TCOM 513

Optical Communications
Networks
Spring, 2006
Thomas B. Fowler, Sc.D.
Senior Principal Engineer
Mitretek Systems

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Topics for TCOM 513

Week 1: Wave Division Multiplexing

Week 2: Opto-electronic networks
Week 3: Fiber optic system design
Week 4: MPLS and Quality of Service
Week 5: Heavy tails, Optical control planes
Week 6: The business of optical networking: economics
and finance
Week 7: Future directions in optical networking

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Future directions in optical

networking

Solitons
New types of optical fiber
Photonic multilayer routers
New uses for MEMS
Ethernet Passive Optical Networks
Wavelength converters

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Solitons
Soliton = solitary solution
Name suggests particle-like behavior
Basic idea
Ordinary pulse smears out as it propagates, due to
dispersion
If dispersion could be compensated, pulse might
diminish but still retain its shape
Discovered in 1834 by John Scott-Russel, in canals of
Edinburgh
Water solitons
Studied in detail in 1960s

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Solitonshow they work

Chromatic dispersion in ordinary fiber causes different
wavelengths to travel at different speeds
Higher RI means slower speed of propagation
RI = speed in medium / speed in vacuum
Travel faster

Travel slower

Source: Corning

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Frequency content of pulse

Original pulse

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Solitonshow they work (continued)

Chromatic Dispersion
Shorter wavelengths move to beginning of pulse
Longer wavelengths move to end of pulse
Presence of light in fiber, at sufficiently high intensity,
causes transient change in RI
Decreases RI slightly
Light travels faster in region of lower RI

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Solitonshow they work (continued)

If light pulse is strong enough, this will affect its own phase
and frequency
Called self-phase modulation (SPM)
Caused by nonlinear Kerr effect
Results in a chirp
Longer wavelengths move to beginning of pulse
Shorter wavelengths move to end
Exactly opposite to chromatic dispersion
Idea is to exactly balance the two effects
Pulse must be short: 30-50 ps ~ 20-30 GHz
Resulting pulse, a soliton will not smear but will still
suffer attenuation

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Solitonshow they work (continued)

Stable equilibrium: two dispersive forces balanced
If pulse disperses slightly forces will compress it
If pulse compresses slightly forces will smear it
Pulse launched onto fiber under
these conditions will quickly assume
stable shape
Shape is that of hyperbolic secant

Source: eFunda

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Solitonspractical problems
Though solitons do not disperse, they are attenuated
Must be amplified periodically
Problem is that their high signal level (much higher than
ordinary pulses) leads to SRS and SBS effects in amplifiers

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Solitonstime line
1973: First suggested by Akira Hasegawa of AT&T Bell
Labs
First demonstrated in optical fiber by Linn Molenauer of
Bell Labs in 1988
1991: Bell Labs research team transmitted solitons errorfree at 2.5 gigabits over more than 14,000 kilometers, using
optical amplifiers
1998: Thierry Georges and his team at France Telecom R&D
Center, combining optical solitons of different wavelengths
demonstrated a data transmission of 1 Tb per second
2001, the practical use of solitons became a reality when
Algety Telecom deployed submarine telecom equipment in
Europe carrying real traffic

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Solitonscurrent efforts
In theory, multiple solitons can exist on a single mode fiber, giving
rise to a new type of WDM
Being commercialized by Algety, spinoff from France Telecom
Doing DWDM with solitons of different colors ~ different
distributions of light
Record: 1 Tbit/second over 1000 km
Bell Labs claims 80 Gbit/second over 10,000 km
NTT (Japan)
10 Gb/s over 106 km
40 Gb/s over 70,000 km
640 Gb/s over 100 km
Use for information bearing purposes will likely be done with time
division multiplexing
For comparison, Bell Labs claims that maximum fiber capacity is
100 Tb/s

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Solitontransmission diagram
Diagram from NTT illustrates advantages of Solitons

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New generation of optical fiber

Dispersion-managed fiber
Objective: reduce dispersion over long distances
Low-water-peak fiber
Objective: remove attenuation due to water
Non-Zero Dispersion Shifted Fiber
Reduces PMD and allows longer lengths

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Dispersion-managed fiber
Match fibers with opposite chromatic dispersion slopes
Done during manufacturing process
Two fibers spliced at appropriate points
Requires almost perfect matching of slopes
Primary application is undersea cable
Also being pushed for terrestrial applications
Opens up S-band for Raman amplification
Made by several manufacturers
Corning: Vascade R1000
Furukawa (acquired Lucent OFS in 2001): Ultrawave

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Dispersion-managed fiber (continued)

Source: Lindstrom/Photonics Spectra, 4/02

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Low water peak fiber

Reduce absorption peak at 1400 nm due to residual OHpresent in fiber
Opens up E-band
Essentially opens up entire spectrum from 1260-1625 nm
Much greater potential for DWDM
But present equipment not ready
Better overall specs
Low attenuation: 0.22 dB/km at 1550 nm
Low PMD: 0.08 ps/nm/km (vs. 0.09 for standard fiber)
Extends reach of fiber by 50%

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Low water peak fiber (continued)

Multiple vendors
Lucent: Allwave
Alcatel
Furukawa

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Low water peak fiber (continued)

Source: Lindstrom/Photonics Spectra, 4/02

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Non-Zero Dispersion Shifted Fiber

(NZ-DSF)
Ideal fiber for long-haul DWDM systems
Moves zero dispersion point away from 1550 nm, where
it is with Dispersion-shifted fiber
Low dispersion, reduced 4-wave mixing
Increases maximum distance between compensation
modules from 40-80 km to 200 km
Designed for 10 and 40 Gbps systems
Can be used in large rings or long-haul applications
Manufacturers
Alcatel: TeraLight
Corning: Leaf, MetroCor

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NZ-DSF (continued)
Latest types have negative dispersion curves
Dispersion goes down with increasing wavelength
Primarily for metro area networks
Allows use of inexpensive, positively-chirped lasers
Combination can actually compress pulses,
eliminating need for compensation
Cuts cost by eliminating expensive OEO equipment
(repeaters)

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NZ-DSF (continued)

Source: Lindstrom/Photonics Spectra, 4/02

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GMPLS Photonic multilayer routers

Also known as Hikari routers

Combine layer 1, 2, and 3 functions
Do IP routing and switching, wavelength routing
Optical label switched path network topology optimized
To minimize network cost
In response to fluctuations in IP traffic
Photonic platform with additions
3R functions
Reclocking
Reshaping
Reamplification
Wavelength conversion
Layer 3 functions (MPLS)

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Router specifications

Source: NTT

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Router structure

Source: NTT

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Cost reduction with Hikari router

Source: NTT

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New uses for MEMS

Variable attenuator
Spectral equalizer
OLS monitors
Dispersion compensators
Data modulators
Protection switches
Add/drop mux

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MEMS chips

Source: Lucent

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Where MEMS devices will be used in

lightwave systems

Source: Lucent

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New MEMS devices

1x2 optical switch

Mechanically
actuated
reconfigurable
slitmask (MARS)
device

2 axis tilting
micromirror
MARS variable
attenuator

Near field
scanning optical
microscope
(NSOM)

Tilting mirror for use

in variable attenuator

Mirror array for ADM

Source: Lucent

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1024 port optical switch fabric with

capacity of 2 Pb/s

Source: Lucent

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Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON)

Last mile renamed first mile
Intended to solve local access problem once and for all
Neither DSL nor cable modems can meet all demands

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Fiber to the home deployment

scenarios

Source: Alloptic

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Advantages of passive optical

networks
Long distance from central office to customer premises ~
20 km
Minimize fiber deployment in local exchange office, local
loop
High bandwidth
Can do video broadcast in downstream direction
No need to install active multiplexers at splitting locations
More info can be found at Passive Optical Networks Forum
website, http://www.ponforum.org/

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List of current vendors

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How PON works

All active components between central office exchange and
customer premises are eliminated
Passive optical components are put into the network to
guide traffic based on splitting the power of optical
wavelengths to endpoints along the way
Replacement of active with passive components provides a
cost-savings to service provider by eliminating need to
power and service active components in the transmission
loop
Passive splitters or couplers are merely devices working
to pass or restrict light
Have no power or processing requirements and have
virtually unlimited Mean Time Between Failures

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How PON works (continued)

Main fiber run on a PON network can operate at 155 Mps,
622 Mbps, 1.25 Gbps or 2.5 Gbps using APON/ BPON,
EPON or the emerging GPON standards
Bandwidth allocated to each customer from this aggregate
bandwidth can be static or dynamically assigned in order to
support voice, data and video applications.
With PON, a single fiber from the carriers exchange can
service 16, 32 or more buildings through the use of both
passive devices to split the optical signal
PON protocols to control the sending and transmission
of signals across the shared access facility

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Passive optical network topologies

OLT=optical line terminator

ONU=optical network user

Source: Alloptic

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Another flavor of PON

Source: PON Forum

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Downstream traffic split using MAC

address

Source: Alloptic

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Issues

Signal attenuation different for each user (ONU)

Security
Need to handle different types of traffic
Standards
Being done in IEEE P802.3AH group

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Wavelength converters
Types
Laser converters
Coherent or nonlinear converters
Four-wave mixing converters
Difference frequency mixing converters
Cross-phase modulation converters
Optically controlled amplifiers
Cross-gain modulated converter
Cross-phase modulated (XPM) converter
Delayed interference converter

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Laser converters
Strong input signal at one wavelength directed into another
laser
Output laser is continuous wave single-frequency laser
Input signal causes gain saturation
Light energy drained from oscillation wavelength
When input is on, output laser generates much
lower power at its normal wavelength
Filter blocks input wavelength
Disadvantages
Inverts original signal
Speed limited to 10 Gbit/sec
Narrow input power range (0 10 dBm)

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Coherent or nonlinear converters

Based on coherent nonlinear processes
Two or more wavelengths interact to generate other
wavelengths
Types
Four wave mixing converters: combine pump signal at
frequency npump with input signal at ninput to generate
output at 2npump-ninput = nout
Difference frequency mixing converters: generate
output signal as difference frequency between pump
light and laser light
Cross-phase modulation converters: use input signal to
modulate phase of signal at second wavelength passing
through long fiber
Then convert phase modulation into intensity
modulation

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Cross-phase modulation

Source: WDM Solutions, 4/02

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Optically controlled amplifiers

Based on optically controlled gates
Relatively weak input signal modulates output of second
wavelength from semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)
Input at second wavelength is from continuous wave
source
Effect is to transfer signal from input to modulation of
second wavelength
Typically the two wavelengths transmitted in opposite
directions
3 modulation methods
Cross-gain: input signal saturates gain of SOA
Modulates second wavelength by reducing its
intensity (inverting it) when input is strong
Fast: up to 100 Gbits/sec
Has wavelength chirp

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Optically controlled amplifiers

(continued)
Cross-phase modulation (XPM)
Low power input signal modulates phase rather than
intensity of continuous wave at second wavelength
Occurs because input signal depletes carrier
intensity in SOA, changing RI and thus shifting
phase
Interferometer stage converts phase modulation
to intensity modulation
Works up to 10 Gbits/sec
Can do 2R regeneration
May be able to do reclocking in future

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Optically controlled amplifiers

(continued)
Delayed interference
Input signal phase-modulates amplification of
continuous wave beam
Amplifier output divided into two beams
One beam time delayed by loop
Two beams combined, regenerating input signal at
new wavelength
Works up to 100 Gbits/sec

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Delayed interference converter

Source: WDM Solutions, 4/02