CH-III

Optical Communication Systems

3.1 Working principle and characteristics of sources (LED, LASER), and optical
Amplifiers

3.2 Working principle and characteristics of detectors (PIN, APD), noise analysis in
detectors, coherent and non-coherent detection, receiver structure, bit error rate of
optical receivers, and receiver performance.

3.3 Point to point links system considerations, link power budget, and rise time budget
 What is an Optic Source?
• The heart of a fiber optical data system
• A Hybrid Device
• Converts electrical signals into optical signals
• Launches these optical signals into an optical fiber for data transmission.
• Device consists of an interface circuit, drive circuit, and components for optical source. (LEDs,
ELEDs, SLEDs, LDs, etc)
 Source Characteristics

• Important Parameters
• Electrical-optical conversion efficiency
• Optical power
• Wavelength
• Wavelength distribution (called line width)
• Cost
• Semiconductor lasers
• Compact
• Good electrical-optical conversion efficiency
• Low voltages
• Los cost
 Semiconductor Optoelectronics
• Two energy bands
• Conduction band (CB)
• Valence band (VB)
• Fundamental processes
• Absorbed photon creates an electron-hole pair
• Recombination of an electron and hole can emit a photon
• Types of photon emission
• Spontaneous emission
• Random recombination of an electron-hole pair
• Dominant emission for light emitting diodes (LED)
• Stimulated emission
• A photon excites another electron and hole to recombine
• Emitted photon has similar wavelength, direction, and phase
• Dominant emission for laser diodes
 Basic Light Emission Processes

Pumping (creating more electron-hole pairs)

Electrically create electron-hole pairs
Optically create electron-hole pairs
Emission (recombination of electron-hole pairs)
Spontaneous emission
Simulated emission
 Semiconductor Material

• Semiconductor crystal is required

• Type IV elements on Periodic Table
• Silicon
• Germanium
• Combination of III-V materials
• GaAs
• InP
• AlAs
• GaP
• InAs
…
 Direct and Indirect Materials

Relationship between energy and momentum for electrons and holes

Depends on the material
Electrons in the CB combine with holes in the VB
Photons have no momentum
Photon emission requires no momentum change
CB minimum needs to be directly over the VB maximum
Direct bandgap transition required
Only specific materials have a direct bandgap
 Light Emission
• The emission wavelength depends on the energy band gap

c h 1.24
E g  E2  E1  
Eg Eg

• Semiconductor compounds have different

• Energy band gaps
• Atomic spacing (called lattice constants)
• Combine semiconductor compounds
• Adjust the bandgap
• Lattice constants (atomic spacing) must be matched
• Compound must be matched to a substrate
• Usually GaAs or InP
 Common Semiconductor Compounds

• GaAs and AlAs have the same lattice constants

• These compounds are used to grow a ternary compound that is lattice matched to a GaAs
substrate (Al1-xGaxAs)
• 0.87 < l < 0.63 (mm)
• Quaternary compound GaxIn1-xAsyP1-y is lattice matched to InP if y=2.2x
• 1.0 < l < 1.65 (mm)
• Optical telecommunication laser compounds
• In0.72Ga0.28As0.62P0.38 (l=1300nm)
• In0.58Ga0.42As0.9P0.1 (l=1550nm)
 Optical Sources

• Two main types of optical sources

• Light emitting diode (LED)
• Large wavelength content
• Incoherent
• Limited directionality
• Laser diode (LD)
• Small wavelength content
• Highly coherent
• Directional
 Spectral Line Width
• Real sources emit over a range of wavelengths. This range is the source line width or spectral
width.
• The smaller the line width, the smaller is the spread in wavelengths or frequencies, the more
coherent is the source.
• An ideal perfectly coherent source emits light at a single wavelength. It has zero line width and is
perfectly monochromatic.

Light Sources Line Width (nm)

Light-emitting diodes 20-100

Semiconductor laser diodes 1-5
Nd:YAQ solid state lasers 0.1
HeNe gas lasers 0.002
• Electrical-to-Optical Transducers
• LED - Light Emitting Diode is inexpensive, reliable but can support only lower bandwidth
(incoherent light)
• LD – Laser Diode provides high bandwidth and narrow spectrum (coherent light).
 LEDs – Light Emitting Diode
• Emits incoherent light through spontaneous emission.
• Used for Multimode systems w/ 100-200 Mb/s rates.
• Broad spectral width and wide output pattern.
• 850nm region: GaAs and AlGaAs
• 1300–1550nm region: InGaAsP and InP
• Two commonly used types: ELEDs and SLEDs
LED
 SLEDs – Surface Emitting LEDs
• Primary active region is a small circular area located below the surface of the semiconductor
substrate, 20-50µm diameter and up to 2.5µm thick.
• Emission is isotropic and in lambertian pattern.
• A well is etched in the substrate to allow the direct coupling of emitted light to the optical fiber
• Emission area of substrate is perpendicular to axis of optical fiber
• Coupling efficiency optimized by binding fiber to the substrate surface by epoxy resin with
matching refractive index
 ELEDs – Edge Emitting LEDs
• Primary active region is a narrow strip that lies beneath the semiconductor substrate
• Semiconductor is cut and polished so emission strip region runs between front and back.
• Rear face of semiconductor is polished so it is highly reflective while front face is coated with
anti-reflective, light will reflect from rear and emit through front face
• Active Regions are usually 100-150µm long and the strips are 50-70µm wide which are designed
to match typical core fibers of 50-100µm.
• Emit light at narrower angle which allows for better coupling and efficiency than SLEDs
 LDs – Laser Diodes
• Emit coherent light through stimulated emission
• Mainly used in Single Mode Systems
• Light Emission range: 5 to 10 degrees
• Require Higher complex driver circuitry than LEDs
• Laser action occurs from three main processes:
photon absorption,
spontaneous emission, and
stimulated emission.
 Laser Diode Optical Cavity
• One reflecting mirror is at one end while the other end has a partially reflecting mirror for partial
emission
• Remaining power reflects through cavity for amplification of certain wavelengths, a process
known as optical feedback.
• Construction very similar to the ELEDs.
 Lasing Characteristics
• Lasing threshold is minimum current that must occur for stimulated emission
• Any current produced below threshold will result in spontaneous emission only
• At currents below threshold LDs operate as ELEDs
• LDs need more current to operate and more
current means more complex drive circuitry with
higher heat dissipation
• Laser diodes are much more
temperature sensitive than LEDs
 Tunable Laser
• Employed in broad-band interconnections and broadcast networks where the need for high
power, narrow line width, and a tunable single-frequency emission is a must.
• Laser that is able to produce controllable multiple wavelengths within single cavity.
• Able to switch transmission of different wavelengths without using multiplexer for
transmission to many different channels at by tuning the output frequency to its designated
channel.
• Consists of an Active Region, and two passive regions: Phase Control and Grating
• Active region is a double heterostructure of a low bandgap between two high gap low index
claddings.
• Two passive regions made from semiconductor with intermediate bandgap between active and
cladding.
 Tunable Laser Cavity
Tunable Laser Operation
•Current is injected into the Active Region causing the entire optical cavity to oscillate in a single
longitudinal mode.
•A current is then injected into the grating control region causing a refractive index decrease which
induces a shift of the Bragg wavelength and variation in the mode.
•The phase region with the injected phase current allows for recovery in Bragg wavelength in order
to keep the same mode in the center of the filter band.
•This results in an output with variable wavelength.
Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL)
 Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser: VCSEL
• Semiconductor laser diode with beam emission perpendicular from the top surface
• Advantage:
• VCSELs can be tested on wafer-level
• Higher production density possible
• Multi channel structures possible
• Structure: Distributed Bragg Reflector on top and bottom as mirrors (reflectivity > 99%) from p-
and n-type materials
• Gain region in between the mirrors (quantum wells) in which free photons are “pumped”
• Typical wavelengths of 650nm-1300nm
• Materials: GaAs or AlGaAs
 Summary
• Optical light sources convert electrical signals into optical signals and launch them.
• Commonly used light sources include LEDs, ELEDs, SLEDs, and LDs.
• LEDs produce nonlinear incoherent light whereas a Laser Diode produces linear coherent light.
• Incoherent light sources used in multimode systems as where Laser Diodes/Tunable Lasers in
single mode systems
• Laser diodes must operate above their threshold region to produce coherent light, otherwise
operating as ELED.
• Laser diodes are much faster in switching response than LEDs
• Tunable laser is able to produce coherent light output with controlled variable wavelength
• Tunable laser is used in multi wavelength systems by replacing a system where many sources are
coupled into a multiplexing device system
Longitudinal Modes
 Longitudinal Modes

The optical cavity excites various longitudinal modes

Modes with gain above the cavity loss have the potential to lase
Gain distribution depends on the spontaneous emission band
Wavelength width of the individual longitudinal modes depends on the
reflectivity of the end faces
Wavelength separation of the modes Dl depends on the length of the
cavity
 Optical Receivers

• Photo Detectors
• Optical receivers convert optical signal (light) to electrical signal (current/voltage)
• Hence referred ‘O/E Converter’
• Photodetector is the fundamental element of optical receiver, followed by amplifiers and signal
conditioning circuitry
• There are several photodetector types:
• Photodiodes, Phototransistors, Photon multipliers, Photo-resistors etc.
 Requirements

• Compatible physical dimensions (small size)

• Low sensitivity (high responsivity) at the desired wavelength and low responsivity elsewhere 
wavelength selectivity
• Low noise and high gain
• Fast response time  high bandwidth
• Insensitive to temperature variations
• Long operating life and low cost
 Photodiodes
• Photodiodes meet most the requirements, hence widely used as photo detectors.
• Positive-Intrinsic-Negative (pin) photodiode
• No internal gain, robust detector
• Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)
• Advanced version with internal gain M due to self multiplication process
• Photodiodes are sufficiently reverse biased during normal operation  no current flow without
illumination, the intrinsic region is fully depleted of carriers
 Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (Laser)
• A laser is a device that produces a very strong and concentrated beam.
• It consists of an energy source which is applied to a lasing material, a substance that emits light in
all directions and it can be of gas, solid, or semiconducting material.
• The light produced by the lasing material is enhanced using a device such as the Fabry-Perot
resonator cavity.
Fabry-Perot resonator cavity.
It consists of two partially reflecting parallel flat mirrors, known as facets, which create an optical
feedback that causes the cavity to oscillate.
Light hits the right facet and part of it leaves the cavity through the right facet and part of it is
reflected.
Left facet Right facet
• Since there are many resonant wavelengths, the resulting output consists of many wavelengths
spread over a few nm, with a gap between two adjacent wavelengths of 100 to 200 GHz.
• A single wavelength can be selected by using a filtering mechanism that selects the desired
wavelength and provides loss to the other wavelengths
• Tunable lasers: Tunable lasers are important to optical networks
• Also, it is more convenient to manufacture and stock tunable lasers, than make different lasers for
specific wavelengths.
• Several different types of tunable lasers exist, varying from slow tunability to fast tunability.
 Optical amplifiers
• The optical signal looses its power as it propagates through an optical fiber, and after some
distance it becomes too weak to be detected.
• Optical amplification is used to restore the strength of the signal
• 1R, 2R, 3R
• Prior to optical amplifiers, the optical signal was regenerated by first converting it into an
electrical signal, then apply
• 1R (re-amplification), or
• 2R (re-amplification and re-shaping) or
• 3R (re-amplification, re-shaping, and re-timing)
and then converting the regenerated signal back into the optical domain.
 1
Tx 1
Rx

… …
optical optical
W fiber fiber
Power In-line Pre-
W
Tx amplifier amplification amplifier
Rx

Wavelength Wavelength
multiplexer demultiplexer

Amplifiers:
power amplifiers,
in-line amplifiers,
pre-amplifiers

Connection-Oriented Networks 35
Amplification and Regeneration
 The Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)

Signal to be amplified Coupler

1550 nm

Erbium-doped fiber
Isolator Isolator

Laser
850 nm

• Two-stage EDFA
Signal to be amplified Coupler Coupler
1550 nm

Erbium-doped fiber
Isolator Isolator

Laser Laser
850 nm 850 nm
 Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)
• A SOA is a pn-junction that acts as an amplifier and also as an on-off switch
A 2x2 SOA switch
• Wavelength 1 is split into two optical signals, and each signal is directed to a different SOA. One
SOA amplifies the optical signal and permits it to go through, and the other one stops it. As a
result 1 may leave from either the upper or the lower output port.
• Switching time is currently about 100 psec.

Current
Polymer Polymer
waveguides SOAs waveguides
P-type N-type

1

Optical signal 2
 Semiconductor Optical Detectors
• Inverse device with semiconductor lasers
• Source: convert electric current to optical power
• Detector: convert optical power to electrical current
• Use pin structures similar to lasers
• Electrical power is proportional to i2
• Electrical power is proportional to optical power squared
• Called square law device
• Important characteristics
• Modulation bandwidth (response speed)
• Optical conversion efficiency
• Noise
• Area
 Photo Detectors
• Optical receivers convert optical signal (light) to electrical signal (current/voltage)
Hence referred ‘O/E Converter’
• Photo detector is the fundamental element of optical receiver, followed by amplifiers and signal
conditioning circuitry
• There are several photo detector types:
Photodiodes, Phototransistors, Photon multipliers, Photo-resistors etc.
• Requirements:
Compatible physical dimensions (small size)
Low sensitivity (high responsivity) at the desired wavelength and low responsivity elsewhere 
wavelength selectivity
Low noise and high gain
Fast response time  high bandwidth
Insensitive to temperature variations
Long operating life and low cost
 Photodiodes
• Photodiodes meet most the requirements, hence widely used as photo detectors.
• Positive-Intrinsic-Negative (pin) photodiode
• No internal gain, robust detector
• Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)
• Advanced version with internal gain M due to self multiplication process
• Photodiodes are sufficiently reverse biased during normal operation  no current flow without
illumination, the intrinsic region is fully depleted of carriers
 Physical Principles of Photodiodes
• As a photon flux Φ penetrates into a semiconductor, it will be absorbed as it progresses through
the material.
• If αs(λ) is the photon absorption coefficient at a wavelength λ, the power level at a distance x into
the material is

• Absorbed photons trigger

photocurrent Ip in the external circuitry
 pin energy-band diagram

• Cut off wavelength:

hc 1.24
c   μm
E g E g (eV )
Cut off wavelength depends on the band gap energy
 p-n Diode

• p-n junction has a space charge region at the interface of the two material types
• This region is depleted of most carriers
• A photon generates an electron-hole pair
in this region that moves rapidly at the drift
velocity by the electric field
• An electron-hole pair generated outside the
depletion region they move by diffusion at
a much slower rate
• Junction is typically reversed biased to increase
the width of the depletion region
 Receivers
• Optical-to-Electrical Transducers
• PIN Diode - Silicone or InGaAs based p-i-n Diode operates well at low bandwidth.
• Avalanche Diode – Silicone or InGaAs Diode with internal gain can work with high data rate.
 Semiconductor pin Detector
• Intrinsic layer is introduced
• Increase the space charge region
• Minimize the diffusion current
 I-V Characteristic of Reversed Biased pin
• Photocurrent increases with incident optical power
• Dark current, Id: current with no incident optical power
 Light Absorption
• Dominant interaction
• Photon absorbed
• Electron is excited to CB
• Hole left in the VB
• Depends on the energy band gap
(similar to lasers)
• Absorption (a) requires the photon
energy to be larger than the material band gap
hc
 Eg

hc 1.24
   m 
E g E g eV 
 Quantum Efficiency
• Probability that photon generates an electron-hole pair
• Absorption requires
• Photon gets into the depletion region
• Be absorbed
• Reflection off of the surface   1  R 
• Photon absorbed before it gets to the depletion region   e  l
• Photon gets absorbed in the depletion region
  1  e  d 

• Fraction of incident photons that are absorbed

  1  R  e  l 1  e  d 
 Quantum Efficiency

• The quantum efficiency η is the number of the electron–hole carrier pairs generated per incident–
absorbed photon of energy hν and is given by

• Ip is the photocurrent generated by a steady-state optical power Pin

incident on the photodetector.
 Avalanche Photodiode (APD)

• APD has an internal gain M, which is obtained by having a high electric field that energizes photo-
generated electrons.
• These electrons ionize bound electrons in the valence band upon colliding with them which is
known as impact ionization
• The newly generated electrons and holes are also accelerated by the high electric field and gain
energy to cause further impact ionization
• This phenomena is the avalanche effect
APD Vs PIN
 Responsivity ()
• Quantum Efficiency () = number of e-h pairs generated / number of incident photons

Ip / q
 q
Ip
P0 / h   mA/mW
P0 h

• APD’s have an internal gain M, hence

 APD   PIN M
where, M = IM/Ip
IM : Mean multiplied current
M = 1 for PIN diodes
 Light Absorption Coefficient
• The upper cutoff wavelength is determined
by the bandgap energy Eg of the material.

• At lower-wavelength end, the photo response

diminishes due to low absorption
(very large values of αs).
Photodetector Noise
• In fiber optic communication systems, the photodiode is generally required to detect very weak
optical signals.
• Detection of weak optical signals requires that the photodetector and its amplification circuitry be
optimized to maintain a given signal-to-noise ratio.
• The power signal-to-noise ratio S/N (also designated by SNR) at the output of an optical receiver
is defined by

• SNR Can NOT be improved by amplification

 Detector Current
• The direct current value is denoted by, IP
• The time varying (either randomly or periodically) current with a zero mean is denoted by, ip
• Therefore, the total current Ip is the sum of the DC component IP and the AC component ip .

I P  I p  ip

T /2
1
 LimT  
2 2
i p i p (t ) dt
T T / 2
 Quantum (Shot Noise)
Quantum noise arises due optical power fluctuation because light is made up of discrete number of
photons

i2
Q  2qI p BM F ( M ) 2

F(M): APD Noise Figure F(M) ~= Mx (0 ≤ x ≤ 1)

Ip: Mean Detected Current
B = Bandwidth
q: Charge of an electron
 Dark/Leakage Current Noise
There will be some (dark and leakage ) current without any incident light. This current generates
two types of noise
• Bulk Dark Current Noise
i 2
DB  2qI D BM F ( M )
2

ID: Dark Current

Surface Leakage Current Noise i 2
DS  2qI L B
(not multiplied by M)

IL: Leakage Current

 Thermal Noise
The photodetector load resistor RL contributes to thermal (Johnson) noise current

iT2  4 K BTB / RL

KB: Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38054 X 10(-23) J/K

T is the absolute Temperature

• Quantum and Thermal are the significant noise mechanisms in all optical receivers
• RIN (Relative Intensity Noise) will also appear in analog links
 Signal to Noise Ratio

Detected current = AC (ip) + DC (Ip)

Signal Power = <ip2>M2
i p2 M 2
SNR 
2q( I p  I D ) M 2 F ( M ) B  2qI L B  4k BTB / RL

• Typically not all the noise terms will have equal weight.
• Often thermal and quantum noise are the most significant
 Detector Responsivity
• Each absorbed photon generates an electron hole pair
Iph = (Number of absorbed photons) * (charge of electron)
• Rate of incident photons depends on
• Incident optical power Pinc
• Energy of the photon Ephoton= hf
• Generated current q
I ph   Pinc
hf

• Detector responsivity
• Current generated per unit optical power
q 
   AW
hf 1.24

 in units of m
 Responsivity

• Depends on quantum efficiency h, and photon energy

q 
   AW
hf 1.24
 Avalanche Photodiode
• Electrons generated
• Sufficient energy to create additional electron-hole pairs
• Internal gain
• Disadvantages
• More noise
• Slower
 Minimum Detectable Power
• Important detector Specifications
• Responsivity
• Noise Equivalent noise power in or noise equivalent power NEP
• Often grouped into minimum detectable power Pmin at a specific data rate
• Pmin scales with data rate
• Common InGaAs pin photodetector
• Pmin=-22 dBm @B=2.5 Gbps, BER=10-10
• Common InGaAs APD
• Pmin=-32 dBm @B=2.5 Gbps, BER=10-10
• Limited to around B=2.5 Gbps
Signal Path through an Optical Link
 Fundamental Receiver Operation
• The first receiver element is a pin or an avalanche photodiode, which produces an electric current
proportional to the received power level.
• Since this electric current typically is very weak, a front-end amplifier boosts it to a level that can
be used by the following electronics.
• After being amplified, the signal passes through a low-pass filter to reduce the noise that is outside
of the signal bandwidth.
• The also filter can reshape (equalize) the pulses that have become distorted as they traveled
through the fiber.
• Together with a clock (timing) recovery circuit, a decision circuit decides whether a 1 or 0 pulse
was received,
 Optical receiver schematic
Bandwidth of the front end:
CT: Total Capacitance = Cd+Ca
RT: Total Resistance = Rb // Ra
B  1 2 RT CT
 Noise Sources in a Receiver
The term noise describes unwanted components of an electric signal that tend to disturb the
transmission and processing of the signal
• The random arrival rate of signal photons produces quantum (shot) noise
• Dark current comes from thermally generated eh pairs in the pn junction
• Additional shot noise arises from the statistical nature of the APD process
• Thermal noises arise from the random motion of electrons in the detector load resistor and in the
amplifier electronics
 Probability of Error (BER)

• BER is the ratio of erroneous bits to correct bits

• A simple way to measure the error rate in a digital data stream is to divide the number N e
of errors occurring over a certain time interval t by the number N t of pulses (ones and
zeros) transmitted during this interval.
• This is the bit-error rate (BER)
• Here B is the bit rate.
• Typical error rates for optical fiber telecom systems range from 10–9 to 10–12 (compared to
10-6 for wireless systems)
• The error rate depends on the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver (the ratio of signal
power to noise power).
 Derived BER Expression
• A simple estimation of the BER can be calculated by assuming the equalizer output is a gaussian
random variable.
• Let the mean and variance of the gaussian output for a 1 pulse be b on and σ2on, respectively, and boff
and σ2off for a 0 pulse.
• If the probabilities of 0 and 1 pulses are equally likely, the bit error rate or the error probability Pe
becomes
Probability of Error Calculation
• The factor Q is widely used to specify receiver performance, since it is related to the SNR required
to achieve a specific BER.
• There exists a narrow range of SNR above which the error rate is tolerable and below which a
highly unacceptable number of errors occur. The SNR at which this transition occurs is called the
threshold level.
 Receiver Sensitivity

• A specific minimum average optical power level must arrive at the photodetector to achieve a
desired BER at a given data rate. The value of this minimum power level is called the receiver
sensitivity.
• Assuming there is no optical power in a received zero pulse, then the receiver sensitivity is

• Where, including an amplifier noise figure Fn, the thermal noise current variance is

• The receiver sensitivity as a function of bit rate will change for a given photodiode depending on
values of parameters such as wavelength, APD gain, and noise figure.
 The Quantum Limit

• The minimum received optical power required for a specific bit-error rate performance in a digital
system.
• This power level is called the quantum limit, since all system parameters are assumed ideal and the
performance is limited only by the detection statistics.
• Eye Diagrams:
• Eye pattern measurements are made in the time domain and immediately show the
effects of waveform distortion on the display screen of standard BER test
equipment.
• The eye opening width defines the time interval over which signals can be sampled without
interference from adjacent pulses (ISI).
• The best sampling time is at the height of the largest eye opening.
• The eye opening height shows the noise margin or immunity to noise.
• The rate at which the eye closes gives the sensitivity to timing errors.
• The rise time is the interval between the 10 and 90% rising-edge points
 Stressed Eye Tests

• The IEEE 802.3ae spec for testing 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) devices describes performance
measures using a degraded signal.
• This stressed eye test examines the worst-case condition of a poor extinction ratio plus multiple
stresses, ISI or vertical eye closure, sinusoidal interference, and sinusoidal jitter.
• The test assumes that all different possible signal impairments will close the eye down to a
diamond shaped area (0.10 and 0.25 of the full pattern height).
• If the eye opening is greater than this area, the receiver being tested is expected to operate properly
in an actual fielded system.

The inclusion of all possible signal

distortion effects results in a
stressed eye with only a small
diamond-shaped opening
Coherent Detection
Coherent detection receiver adds light to the received
signal as part of the detection process

Beam Combiner
Optical Signal Input Electrical Signal Output
Photo- Electronic
Detector Circuits

Local
Optical
Oscillator

Coherent receiver model

76
 Detection Schemes
• Homodyne detection
• The optical signal is demodulated directly to the baseband.
• It requires a local oscillator whose frequency match the carrier
signal and whose phase is locked to the incoming signal ( c=
LO).
• Information can be transmitted through amplitude, phase, or
frequency modulation
• Heterodyne detection
• Neither optical phase locking nor frequency matching is of
the local oscillator is required ( c  LO).
• Information can be transmitted through amplitude, phase, or
frequency modulation

77
Demodulation schemes in coherent detection

• There are two basic types of demodulation in coherent

detection of optical signals :
(a) Synchronous demodulation
(is essential for homodyne detection)
(b) Asynchronous demodulation

78
Optical Detection
Modulated signal: E S  A S exp[ j(c t  S )]
Local oscillator signal:
E LO  A LO exp[ j(LO t   LO )]
The output power of the photodetector

P (t )  PS  PLO  2 PS PLO cos( IF t   )

where
A S2 A 2LO
PS  , PLO  , IF  c  LO ,   S   LO
2 2

79
 System factors for designing from scratch: Design Verification

Factor Available choices

Type of fiber Single mode, multimode, plastic
Dispersion Repeaters, compensation
Fiber nonlinearities Fiber characteristics, wavelengths
used, transmitter power
Operating wavelength 780, 850, 1310, 1550, 1625 nm
(band) typical
Transmitter power ~0.1 to 20 mw typical; usually
expressed in dBm
Light source LED, laser
Receiver characteristics Sensitivity, overload
Multiplexing scheme None, CWDM, DWDM
System factors (continued)
Factor Available choices
Detector type PIN diode, APD, IDP
Modulation scheme OOK, multilevel, coherent
End-end bit error rate <10-9 typical; may be much lower
Signal-to-noise ratio Specified in dB for major stages
Max number of Loss increases with number of
connectors connectors
Max number of splices Loss increases with number of
splices
Environmental Humidity, temperature, sunlight
exposure
Mechanical Flammability, strength,
indoor/outdoor/submarine
System factors for designing from scratch: Design Verification
Factor Available choices
Type of fiber Single mode, multimode, plastic
Dispersion Repeaters, compensation
Fiber nonlinearities Fiber characteristics, wavelengths
used, transmitter power
Operating wavelength 780, 850, 1310, 1550, 1625 nm
(band) typical
Transmitter power ~0.1 to 20 mw typical; usually
expressed in dBm
Light source LED, laser
Receiver characteristics Sensitivity, overload
Multiplexing scheme None, CWDM, DWDM
Optical link loss budget
• Key calculations in designing a simple fiber optic link
• Objective is to determine launch power and receiver
sensitivity
• Variables
– Environmental and aging
– Connector losses
– Cable losses
– Splices
– Amplifier
– Other components
The system margin can be expressed as:
Ma= PT(dBm)-PR(dBm)- system loss.
A (+)positive system margin ensures proper operation of the
circuit. A (-) negative value indicates that insufficient power will
be reach the detector to achieve the required BER.

The optical power budget is then assembled taking into account

ALL these parameters.

Pi = (Po + CL + Ma + DL) dBm

where Pi = mean input power launched in the fiber

Po = mean optical power required at the receiver
CL = total channel loss
DL =dispersion-equalization or ISI penalty,
*The sensitivity of the detector is the minimum detectable power.
Example 8.1

We need to design a digital link to connect two points 10-km apart.

The bit rate needed is 30Mb/s with BER = 10-12.
Determine whether the components listed are suitable for the link.
Source: LED 820nm GaAsAl; couples 12µW into 50µm
fiber; risetime 11ns

Fiber: Step Index fiber; 50µm core; NA = 0.24; 5.0

dB/km loss; dispersion 1ns/km; 4 connectors with
1.0dB loss per connector

Detector: PIN photodiode; R = 0.38A/W; Cj = 1.5pF,

Id = 10pA; risetime = 3.5ns; minimum mean optical
power = - 86dBm

Calculate also the SNR of the link if RL given is 5.3kΩ

 Solution :
For this example, 3 factors need to be considered:
a) Bandwidth
b) Power levels
c) Error rate (SNR)

Risetime Budget
We start with the risetime budget. Assume using NRZ
coding, the system risetime is given by:

0 .7 0.7
Tsyst   6
 23.3ns
BT 30 x10
Also:

Tsyst = 1.1(TS2 + TF2 + TD2)1/2

Now we can assemble the total system risetime:

Total system risetime = 23.3 ns

Risetime of the source, TS = 11.0ns
Risetime of the fiber (dispersion), TF 10 x 1.0ns = 10.0ns

Allowance for the detector risetime, TD

2
 Tsys  2 2
TD     TF  TS  15.09ns
 1.1 
 Power Budget

Total power launched into fiber = -19dBm

Losses: Fiber attenuation 5dB/km x 10 = 50dB
4 connectors 1dB x 4 = 4dB

Power available at detector =[( -19dBm – 50dB- 4dB)] = -73 dBm

Since power available at the detector is –73 dBm, the sensitivity of
the detector must be less than this.
The safety margin, Ma = -73-(-86) dB
= 13dB
The choice of components are suitable because;

a) TD calculated is greater than TD given

b) Total power available at the detector is greater than
the minimum power required by the detector i.e Ma is
positive.
Example 8.2

An optical link is to be designed to operate over an 8-km length

without repeater. The risetime of the chosen components are:
Source: 8 ns
Fiber: Intermodal 5 ns/km
Intramodal 1 ns/km
Detector 6ns
From the system risetime considerations estimate the maximum bit
rate that may be achieved on the link using NRZ code.
Solution:

Tsyst = 1.1(TS2 + TF2 + TD2)

= 1.1 [82 + (8 x 5)2 + (8 x 1)2 + 62)1/2]
= 46.2 ns
0.7
Max bit rate = BT (max)   15.2 Mbps
Tsyst

Maximum bit rate = 15.2Mbps

Or 3 dB optical BW = 7.6MHz
 Exercise 1

The following parameters were chosen for a long haul single mode
optical fiber system operating at 1.3µm.

Mean power launched from laser = 0 dBm

Cabled fiber loss = 0.4 dB/km
Splice loss = 0.1 dB/km
Connector loss at transmitter and receiver = 1 dB each
Mean power required at the APD
When operating at 35Mbps(BER = 10-9) -65 dBm
When operating at 400Mbps(BER = 10-9) -54 dBm
Required safety margin = +7 dB
Estimate:
a) maximum possible link length without
repeaters when operating at 35Mbps. It may be
assumed that there is no dispersion-equalization
penalty at this rate.
b) maximum possible link length without repeaters
when operating at 400Mbps.
c) the reduction in the maximum possible link
length without repeaters of (b) when there is dispersion-
equalization penalty of 1.5dB.
Exercise 2

Calculate the flux density to construct an optical link of 15 km

and bandwidth of 100 Mb/s. Components are chosen with the
following characteristics: Receiver sensitivity -50 dBm (at 100
Mb/s), fiber loss 2 dB/km and transmitter launch power into the
fiber is 0 dBm, detector coupling loss is 1 dB. It is anticipated
that in addition, 10 splices each of loss 0.4 db are required.
Determine where the system operate with sufficient power
margin or not?.
 Example 8.4

An optical link was designed to transmit data at a rate of 20 Mbps

using RZ coding. The length of the link is 7 km and uses an LED at
0.85µm. The channel used is a GRIN fiber with 50µm core and
attenuation of 2.6dB/km.
The cable requires splicing every kilometer with a loss of 0.5dB per
splice. The connector used at the receiver has a loss of 1.5dB. The
power launched into the fiber is 100µW. The minimum power
required at the receiver is –41dBm to give a BER of 10-10. It is also
predicted that a safety margin of 6dB will be required.
Show by suitable method that the choice of components is suitable
for the link.
 Solution
The power launched into the fiber 100µW = -10 dBm
Minimum power required at the receiver - 41dBm
Total system margin - 31 dBm

Fiber loss 7 x 2.6 18.2dB

Splice loss 6 x 0.5 3.0 dB
Connector loss 6.0 dB
Safety margin 28.7dB

Excess power margin = -31 dBm - 28.7 dB = 2.3 dBm

Based on the figure given, the system is stable and provides an excess
of 2.3 dB power margin. The system is suitable for the link and has
safety margin to support future splices if needed..
 Example 8.5

An optical communication system is given with the following

specifications:

Laser:  = 1.55µm,  = 0.15nm, power = 5dBm, tr = 1.0ns

Detector: tD = 0.5ns, sensitivity = -40dBm
Pre-amp: t A = 1.3ns
Fiber: total dispersion (M+Mg) = 15.5 psnm-1km-1, length = 100km,
 = 0.25dB/km
Source coupling loss = 3dB
Connector (2) loss = 2dB
Splice (50) loss = 5dB
System: 400 Mbps, NRZ, 100km
Solution
For risetime budget
0.7 0.7
system budget, Tsyst =  = 1.75ns
BT 400  10 6

source ts = 1.0ns …(1)

15.5    100
fiber tF =
= 0.25ns …(2)
detector tD = 0.5ns
pre-amp tA = 1.3ns
for receiver, t D  t A2
total=
= 1.39ns …(3)
System risetime from (1),(2) and (3)
= 1.0  0.25  1.39 = 1.73ns
2 2
Since the calculated Tsyst is less than the available Tsyst the
components is suitable to support the 400 Mbps signal.

For the power budget:

Laser power output 5 dBm
Source coupling loss 3 dB
Connector loss 2 dB
Splice loss 5 dB
Attenuation in the fiber 25 dB
Total loss 35 dB

Power available at the receiver = (5 dBm -35 dB) = -30 dBm

The detector’s sensitivity is -40 dBm which is 10 dB less. Therefore

the chosen components will allow sufficient power to arrive at the
detector. Safety margin is +10 dB,
 Risetime budget includes the
following:

1. Risetime of the source, TS

2. Risetime of the fiber (dispersion),
TF
3. Risetime of the amplifier, TA
4. Risetime of the detector, TD
The risetime budget is assembled as:

Tsyst = 1.1(TS2 + TF2 + TD2 + TA2)1/2

For non-return-to-zero (NRZ) data

0.7
Tsyst 
BT

For return-to zero (RZ) data

0.35
Tsyst 
BT
 The basic system design verification can be done through:

1- Power budget: The Ratio of PT/PR expressed in dB is the amount

of acceptable loss that can be incurred.
2- Rise time budget: A rise-time budget analysis is a convenient
method to determine the dispersion limitation of an optical link.

 The power budget involves the power level calculations from

the transmitter to the receiver.
1. Attenuation 5. SNR requirements
2. Coupled power 6. Minimum power at
3. Other losses detector
4. Equalization penalty 7. BER
(DL) 8. Safety margin (Ma)
Homodyne Detection

The detector current: I p (t )  2 R PLO PS (t )

Heterodyne Detection

The detector current:

I p (t )  2 PS (t ) PLO cos( IF t  s  LO )

108
Heterodyne Synchronous Coherent
Receiver

Optical Signal Input Beam Combiner

Photo- BPF Delay LPF

Detector

Baseband Signal Output

Local
Optical Carrier
Oscillator Recovery

• In which the IF modulated signal is mixed with an IF carrier recovered

from the IF signal. At the output of the mixer the baseband signal is
received which is filtered by a low pass filter and fed to the decision
circuit.

110