Introduction to Optical Networking:

From Wavelength Division Multiplexing

to Passive Optical Networking
Dr. Manyalibo J. Matthews
Optical Data Networking Research
Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies
Murray Hill, NJ 07974 USA
University of Tokyo Visit March 22, 2004
T.Harris A.Harris M.Matthews
1997 2000
AT&T Lucent Uber Alles Lucent A la Carte
1996 2001
spectroscopy,NSOM,Confocaldevice physics network subsystems!
Evolution of Lucent and Matthews/Harris Lab:
Akiyama Matthews
Tunable
Lasers
Telecom
Lasers
Semiconductor Laser
Device Physics
Quantum
Wire Lasers
Outline
Introduction
Overview of Optical Networking
Types of Networks
Fiber, Lasers, Receivers
Coarse Wavelength Division
Multiplexing
Ethernet Passive Optical Networks
Conclusions & Future
Emergence of Optical Networks
O
p
t
i
c
a
l
L
i
n
e

S
y
s
t
e
m
OLS 40/80G
OLS 400G
800G/1.6T
Mesh
Backbone
Network Regional
Point
of
Presence
CO-1
CO-n
Core/Backbone/LongHaul
Regional/Metro
Access/Enterprise
EPON
node
Metro
DMX
Local
Service
Node
Metro
Edge
Switch
Metro
Edge
Switch
Optical
Cross
Connect
Metro
DMX
Access
Node
C/DWDM
C/DWDM
C/DWDM
Metro
Edge
Switch
DSL,
FTTH
PON
Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM)
Long-Haul Optical Fiber Transmission System
Transmitter
Transmitter
Transmitter
Receiver
Receiver
Receiver
M
U
X
D
E
M
U
X
Optical Amplifier

3
WDM Routers
Erbium/Raman Optical Amplifier
Categorizing Optical Networks
Who Uses
it?
Span
(km)
Bit Rate
(bps)
Multi-
plexing
Fiber Laser Receiver
Core/
LongHaul
Phone
Company,
Govt(s)
~10
3
~10
11
(100s of
Gbps)
DWDM/
TDM
SMF/
DCF
EML/
DFB
APD
Metro/
Regional
Phone
Company,
Big Business
~10
2
~10
10
(10s of
Gbps)
DWDM/
CWDM/T
DM
SMF/
LWPF
DFB APD/ PIN
Access/
LocalLoop
Small
Business,
Consumer
~10 ~10
9
(56kbps
- 1Gbps)
TDM/
SCM/
SMF/
MMF
DFB/ FP PIN
DWDM: Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (<1nm spacing)
CWDM: Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (20nm spacing)
TDM: Time Division Multiplexing (e.g. car traffic)
SCM: Sub-Carrier Multiplexing (e.g. Radio/TV channels)
SMF: Single-Mode Fiber (core~9m)
MMF: Multi-Mode Fiber (core~50m)
LWPF: Low-Water-Peak Fiber
DCF: Dispersion Compensating Fiber
EML: Externally modulated (DFB) laser
DFB: Distributed Feedback Laser
FP: Fabry-Perot Laser
APD: Avalanche Photodiode
PIN: p-i-n Photodiode
Optical Fiber Attributes
Attenuation: Due to Rayleigh scattering and chemical absorptions,
the light intensity along a fiber decreases with
distance. This optical loss is a function of wavelength
(see plot).
Dispersion: Different colors travel at different speeds down the
optical fiber. This causes the light pulses to spread
in time and limits data rates.
Types of Dispersion
Chromatic Dispersion is caused mainly by the
wavelength dependence of the index of
refraction (dominant in SM fibers)
Modal Dispersion arises from the differences in
group velocity between the modes travelling
down the fiber (dominant in MM fibers)
t
t t
t

launch
receive
Non-Linear Effects in Fibers
Self-Phase Modulation: When the optical power of a pulse is
very high, non-linear polarization terms
contribute and change the refractive
index, causing pulse spreading and delay.
Four-wave Mixing: Non-linearity of fiber can cause mixing
of nearby wavelengths causing
interference in WDM systems.
Stimulated Brillouin
Scattering: Acoustic Phonons create sidebands that
can cause interference.
Cross-Phase Modulation: Same as SPM, except involving more than
one WDM channel, causing cross-talk
between channels as well.
800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
First
Window
Second
Window
Third
Window
A
T
T
E
N
U
A
T
I
O
N

(
d
B
/
k
m
)
WAVELENGTH (nm)
1310nm 1550nm
Attenuation/Loss in Optical Fiber
First Window @ 850nm
High loss; First-gen. semiconductor diodes (GaAs)
Second Window @ 1310nm
Lower Loss; good dispersion; second gen. InGaAsP
Third Window @ 1550nm
Lowest Loss; Erbium Amplification possible
850nm
First window, second window,
third window correspond
(roughly) to first, second and
third generation optic
network technology
Dispersion Characteristics*
1310nm 1550nm 850nm
800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
-120
-90
-60
-30
0
3.0
First
Window
Second
Window
Third
Window
D
I
S
P
E
R
S
I
O
N

C
O
E
F
F
,

D


(
p
s
/
k
m
-
n
m
)
WAVELENGTH (nm)
Standard SMF has zero dispersion at 1310nm
Low Dispersion => Pulses dont spread in time
Dispersion compensation needed at 1550nm
Limits data transmission rate due to ISI (inter-symbol
interference)
Dispersion not so important at 850nm
Loss usually dominates
* Modal dispersion not
included
Characterization of System Quality
Bit Error Rate: input known pattern of 1s and 0s and see how many
are correctly recongnized at output.
Eye Diagram: Measure openness of transmitted 1/0 pattern using
scope triggered on each bit.
Eye opening
Effect of Dispersion and Attenuation on Bit Rate
30
10
1
Bit rate (Mb/s)
D
i
s
t
a
n
c
e

(
k
m
)
0.1 10 100 1000 10,000 1
1550nm
1310nm
850nm
Dispersion limited Attenuation limited
Coaxial
cable
For short reaches (1-2 km), all optics are Gigabit capable
For longer reaches (~10 km), only 1310/1550 nm optics are Gigabit capable
20
x x
Cat 3
limit
Cat 7
limit
Cat 5
limit
x
Twisted Pair
Technology Trends
850nm & 1310nm Preferred by high-volume,
moderate performance
data comm manufacturers
1310nm & 1550nm Preferred by high performance
but lower volume (today)
telecomm manufacturers
Reason? You need lots of them, they dont need to go far,
and youre not using enough fiber ($) to justify wavelength
division multiplexing (WDM), I.e. low-quality lasers are OK.
Reason? You dont need lots, but they have to be good
enough to transmit over long distances cost of fiber (and
TDM) justifies WDM 1550nm is better for WDM
DFB vs. FP laser
Simple FP
mirror
gain
cleave
+
-
mirror
gain
AR coating
+
-
Etched
grating

DFB
FP: Multi-longitudinal Mode
operation
Large spectral width
high output power
Cheap
DFB: Single-longitudinal Mode
operation
Narrow spectral width
lower output power
expensive
Fiber Bragg Grating External Cavity
Laser for Access/Metro Networks
SHOW PLOTS OF FBG-ECL DATA
SHOW PICTURE OF XPONENTS EXTENDED REACH FP
Typical FBG-ECL:
Bell Labs FBG-ECL:
HR AR
gain
FBG
Lensed
tip
T=25C
T=85C
HR AR
gain
FBG
XB region
T=25,
85C
1-2nm grating
<1nm grating
1309.0 1309.5 1310.0 1310.5 1311.0 1311.5 1312.0
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
Wavelength (nm)
T=20C
O
p
t
i
c
a
l

P
o
w
e
r

(
d
B
m
)
-A (3dB) typ<0.5nm
-d/d1 ~ 00lnm/
o
C
?
(from Xponent Photonics, Inc.)
Fiber Bragg Grating External Cavity Laser
FBG-ECL
output
Typical
FP output
1305 1310 1315 1320 1325
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
P
o
w
e
r

(
d
B
)
wavelength (nm)
Narrow FBG bandwith limits
output A~1nm for extended
reach or WDM applications.
Simple design (AR-coated FP,
XBR, butt-coupled FBG)
Mode-hop free operation over 0-
70C
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
1310.3
1310.4
1310.5
1310.6
1310.7
1310.8
1310.9
1311.0

ave
dependence 0.008nm/C
W
a
v
e
l
e
n
g
t
h
(
n
m
)
Temperature (
o
C)
Wavelength Stability of FBG-ECL
CW, ~40mA bias
DFB drift ~ 0.1nm/
o
C
FP drift ~ 0.3nm/
o
C
Filter bandwidths of
WDM Mux/Demux
0.8nm (100GHz)
>100 channels (C+L+S)
20nm
18 channels (O,E,S,C,L)
3.2nm (400GHz)
32-64 channels (C+L+S)
DWDM:
High channel count, narrow channel spacing
Temp-stablized DFBs required
Temp-stablized AWGs required (typically)
CWDM:
Low channel count, large channel spacing
Uncooled DFBs can be used
Filters can be made athermal
xWDM?:
Moderate channel count, moderate channel spacing
FBG-ECL or Temp-stablized DFBs required
Filters can be made athermal
suitable for athermal WDM PON!
1260nm 1610nm
1480nm 1610nm
1480nm 1610nm
Example 1: 10Gbps Coarse WDM
-Used currently in Metro systems (rings, linear, mesh)
-Spacing of CWDM grid determined by DFB wavelength drift
-Current systems limited to 2.5Gbps due to cheaper optics
-Possible upgrade to 10Gbps?
CWDM Lasers
16 uncooled, directly modulated CWDM lasers (DMLs)
rated for 2.5 Gb/s direct modulation (cheap! - $350 a piece)
NRZ-modulation at 10 Gb/s (careful laser mounting; no device selection)
2.5-Gb/s DML
50; line
47; chip resistor
CWDM System Improvement using
Electronic Dispersion Compensation
Example 2: Ethernet Passive Optical
Networks
NO Active Elements in Outside Plant
Enable triple-play services
Simple & cheap
IP Video
Services
PSTN
Internet
PON
Headend/CO
Homes/Businesses
Outside Plant
Choices of PONs
Architecture/Layout Upstream Multiplexing
OLT

ONU
ONU
OLT
WDM:simple, expensive
TDM: simple, cheap
SCM: complex, expensive
Linear Bus: lossy, fiber lean
Ring: lossy, protected
OLT
ONU
Simple or Cascaded Star: low loss
ONU
ONU
ONU
ONU
ONU
ONU
ONU
ONU
ONU
OLT=Optical Line Termination (head-end)
ONU=Optical Network Unit (user-end)
EPON Access Platform
Video/IPTelevision
Voice/IP POTS service
High-speed data
Residence
Bi gIron 4000 FOUN D RY N E T WOR K S
8 - p o r t Gi g a b i t 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 B8G L i n k A cti vi ty L i n k A cti v i ty L i n k A cti vi ty L i n k A cti v i ty
B24FX 1 0 0 Ba s e - FX
Metro Edge
Voice/IP
Services
Business
Broadcast Video
VOD
The image
cannot be
displayed.
Your computer
may not have
enough
memory to
open the
image, or the
image may
have been c
Management
Metro
Network
Data
10G Ethernet
Or up to 6v 1GbE
EPON
optical
splitter
optical
splitter
32 subscribers
Per EPON
Panther EPON OLT Chassis
12v32 384 subscribers
Dynamic bandwidth
Guaranteed QOS
premium access
.
.
.
12 EPONS
Lucent
EPON ONU
+ Gateway
Note on Lasers:
-Use DFB at headend (shared)
-Use FP at Homes (not shared)
DFB
FP
ONU Design
Report
Generator
Packet
Memory
TX
RX
Control
Parser
D
e
m
u
x
watchdog0
watchdog1
discovery
Periodic
Report
generator
EPON driver
EPON core
RX
TX
EPON MAC
M
u
x
Timesta
mp
CRC
LLID Memory
manager
Queue
manager
GMII
SERDE
S
&
Optics
CPU FPGA
Serial
Port
GigE uplink
Packet
memory
1.25G BM
BiDi Xcvr
Flash (CPU)
memory
10/100bT
diagnostic
port
SERDES
(w/CDR)
PON
FPGA w/
Embedded
Processor
CHILD
BOARD
PARENT
BOARD
ONU
Grant
List
Gate
Generator
Packet
Memory
RTT table
TX
RX
Control
Parser
D
e
m
u
x
watchdog0
watchdog1
discovery Keepalive scheduler
EPON driver MPCP driver
EPON core MPCP core
RX
TX
EPON MAC
M
u
x
Timesta
mp
CRC
LLID Memory
manager
Queue
manager
RTT Processor
Report processor
GMII
SERDE
S
&
Optics
Report
table
CPU FPGA
OLT Design
Serial
Port
GigE uplink
Packet
memory
1.25G BM
BiDi Xcvr
Flash (CPU)
memory
10/100bT
diagnostic
port
SERDES
(w/CDR)
PON
FPGA w/
Embedded
Processor
Downstream: continuous, MAC addressed
Uses Ethernet Framing and Line Coding
Packets selected by MAC address
QOS / Multicast support provided by Edge Router
Upstream: Some form of TDMA
ONU sends Ethernet Frames in timeslots
Must avoid timeslot collisions
Must operate in burst-mode
BW allocation easily mapped to timeslots
EPON downstream/upstream
traffic
1 2 3 2
1
2 2
3
1 2 3 2
1
2 2
3
OLT
OLT
3
3
O
N
U
O
N
U
O
N
U
O
N
U
O
N
U
O
N
U
Edge Router
ONU: Optical Network Unit
OLT: Optical Line Termination
Edge Router
Control Gates
Control Reports
PON TDMA pBURSTMODE OPTICS
Because upstream transmissions must avoid collisions, each ONU must
transmit only during allowed timeslot
Transmitting 0s during quiet time is not allowed!
Average 0 power ~ -10 to 5 dBm
Summing over 16 ONUs would result in a ~1dBm noise floor
Distinct from Bursty nature of Ethernet TRAFFIC
Ethernet transmitters never stop transmitting (Idle characters)
CDR circuit at receiver stays locked even when no data is transmitted
Besides PONs, other systems use burstmode
Wireless
Shared buses/backplanes
Optical burst switched (OBS) systems
BURSTMODE TRANSMITTERS
Tx FIFO Encoder Serializer Transmitter
Data
Clock
Prebias
Physical
Media
current
I
th
Optical
output
0
1
Modulation
current
off
Driving LD below
Threshold causes
Jitter
Off-state ~ -40dBm
BURST-MODE RECEIVERS
PROBLEM OF FAST CDR LOCKING
GAIN LEVELING & DYNAMIC
RANGE OF OPTICAL RECEIVER
Rx FIFO CDR
Limiting
Amp
Receiver
Data
Clock
Deserializer Decoder
Reset
IMPACT ON EFFICIENCY
~1460 Bytes 64 Bytes
C
R
C
D
M
A
C
S
M
A
C
V
L
A
N
H
L
E
N
T
O
S
L
E
N
I
D
O
F
F
ST
T
T
L
P
R
O
T
C
H
K
SM
S
I
P
D
I
P
A
C
K
H
L
E
N
F
L
A
GS
W
S
Z
E
C
H
K
SM
U
R
G
S
P
T
D
P
T
S
E
Q
Data
1:4 OLT
ONU 1
1:8
ONU 2
.
.
.
Upstream Bursts
Cascaded PON
guardband
ONU 1 ONU 2
Ethernet IP TCP
Laser
on
AGC
settle
CDR
lock
Byte
sync
ONU1 payload
(Ethernet Frames)
Laser
off
Throughput Efficiency
0.7
0.75
0.8
0.85
0.9
0.95
1
1.05
0 1000 2000 3000
AGC+CDR+LASER ON/OFF (ns)
U
t
i
l
i
s
a
t
i
o
n
Our current situation
Standar
d GE
transcei
vers
Burst-mode transceivers
Conclusions
Optical Networking getting closer and
closer to end user
For Metro, CWDM is lowest cost solution,
but must be improved to handle 10Gbps
PON systems could deploy in mass over
next 1-2 years, with EPON one of the
leading standards
Lasers dominate cost, therefore useful to
study physics of low-cost laser structures!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
(Domo Arigato Gozaimashita!)
Spare Slides
SYSTEM PENALITIES in PONs
Attenuation in PONs dominated by power splitters:
Dispersion penalty for MLMs (Agrawal 1988)
Typical p-i-n receivers w/ ~150nA current noise, 1.25Gbps, R~1
-27dBm (about 1W)
Typical 1310nm FP lasers 0dBm output power (about 1mW)
dB BDL
ISI
8 . 2 ) ( 14
2
} W E
(for worst case, D=6ps/nmkm, L=20km, B=1.25Gbps, W=3nm
dB losses other L N loss 22 . log 10 " ! E
(For N=32, L=20km; typically ~ 24-26dB w/ connectors, splices, etc.)
MODE PARTITION NOISE EFFECT
Mode Partition Noise is due to fluctuations
in individual Fabry Perot modes coupled
with optical fiber dispersion.
Due to uncontrolled temperature and
wavelength drift in FP diodes, d/dT ~
0.3nm/
o
C, and D()~S
0
, the magnitude of
this penalty will change with time.
Due to lack of screening of FP mode
partition coefficient, k, the magnitude of
this penalty will also depend on particular
FP!
D

(
p
s
/
n
m
.
k
m
)
(nm)

0
Bit Rate and Reach Limits due to MPN
Reach dependent on quality of laser (k factor)
(another) Reason why asymmetry in PONs (e.g., 155/622Mbps) are favored GigE?
Worst-case isnt quite fair statistical model shows most fiber-laser combinations, D<3ps/nmkm, k<0.5.

2
ln
1
mpn
k
k
B D L
W
W T
? A
2
1
2
F
W

! e
k
mpn
W T F BDL !
Power penalty due to MPN given by
(Ogawa 1985):

2 2
1 log 5
mpn mpn
Q W E !
Where k is the MPN coeficient,
dependent on mode power correlations.
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Q~6.7 (BER 10-11)
2dB penalty
R
e
a
c
h

(
k
m
)
Bit Rate (Gbps)
k=0.5
k=0.7
k=0.9
REDUCING MPN
Dispersion Compensation at OLT
Additional Loss, some cost
One-size wont fit all, SMF
0
~ 1300-1325nm
High-pass filtering using SOA
Low frequency MPN components are partially removed
Very low noise FP LD driver
Replace FP w/ narrow-line source
DFB is current solution
1310nm VCSEL (high-power)
Fiber Bragg Grating ECL also a possibility if cost/integration
improves
Structure of WDM MUX/DEMUX
(Arrayed Waveguide Grating)
(100) Si
B,P-doped v-SiO
2
Thermal v-SiO
2
P-doped v-SiO
2
core
} core layer
TM, W
y
TE, W
x
Input
waveguides
Output
waveguides
Arrayed
waveguides
Star coupler
Types of Lasers & Receivers used for
Telecommunications