WDM COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Simulation and Design using OptiSystem

2008 Optiwave Sys stems, Inc.

Outline
A basic WDM system Design parameters to consider Loss and gain Signal to noise ratio Dispersion and dispersion compensation schemes Fiber nonlinearities types interplay with dispersion / advantageous nonlinearities strategies for their control Summary

A Basic WDM System

Design Parameters
Bit rate 2.5 Gbps (Point to Point) Parameters Loss, chromatic dispersion System limitation Loss limited without transmit amplifier Dispersion limited with transmit amplifiers Chromatic dispersion without dispersion compensation OSNR with dispersion compensation OSNR with dispersion compensation OSNR limited Eye distortion limited

2.5 Gbps (Optical link with optical amplifiers)

Loss, chromatic dispersion, optical signal to noise ration (OSNR)

2.5 Gbps (Optical link with optical amplifiers + WDM) 10 Gbps (Optical link with optical amplifiers + WDM)

Loss, chromatic dispersion, OSNR, four wave mixing (FWM) Loss, chromatic dispersion, OSNR, FWM, SPM, SPM, PMD

Parameters to Consider
Loss/gain Optical signal to noise ratio Dispersion Fiber nonlinearities Self phase modulation (SPM) Cross phase modulation (XPM) Four wave mixing (FWM) Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) Polarization effects

Loss and Loss Compensation

Single channel
Fiber loss Constant Splice loss Connector loss Component loss Well defined Optical amplifiers Gain depends on input power and Output power depends on input power and

Multi channel
Fiber loss dependent Splice loss Connector loss Component loss May have dependence Optical amplifiers Gain is highly dependent Gain tilt depends on input power Gain at a certain depends on input powers of other channels

Fiber loss
Loss (dB/km) Old AllWave Standard

0.1 1 1.2 1.4 Wavelength (m) 1.6 1.8

Low loss windows: 0.8 micron 1.3 micron 1.55 micron (~0.25 dB/km)

80 nm at 1.3 m ~180 nm at 1.55 m (f~35 THz) f ~ (c/2)

Typical Values
Description Loss of a connector Loss of a splice Loss of the fiber span Loss of a multiplexer Loss of a demultiplexer Description 2.5 Gbps pin diode receiver sensitivity 10 Gbps pin diode receiver sensitivity 2.5 Gbps APD receiver sensitivity 10 Gbps APD receiver sensitivity Loss value 0.25 dB 0.15 dB 0.25 dB/km 4 dB 4 dB Receiver Sensitivity -23 dBm -16 dBm -38 dBm -30 dBm

State of the art bandwidths 75 nm, 18 dB gain +/- 1.5 dB 76 nm, 20 dB gain, +/- 1 dB 92 nm transparent bandwidth

EDFA and Raman Tellurite EDFA Raman

EDFA Gain
8 channels

Pin
Pin = -13 dBm one amplifier Pin = 0 dBm Pin = 8 dBm two cascaded amplifiers

For all cases NF 4 dB

Gain and gain tilt depend on input power

Effect of cascading amplifiers

System Performance, 8 Channels

Gain variation
Loss = 18 dB

signal power 3 dBm/ch

BR = 2.5 Gbps

~ 4 dB

Signal to Noise Ratio

Accumulates Different sources
Thermal Shot noise Optical amplifier noise
Signal-spontaneous
Dominant effect

Pout SNRo F G h f f N amp

hf: photon energy F: noise figure

f: bandwidth
Namp: number of amplifiers G: amplifier gain, assumed equal to span loss Values at the receiver:
- 40-50 dB is good - 30 dB is acceptable

Spontaneousspontaneous

For multi-channel system consider dependence of NF

X-talk as noise source

Group Velocity (chromatic) Dispersion

GVD leads to pulse broadening
Single-channel Transmitter and receiver dispersion tolerance Placement of dispersion compensator Pre Post Symmetrical Accumulated net dispersion Nonlinear effects

Multi-channel Fiber dispersion slope Net dispersion for different channels Wavelength dependence of compensation element

Fiber Dispersion Values

In the Erbium window, fibers have different dispersion values and slopes, which heightens the dispersion-compensation challenge

J. Lively, Dealing with the critical problem of chromatic dispersion, Lightwave, September 1998.

GVD limited Tx Distance

Direct modulated DFB lasers

1 L< 4B D
rms spectral width, a typical value is about 0.15 nm

For D=16 ps/(km-nm) at 2.5 Gbps, L~ 42 km

Externally modulated source

For D=16 ps/(km-nm) at 2.5 Gbps, L~ 500 km at 10 Gbps, L~ 30 km

2 c L< 16 D 2 B 2

G. P. Agrawal, Applications of nonlinear fiber optics, Academic Press, 2001. R. Ramaswami and K. N. Sivarajan, Optical Networks: A practical Perspective, Morgan Kaufmann, 1998.

Dispersion Compensators
Dispersion compensating fiber (DCF)
Uses large negative dispersion in 1.5 micrometer window Small effective area leading low nonlinear power threshold Dispersion slope does not match with that of transmission fiber

Gratings
Uses wavelength dependent reflective delay Low insertion loss Dispersion slope can be written on grating Nonlinear power threshold is same as transmission fiber Phase response is not smooth
J. Lively, Dealing with the critical problem of chromatic dispersion, Lightwave, September 1998.

Nonlinear Dispersion Compensation

Illustrated later ( see SPM + Dispersion, slides # 32-34

Dispersion Compensation Example

8 channels 100 GHz (0.8 nm) separation 10 Gbps bit rate

6 span

SMF 90 km D = 17 ps/nm/km at 1545 nm, S = 0.09 ps/nm2/km

DCF 19.6 km D = -80 ps/nm/km at 1545 nm S = -0.15 ps/nm2/km

DCF Calculation
Ch 1: 192.8 THz SMF 90 km D = 17 ps/nm/km at 1545 nm S = 0.09 ps/nm2/km DCF 19.6 km D = -80 ps/nm/km at 1545 nm S = -0.15 ps/nm2/km Residual D = 17.89 ps/nm/km TD/span = 1610.5 ps/nm Ch 4: 193.1 THz D = 17.67 ps/nm/km TD/span = 1590.9 ps/nm Ch 8: 193.5 THz D = 17.38 ps/nm/km TD/span = 1564.9 ps/nm

D = -81.49 ps/nm/km TD/span = -1597.22 ps/nm

D = -81.12 ps/nm/km TD/span = -1590.9 ps/nm

D = -80.64 ps/nm/km TD/span = -1580.6 ps/nm

80 ps/nm

-94 ps/nm

OC-48 direct mod CD tolerance: ~1500 ps/nm OC-192 external mod without pre-chirp: ~600 ps/nm OC-192 external mod with pre-chirp: from 0 to 1500 ps/nm

Simulation results for 8 channel system

x 10
-4

-4 dBm
ch 1 ch 4 ch 8

-3 dBm

ch 1

Eye height (a.u.)

1.5

ch 4
1 0.5

-14

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

ch 8

Received signal power (dBm)

Without dispersion compensation

Dispersion compensation schemes

pre

post

symmetrical
M. I. Hayee and A. E. Willner, PTL 9, pp. 1271, 1997. Sebastian Biga et. al., PTL 11, pp. 605, 1999. Giovanni Bellotti et. al., PTL 11, pp.824, 1999.

Simulation results
Bit rate = 2.5 Gbps

post

pre

symmetrical

post/symmetrical

pre

Bit rate = 10 Gbps

Symmetrical compensation is the best

Simulation results with post-compensation Higher powers

D = 16 and -80
1 1

D=0

Bit rate = 2.5 Gbps

2 2 2 2 1 1

3 3

3 3

Simulation results with post-compensation Higher powers and higher bit rate
1 1

Bit rate = 10 Gbps

2 2 1 1 3 3 2 2

3 3

Dispersion compensation with FBG

SMF 100 km L = 0.2 dB/km D = 16 ps/nm/km Aeff = 72 micron-square

Dispersion compensation with FBG

2 2 3 3 1 1

2 2 1 1

Bit rate = 10 Gbps

3 3

Fiber nonlinearities
Single channel Related to the real part of Self phase modulation (SPM) the refractive index Related to the imaginary part of the refractive index Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) Multi channel Cross phase modulation (XPM) Four wave mixing (FWM) Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS)

linear nonlinear

Q factor verses launch power

SNR verses launch power

Self phase modulation

SPM effects are negligible when P0 <
= n2 0 cA
[W 1km 1 ]
eff

1.5 W 1km 1 For the fiber we used SPM effects can be negligible when the pick power is below 166 mW or 18 dBm average power If you use N A amplifiers along the link, the criteria becomes P0 < ( N A ) . If you use two amplifiers along the link, the maximum allowable power before the nonlinearity becomes effective decreases by 3 dB Dispersion management using DCF can reduce SPM

Self phase modulation

Quite different scenarios if acting alone or coupled with dispersion. The combination of SPM+Dispersion causes two interesting phenomena with many consequences for real transmission systems: Modulation instability Solitons Even when the system operates far from these pure extreme cases, the presence of nonlinearity alters strongly the dispersive signal propagation and vice versa.

SPM, no Dispersion, L=15 km

Input spectrum P = 20 dBm

Output spectrum P = 20 dBm

Output spectrum P = 23 dBm

Output spectrum P = 26 dBm

Output spectrum P = 29 dBm

SPM + Dispersion + CW Input = Modulation Instability

L= 15+15 km DSF, D=0.16 ps/nm/km Input CW power P = 19 dBm Inline amplifier after the first 15 km span

Optical Fiber Telecommunications IIIa, ed. by I. Kaminov and T. Koch, chapter Fiber Nonlinearities and Their Impact on Transmission Systems by F. Forghieri, R. Tkach and A. Chraplyvy

SPM + Dispersion + CW Input = Modulation Instability

L=0 km L=15 km L=30 km

Spectra Time Domain Waveforms

L=15 km

L=30 km

SPM + Dispersion + Sech Input = Solitons

Multi-color solitons

= 1 THz, FWHM = 10 ps

25 km SMF

SPM + Dispersion + Arbitrary Input

D>0
Nonlinear Dispersion Compensation ( nonl. pulse compression) Negative power penalties

D<0
Additional pulse broadening Positive power penalties

Optical Fiber Telecommunications IIIa, ed. by I. Kaminov and T. Koch, chapter Fiber Nonlinearities and Their Impact on Transmission Systems by F. Forghieri, R. Tkach and A. Chraplyvy

SPM + Dispersion + (D>0) = Nonlinear Dispersion Compensation

|D| = 2.27 ps/km/km (NZDSF) L = 145 km B = 10 Gb/s, NRZ P0 = 14.5 dBm

D<0

D>0

Optical Fiber Telecommunications IIIa, ed. by I. Kaminov and T. Koch, chapter Fiber Nonlinearities and Their Impact on Transmission Systems by F. Forghieri, R. Tkach and A. Chraplyvy

Nonlinear Compensation continued

Single channel transmission at 10 Gb/s in +/- NZDSF
Dependence of nonl. compensation on the fiber dispersion:150 km, NRZ

Example layout
Bit rate = 10 Gbps

EDFA G = 35 dB NF= 0 dB

SMF 100 km L = 0.25 dB/km D = 16 ps/nm/km Aeff = 72 micron-square

DCF 20 km L = 0.5 dB/km D = -80 or -72 ps/nm/km Aeff = 30 micron-square

Simulation results with single channel

accumulated dispersion accumulated dispersion

Signal power 0 dBm

distance distance

Residual dispersion = 800 ps/nm

Total dispersion = 0

10 dBm 13 dBm
G. Bellotti et. al., Dependence of self-phase modulation impairments on residual dispersion in 10 Gb/s based terrestrial transmission using standard fiber, IEEE Photon. Tech. Lett. 11, pp. 824, 1999.

Cross phase modulation

Refractive index modulation due to one signal causes phase modulation in other co-directional channels As a rough estimate, the channel power is restricted with Pch < ( 2 N ch 1)

N where, ch is the number of channels For a two channel system, limiting power is approximately 56 mW (17.5 dBm). For a 10 wavelength system, the limit is about 10 mW (10 dBm) Under ideal conditions (group velocities matched) XPM is two times more effective than SPM Both similar and very different from SPM

Cross phase modulation

The main difference is that the two (or more) channels have different group velocities. That fact leads to averaging and possibly to complete elimination of the XPM perturbation. An increase in the separation decreases the penalty which originates from the XPM Separation between channels also affects the XPM (negligible for > 1 nm channel spacing for SMF, NZDSF, but not DSF )

L= 0

L= Lw

Cross phase modulation example 1

2 channels at 2.5 Gb/s channel spacing 1 nm (1550 nm) Initial pulse separation 800 ps Conventional SMF, D=16 ps/nm/km Signal power Ps = 2 mW, "Pump" power Pp = 20 mW,

Results: The calculated results show that the disperion can lessen the efects of XPM It can also induce: pulse jitter parasitic frequency shifts
Optical Fiber Telecommunications IIIa, ed. by I. Kaminov and T. Koch, chapter Fiber Nonlinearities and Their Impact on Transmission Systems by F. Forghieri, R. Tkach and A. Chraplyvy

Cross phase modulation example 1

Signal spectra zoomed

Signal spectra

Example 2: layout
Bit rate = 10 Gbps EDFA G = 35 dB NF= 0 dB

SMF 100 km L = 0.25 dB/km D = 16 ps/nm/km Aeff = 72 micron-square

DCF 20 km L = 0.5 dB/km D = -80 or 72 ps/nm/km Aeff = 30 micron-square

Simulation results with 8 channels

Signal power
accumulated dispersion accumulated dispersion accumulated dispersion distance distance

0 dBm/ch

input spectrum

t.d = 0 ps/nm

input spectrum

t.d = 1000 ps/nm

distance

10 dBm/ch
output spectrum output spectrum

13 dBm/ch
S. Bigo et. al., Investigation of cross-phase modulation limitation over various types of fiber infrastructures, IEEE Photon. Tech. Lett. 11, pp. 605, 1999. M. I. Hayee and A. E. Willner, Pre- and post-compensation of dispersion and nonlinearities in 10-Gb/s WDM systems, IEEE Photon. Tech. Lett. 9, pp. 1271, 1997.

Four Wave Mixing

Beating between two signals generates harmonics at the difference frequencies

FWM causes noisy artifacts on the channel grid, nonlinear crosstalk

Four Wave Mixing

FWM efficiency depends on signal power, channel spacing, and dispersion

2 > 5 ps 2 / km , If the GVD of the fiber is relatively high

the FWM efficiency factor almost vanishes for a typical channel spacing of 50 GHz or higher If the channel is close to zero dispersion wavelength of the fiber, considerably high power can be transferred to FWM components. To reduce the effect of FWM to the system performance, you can use either uneven channel spacing or the dispersion-management technique or both

Four Wave Mixing

How does it depend on dispersion and channel spacing?

Optical Fiber Telecommunications IIIa, ed. by I. Kaminov and T. Koch

10 Gbps, WDM transmission over 1500 km

H. Taga, Long distance transmission experiments using the WDM technology, J. Lightwave Tech. 14, pp. 1287, 1996.

10 Gbps, WDM transmission over 1500 km

Total power is 11 dBm BR = 10 Gbps To reduce the interaction due to FWM: Managed dispersion
Zero dispersion wavelength of the system is at 1558.2 nm Residual dispersion: -634.5 ps/nm at 1553.5 nm -364.5 ps/nm at 1555.5 nm -27 ps/nm at 1558.0 nm 243 ps/nm at 1560 nm

Unequal channel spacing

1553.5 nm, 1555.5 nm, 1558.0 nm, and 15560.0 nm
H. Taga, Long distance transmission experiments using the WDM technology, J. Lightwave Tech. 14, pp. 1287, 1996.

Power spectrum

(a)

(b)

Experiment a) baseline b) after 1500 km transmission

Simulation

Eye diagrams

ch 1, Q = 16.9

ch 2, Q = 15.9

ch 1, Q = 15.8

ch 2, Q = 14.9

ch 3, Q = 19.2

ch 4, Q = 17.9

ch 3, Q = 19.2

ch 4, Q = 13.5

Experiment

Simulation

H. Taga, Long distance transmission experiments using the WDM technology, J. Lightwave Tech. 14, pp. 1287, 1996.

Stimulated Raman scattering

Short wavelength channels act as pumps for longer wavelength channels The Raman threshold for a single channel system is given by

Pth

16 Aeff

1 g R Leff where Leff for long fibers

SRS is also a function of the number of the channels and the channel power For a single channel system, the Raman threshold is about g R = 1 10 13 m / W 500 mW near 1.55 micrometer if For a 20 channel system, Pth exceeds 10 mW Pth is around 1 mW for a 70 channel system SRS has little impact on system performance

Simulation results

16 CW channel 100 GHz separation 20 mW/channel

Stimulated Brillouin scattering

Lightwave interacts with acoustic wave in fiber, scatters power backwards Threshold level depends on source line-width, effective core area, and effective fiber length Pth
21Aeff g B Leff

The threshold value also depends on modulation format and duration of pulse Some values:
9 dBm for CW light 12 dBm for externally modulated transmitter >18 dBm for externally modulated transmitter with source wavelength dither

g B is about 5 1011 m / W Typical value for

SBS has little effect on system performance

Modulation formats
Most common modulation formats are Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) and Return-to-Zero (RZ) Due to higher peak power, NRZ may suffer more from nonlinearities Due to shorter pulse width, RZ may suffer more from dispersion Studies show that 10 Gbps WDM systems, in general, operate better by using RZ modulation in high power regime It is hard to go give any specific guideline due to complex interaction between dispersion and nonlinear effects
J. Yu and P. Jeppesen, Investigation of cross-phase modulation in WDM systems with NRZ and RZ modulation formats, Opt. Comm. 184, pp. 367, 2000 M. I. Hayee and A. E. Willner, NRZ versus RZ on 10-40 Gb/s dispersion managed WDM transmission systems, IEEE Photon. Tech. Lett. 11, pp. 991, 1999

Project layout

Bit rate = 10 Gbps

SMF D = 17 ps/nm/km Aeff = 80 micron-square

DCF D = -85 ps/nm/km Aeff = 22 micron-square

Simulation results
Launch power -10 dBm -7 dBm NRZ RZ

0 dBm

10 dBm 15 dBm

Summary
During the design process consider SNR at low powers Nonlinear effects at high powers, WDM systems GVD at high bit rates Modulation format Several alternatives to compensate dispersion Symmetrical dispersion compensation preferred But post compensation can produce similar results Managed dispersion can reduce the effects of nonlinearities, but manipulating chromatic dispersion has both positive and negative influence on nonlinearities The nonlinearities can result in negative penalties if the system is operated in the proper regime