Alcatel Telecommunications Review - 3

rd
Quarter 2001 Road to ultra-high capacity transmission 177
S. Bigo, W. Idler, A. Scavennec, L. Du Mouza
Road to ultra-high-capacity transmission
Thanks are due to Laurent Du
Mouza, who i s now worki ng wi th
Alcatel Submari ne Networks
Di vi si on i n Vi llarceaux, for hi s
helpful contri buti ons to thi s arti cle.
Introduction
O ver the past few years, the capac-
i ty of opti cal transmi ssi on systems
has been doubli ng faster than the
already i mpressi ve M oores law pre-
di ct i ons for el ect roni cs. T he
i ncrease i n the number of channels
through Dense Wavelength Di vi -
si on M ul t i pl exi ng ( D WD M )
accounts for most of thi s evolu-
ti on. However, i n order to achi eve
even hi gher capaci ti es, the channel
bi trate wi ll have to be i ncreased
( the next step i s 40 Gbi t/s i n com-
merci al product s) , t he channel
spaci ng must be reduced and the
total exploi ted opti cal bandwi dth has to be enlarged
( see Fi gure 1) . A ll three approaches wi ll be i nves-
ti gated si multaneously to reali ze hi gher spectral
effi ci ency ( expressed i n bi t/s/Hz) and greater total
throughput.
Enabli ng technologi es for hi gh capaci ty, poi nt-to-poi nt,
long di stance transmi ssi on i nclude:
Low-noi se, hi gh-power, wi de bandwi dth and gai n-
flattened opti cal ampli fi ers.
O pti mi zed opti cal fi ber and associ ated di spersi on
management techni ques for future-proof i nfras-
tructures and transmi ssi on whi ch i s tolerant to
propagati on effects.
Hi gh-speed electroni cs and opto-electroni cs for the
transmi tter and recei ver equi pment.
P olari zati on M ode Di spersi on ( P M D) mi ti gati on.
Di spersi on compensati ng modules compati ble wi th
large opti cal bandwi dths.
Fast opti cal processi ng for 2R-3R regenerati on, pro-
vi di ng effi ci ent but lower cost regenerati on compared
wi th back to back transmi t/recei ve equi pment.
Very hi gh bi t rat e equi pment ( 60 G bi t /s and
beyond) , based on a combi nati on of Electroni c
T i me Di vi si on M ulti plexi ng ( ET DM ) and O pti cal
T i me Di vi si on M ulti plexi ng ( T DM ) techni ques.
N ew gener at i on of f or war d er r or cor r ect i on
t echni ques t o f aci l i t at e noi se t ol er ant t r ans-
mi ssi on.
O pti mi zed modulati on format for hi gh spectral effi -
ci ency ( approachi ng 1 bi t/s/Hz) .
O pti cal fi lters wi th well defi ned ampli tude and
phase shapes for ultra-narrow ( narrower than the
WDM channel bandwi dth) fi lteri ng.
A mong recent advances i n the fi eld of ultra-hi gh
capaci ty transmi ssi on and ultra-hi gh-bi trate com-
ponent s are: a record t errest ri al 10 T bi t /s
( 128 x 2 x 40 Gbi t/s) transmi ssi on system wi th a
spectral effi ci ency of 1. 28 bi t/s/Hz, whi ch has never
been achi eved before; and recent progress i n the
fi eld of 40 Gbi t/s optoelectroni c and electroni c com-
ponents, showi ng that a new generati on of compo-
nents i s feasi ble for the practi cal i mplementati on of
40 Gbi t/s transmi ssi on systems.
Record 10 Tbit/ s Terrestrial
Transmission Experiment
T he pri nci ple of the 10 T bi t/s transmi ssi on experi ment
( see Fi gure2) i llustrates the combi ned use of several
of the key technologi es ci ted above to achi eve an unsur-
passed spectral effi ci ency of 1. 28 bi t/s/Hz. Low noi se
and hi gh ampli fi cati on are achi eved by usi ng an opti -
mum combi nati on of Erbi um-doped and di stri buted
Raman ampli fi cati on over the C and L bands. T he chan-
nel bi trate i s 42. 7 Gbi t/s, obtai ned by the use of Si Ge
ET DM technologi es. T hi s i ncludes the actual i nfor-
mati on bi trate of 40 Gbi t/s plus a 7% overhead for the
Forward Error Correcti ng Code ( FECC) . FECC pro-
vi des a very effi ci ent way of converti ng the 10
-4
Bi t
Error Rate ( BER) at the li nk output to vi rtually error-
free data transmi ssi on for the actual i nformati on.
T he i nnovati ve channel spectral allocati on i s based on
the associ ati on of alternati ve 75 and 50 GHz channel
spaci ngs ( each channel bei ng electroni cally coded at
42. 7 Gbi t/s) , Vesti gi al Si de Band ( VSB) fi lteri ng and
Polari zati on Di vi si on M ulti plexi ng ( PDM ) . T hese tech-
Channel
rate R
R'>R
Optical Spectrum
Increase bitrate
per channel
Decrease channel
spacing
Increase total
bandwidth
(a)
(b)
(c)
bandwidth B
tot
Upgraded configuration
B
tot
B
tot
B'
tot>
B
tot
Tx
Terminals
Rx
Terminals
Fig. 1 Systemupgrading to achieve ultra-high capacity transmission will
followthree directions: (a) increase the channel bitrate,(b) decrea-
se the channel spacing, and (c) increase the optical bandwidth
Alcatel Telecommunications Review - 3
rd
Quarter 2001 Trends and evolution of optical networks and technologies 178
ti on rati o. Hi gher bandwi dths and lower dri vi ng
voltages can be achi eved wi th the more compact I nP-
based Electro-A bsorpti on M odulators ( EA M ) . M od-
ulators of thi s type are presently bei ng studi ed i n R& I
to i mprove thei r chi rp and exti ncti on rati o ( see
Fi gure 3) .
Receivers
I nGaA s PI N photodi odes offer very large bandwi dths
and hi gh responsi vi ti es. I n addi ti on, they can wi th-
stand hi gh opti cal i nput powers and often exhi bi t very
low polari zati on sensi ti vi ti es. Nevertheless, consi d-
erable work i s i n progress to defi ne structures that
can meet the requi rements of real systems, parti cu-
larly i n terms of reli abi li ty.
Electronics
Si G e bi polar and G aA s P -HE M T ( Hi gh E lect ron
M obi li ty T ransi stor) technologi es ( provi ded by exter-
nal foundri es) are currently used for multi plex-
i ng/demulti plexi ng and modulator dri ver appli ca-
ti ons, respecti vely. For example, a 40 Gbi t/s GaA s
HEM T dri ver provi ded a hi gh output voltage ( >6 V) ,
based on a 2-stage structure wi th the preampli fi er fol-
lowed by the mai n ampli fi er-combi ner usi ng di s-
tri buted ampli fi ers. O n the other hand, I nP i ntegrated
ci rcui ts are expected to be used for speci fi c func-
ti ons, such as a 40 Gbi t/s deci si on fli p-flop at the
transmi tter and recei ver si des, to provi de i mproved
performance margi ns.
Conclusion
T erabi t/s capaci ty has been demonstrated. Compared
wi th commerci ally-avai lable WDM systems, thi s has
been achi eved by i ncreasi ng the channel rate to
40 Gbi t/s, by i ncreasi ng the number of WDM channels
to 256 to achi eve an unprecedented spectral effi -
ci ency, and usi ng the full bandwi dth of the C-band and
ni ques help to reduce detri mental crosstalk between
channels to below an acceptable level. I n addi ti on, the
si gnal i s transmi tted on the new Alcatel TeraLi ght fi ber,
whi ch has been shown to be the opti mum fi ber desi gn
for cost-effecti ve ultra-hi gh-bi trate transmi ssi on and to
be future proof because of i ts compati bi li ty wi th hi gher
channel bi trates.
Optoelectronic and Electronic
Components for 40 Gbit/ s
Applications
M any developments have been necessary to achi eve
a transmi ssi on rate of 40 Gbi t/s per channel. O pto-
electroni c devi ces and very fast i ntegrated ci rcui ts
are now avai lable, although thei r hi gh speed capa-
bi li ti es often remai n far from what i s requi red. New
generati ons of components are bei ng developed for
the practi cal i mplementati on of 40 Gbi t/s systems.
R & I and the A lcatel Busi ness Di vi si ons are acti ve i n
these fi elds, ei ther through i n-house developments
or through collaborati ons wi th external suppli ers.
Transmitters
Li thi um Ni obate electro-opti c modulators are cur-
rently the lowest bandwi dth components wi thi n the
transmi tter. M oreover, they requi re a hi gh dri ve
voltage of more than 5 V
pp
to achi eve a hi gh exti nc-
100 km
Teralight
42.7 Gbit/ s (FECC) equipment
- SiGe Technology
Distributed Raman amplification
+C/ L band EDFA
Dispersion management
- 100 kmTeralight(+8ps/ nm/ km) DCF
"Vestigal Side-Band" optical filtering
- 1.28 bit/ s/ Hz
- 10.2 Tbit/ s
Left-side
filtering
Wavelength (nm)
U
n
c
o
r
r
e
c
t
e
d

B
E
R
S
N
R

(
i
n

0
.
1
.

n
m
)
Right-side
filtering
Left and
right-side
filtering
C
L
C
L
40 Gbit/ s
+FEC
40 Gbit/ s
+FEC
Polar.
mux
DCF DCF
DCF DCF
C
L
Tx1
Tx2
RX
1
128
1
128
C
L
C
L
1525
50GHz
75GHz 75GHz
35
20
25
35
20
25
0
-6
0
-5
0
-4
0
-3
1545 1565 1585 1605
Fig. 2 Experimental setup for demonstrating terrestrial transmission with a record spectral efficiency of 1.28bit/s/Hz
Fig. 3 InP-based electro-absorption modulator
DCF: Dispersion Compensating Fiber
Alcatel Telecommunications Review - 3
rd
Quarter 2001 Road to ultra-high capacity transmission 178
Alcatel Telecommunications Review - 3
rd
Quarter 2001 Road to ultra-high capacity transmission 179
Sbastien Bigois head of the WDM transmis-
sion group within Alcatel Research & Innovation
in Marcoussis, France.
L-band opti cal ampli fi ers. Further i mprovements i n
the transmi ssi on performance and cost-effecti ve-
ness of such large capaci ty systems partly depend on
the progress of electroni cs and opto-electroni cs. I
Wilfried Idler is in charge of Nx40 Gbit/ s
transmission at the Alcatel Research & Innova-
tion center in Stuttgart, Germany.
Andr Scavennecis Deputy Director of Opto+
based in Marcoussis, France.