDM channels of unequal amplitudes in a dispersion-managed link with in-line non-linear fibre loop mirrors is investigated.

All-optical processing using cross-phase modulation

The following thesis presents results obtained from both numerical simulation and laboratory experimentation (both of which were carried out by the author). When data is propagated along an optical transmission line some timing irregularities can occur such as timing jitter and phase wander. Traditionally these timing problems would have been corrected by converting the optical signal into the electrical domain and then compensating for the timing irregularity before converting the signal back into the optical domain. However, this thesis posses a potential solution to the problem by remaining completely in the optical domain, eliminating the need for electronics. This is desirable as not only does optical processing reduce the latency effect that their electronic counterpart have, it also holds the possibility of an increase in overall speed. A scheme was proposed which utilises the principle of wavelength conversion to dynamically convert timing irregularities (timing jitter and phase wander) into a change in wavelength (this occurs on a bit-by-bit level and so timing jitter and phase wander can be compensated for simultaneously). This was achieved by optically sampling a linearly chirped, locally generated clock source (the sampling function was achieved using a nonlinear optical loop mirror). The data, now with each bit or code word having a unique wavelength, is then propagated through a dispersion compensation module. The dispersion compensation effectively re-aligns the data in time and so thus, the timing irregularities are removed. The principle of operation was tested using computer simulation before being re-tested in a laboratory environment. A second stage was added to the device to create 3R regeneration. The second stage is used to simply convert the timing suppressed data back into a single wavelength. By controlling the relative timing displacement between stage one and stage two, the wavelength that is finally produced can be controlled.