Optical Networks and

Systems
Module 2

Joseph Zacharias

Coherent Lightwave Systems

Intensity modulation with direct detection ( IMDD)
electrical bit stream modulates intensity of optical carrier
optical receiver converts optical signal to electrical domain
--scheme pays no attention to frequency or phase of optical carrier
--photodetector responds to changes in the power level(intensity) that
falls directly on it.
-system simplicity, relatively low cost
-limited sensitivity.
Reference: Fiber Optic Communication Systems-Govind P. Agrawal

 Transmit information by modulating the amplitude, frequency or

phase of optical carrier
Detect signal by homodyne or heterodyne detection technique
Phase coherence of optical carrier plays an important role
Motivation behind coherent lightwave systems
receiver sensitivity can be improved by up to 20 dB compared with
IMDD
Allow more efficient use of fiber b/w by increasing spectral
efficiency of WDM systems.

Basic concepts

 Basic idea consists of combining the optical signal coherently with a

continuously wave (CW) optical field before it falls on the
photodetector.
CW field is generated locally at the receiver using a narrow linewidth
laser, called Local Oscillator (LO)
Optical signal can be written using complex notation as
= exp 0 +

(10.1.1)

The optical field associated with the LO is given by

= exp +

(10.1.2)

 Photodetector responds to the optical intensity

Optical power incident at the photodetector is given by
= + 2 , where K is a constant of proportionality
= + + 2 cos( + )

(10.1.3)

Where = 2 , = 2 , = 0 .
(10.1.4)
The frequency = /2, is Intermediate frequency (IF)
When 0 , optical signal is demodulated in two stages; its carrier
frequency is first converted to an intermediate frequency ( typically 0.1-5 GHz)
before the signal is demodulated to baseband. -Heterodyne detection
When 0 = ,- Homodyne detection

Homodyne Detection
Here local oscillator frequency is selected to coincide with the
signal carrier frequency 0 so that = 0
The photocurrent ( = ,where R is the detector responsivity)
is given by
= + + 2 cos( )

(10.1.5)

Typically , and + .
The last term contains the information transmitted and is used by the
decision circuit.

Advantages
Consider the case in which the local oscillator phase is locked to the
signal phase so that = .
The homodyne signal is given by
= 2
(10.1.6)
The main advantage is evident from above eqn.

Signal current in direct detection case is given by

= ()

Denoting average optical power by , the average electrical power is

increased by a factor of 4 / with the use of homodyne
detection.
Since can be made much larger than , the power enhancement
can exceed 20bB.

Advantages
Another advantage of coherent detection is evident from (10.1.5)
= + + 2 cos( )

(10.1.5)

Because the last term in this equation contains the signal phase
explicitly, it is possible to transmit information by modulating the phase
or frequency of the optical carrier.
Direct detection does not allow phase or frequency modulation, as all
information about the signal phase is lost.

Disadvantage
A disadvantage also results from its phase sensitivity.
Since the last term in (10.1.5) contains the local oscillator phase
explicitly, clearly should be controlled.
Ideally, and should stay constant except for intentional
modulation of .
In practice, both and fluctuate with time in a random manner.
However, their difference can be forced to remain nearly
constant through an optical phase- locked loop.
The implementation of such a loop is not simple and makes the
design of optical homodyne receivers quite complicated.
In addition, matching of the transmitter and LO frequencies puts
stringent requirements on the two optical sources.

Heterodyne detection
Local oscillator frequency is chosen to differ from signal carrier
frequency 0 such that is in the microwave frequency region
( ~ 1),
The photocurrent is given by
= + + 2 cos( + )

(10.1.7)

Typically , and the dc term is nearly constant and can be

removed easily using bandpass filters.
heterodyne signal is given by the ac term
() = 2 cos( + )

(10.1.8)

Information can be transmitted through amplitude, phase, or

frequency modulation of the optical carrier.

advantages

Local oscillator amplifies the received signal by a large factor, thereby

improving the SNR
However, SNR improvement is lowered by a factor of 2 ( 3 dB)
compared with homodyne detection. This is called heterodyne
detection penalty
The advantage gained at the expense of the 3-dB penalty is that the
receiver design is considerably simplified because an optical PLL is no
longer needed.
The fluctuations in both and still need to be controlled using
narrow linewidth semiconductor lasers for both the optical sources.
However, the linewidth requirements are quite moderate when an
asynchronous demodulation scheme is used.
This feature makes the heterodyne detection quite suitable for
practical implementation in coherent lightwave systems.

Signal to-Noise Ratio

The advantage of coherent detection for lightwave systems can be
made more quantitative by considering the SNR of the receiver current.
The receiver current fluctuates because of shot noise and thermal
noise.
The variance 2 of current fluctuations is obtained by adding the two
contributions
2 = 2 + 2
(10.1.9)
Where 2 = 2 + , 2 = (4 / ) (10.1.10)
Where is the total photocurrent generated at the detector and is given
by Eq. (10.1.5) or Eq. (10.1.7) , is the dark current, is the effective
noise bandwidth of the receiver.

 is the Boltzmann constant,

is the load resistor,
is the amplifier noise figure, which represents the factor by which
thermal noise is enhanced by various resistors used in pre- and main
amplifiers.
In practice, , and can be replaced by for both cases.
SNR is obtained by dividing average signal power by the average noise
power. In heterodyne case this is given by
=

2 2
2 + +2

(10.1.11)

The main advantage of coherent detection can be seen from the

above equation

 Since local oscillator power can be controlled at the receiver, it

can be made large enough that the receiver noise is dominated by
shot noise.
2 2 when 2 /(2).
(10.1.12)
Under the same conditions, the dark-current contribution to the shot
noise is negligible ( ).
The SNR is given by

where = / ; is quantum efficiency.

(10.1.13)

 It is useful to express the SNR in terms of number of photons ,

received within a single bit
At the bit rate , the signal power is related to as
= .
Typically = /2.
= 2 for heterodyne case.
In case of homodyne detection, = 4 .