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IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 15, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2003

DWDM Performance of a Packaged Reconfigurable Optical AddDrop Multiplexer Subsystem Supporting Modular Systems Growth
J. B. D. Soole, Senior Member, IEEE, R. Pafchek, C. Narayanan, G. Bogert, L. Jampanaboyana, N. Chand, J. Yu, M. Fischer, M. Ling, M. P. Earnshaw, K. Kojima, and V. Swaminathan

AbstractWe describe dense wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) operation of a reconfigurable optical adddrop multiplexer subsystem module employing silica waveguide technology that is suitable for use with both fixed-wavelength and wavelengthselectable adddrop transceivers. We illustrate its use in providing modular growth in high channel-count DWDM systems. Index TermsCouplers, integrated optic devices, multiplexers, switches.

I. INTRODUCTION ECONFIGURABLE optical adddrop multiplexers (ROADMs) can provide the flexible provisioning and reconfiguration required at the nodes of future dense wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) networks, and a pay-as-you-go modular approach helps reduce system first-costs. We recently introduced a new design of ROADM [1] implemented in the well-established silica planar waveguide technology [2][4]. In addition to providing traditional adddrop of channels to predesignated ports to connect with fixed-wavelength transceivers, this ROADM also provided the facility to direct channels to common-add and common-drop ports, allowing wavelength-selectable adddrop transceivers to be used. Such tunable transceivers might be desirable as an approach to grow adddrop capacity of the node without preassignment of wavelength channels. A single tunable transceiver could also be used to provide 1-by- transceiver sparing in a fixed-wavelength ROADM. This multifunctionality is illustrated in Fig. 1, which indicates the ROADM die architecture.

Fig. 1. ROADM architecture, showing operation with both fixed- and selectable-wavelength transceivers.

Fig. 2. ROADM die (25

2 95 mm).

II. PACKAGED ROADM SUBSYSTEM In [1], we reported the die performance of a ROADM with the above architecture, demonstrating low-loss and high crosstalk rejection. In this letter, we report the successful packaging of such ROADM die into temperature-managed optical modules, fully integrated with stand-alone microprocessor-run driver electronics to form a complete ROADM subsystem. We demonstrate multichannel DWDM operation and illustrate use of these ROADM prototypes in providing a flexible modular upgrade path for high channel-count DWDM systems. The ROADM subsystem used a 25 95 mm die implemented in 0.8% contrast silica deposited on 5-in Si by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. Standard Gaussian-like 16 200 GHz arrayed-waveguide gratings [(AWGs) 0.78 nm (dmux)/0.87 nm(mux) 3-dB passbands; 40-dB background suppression] performed the multiplexing/demultiplexing (mux/demux) functions while Cr-heater elements on fabrication-tolerant thermooptic (T-O) MachZehnder interferometers formed the signal-routing elements. Die insertion losses Thru; were 5.5 dB for paths traversing two AWGs (In Thru; In Common-drop) and 4 dB for Common-add

Manuscript received May 2, 2003; revised July 2, 2003. J. B. D. Soole, R. Pafchek, C. Narayanan, L. Jampanaboyana, and V. Swaminathan are with TriQuint Optoelectronics, Breinigsville, PA 18031 USA. G. Bogert and M. Ling are with Agere Systems, Allentown, PA 18109 USA (soole@tqs.com). N. Chand was with Agere Systems, Allentown, PA 18109 USA. He is now with BAE, Whippany, NJ 07981 USA. J. Yu was with Agere Systems, Allentown, PA 18109 USA. He is now with Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332 USA. M. Fischer was with Agere Systems, Allentown, PA 18109 USA. He is now with the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA. M. P. Earnshaw was with Agere Systems, Allentown, PA 18109 USA. He is now with Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ 07974 USA. K. Kojima was with Agere Systems, Allentown, PA 18109 USA. He is now with DenseLight Semiconductors, S498831 Singapore, Singapore. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LPT.2003.818673

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Fig. 5. Example of modular ROADM use in a DWDM system.

Fig. 3. board.

ROADM subsystem, showing optical module mounted on the driver

Fig. 4. PC graphical interface used on control the ROADM.

single-AWG paths (In Drop; Add Thru). All AWG passbands were aligned within 0.05 nm. Switch isolation was 40 dB for all routing combinations. A sample die is shown in Fig. 2. The ROADM die was mounted in an optical module on a temperature-controlled subassembly. Ribbon fiber (256- m pitch) supplied the optical signals while a local printed circuit board routed the T-O driver currents and performed temperature monitoring. This optical module was then mounted on the electrical driver board that performed the switching and monitoring operations under microprocessor control and interfaced with a personal computer (PC) for user control through a simple graphical interface. ROADM insertion loss was 7.8 dB (In Thru), a 2.3-dB increase over the die loss due to a fiber misalignment during the attach process. (Typical attach losses are 0.5 dB). No polarization degradation was introduced by the packaging, with 0.2-dB worst-case AWG polarization-dependent loss and 0.06-nm polarization-dependent wavelength, as for the unpackaged die. T-O switching powers were 300 mW, with switch isolation maintained under multichannel operation. The ROADM subsystem prototype is illustrated in Fig. 3. The PC graphical interface (which in this prototype provides individual-switch power control as well as simple ONOFF switching) is shown in Fig. 4. III. PACKAGED SYSYTEMS PERFORMANCE We examined DWDM operation of the ROADM subsystem in the configurations shown in Fig. 5. This illustrates a modular growth arrangement in which a low first-cost ROADM

addresses a portion of the channel capacity (configuration A), allowing a subsequent ROADM upgrade addition (configuration B) to increase nodal adddrop capacity as traffic demands increase. We used a 100-GHz/200-GHz interleaver [(IL) 25-dB rejection at 12.5 GHz; 30 dB at 5 GHz] before the ROADM and a 3-dB combiner afterwards (adding 4.5 dB to the module loss) in order to provide 50% initial adddrop capacity. ILIL or redblue filters are viable alternatives and would introduce 2-dB additional loss. By using multichannel band adddrop filters in the base-ROADM and chained adddrop band filters in the upgrade ROADMs, a scalable multimodule ROADM system may also be implemented. In a deployed system, prefilters and postfilters would be integrated and would likely reside inside the ROADM optical module. For our experiments, the IL/3-dB couplers were external to the module. Fig. 6 illustrates the performance of the ROADM subsystem. The left-hand box shows results for a base ROADM which provides 50% adddrop capability while the remaining 50% traffic may pass as express channels, as indicated by the closed-switch settings of the express bypass path. A variable optical attenuator in the express path introduces loss comparable to the ROADM and was inserted for channel power equalization purposes. 24-channel wavelengths were used in the example, limited by the availability of laser sources. Thru transmission spectra are shown in Fig. 6(A) for 8 express channels and 16 ROADM channels (all dropped) and in Fig. 6(B) for 8 express channels and 16 ROADM channels (8 thru and 8 dropped), while Fig. 6(C) shows transmission internal to the ROADM, highlighting the 8 ROADMthru channels. Weak ROADM-channel crosstalk signals enter the express path due to imperfect 3035 dB IL rejection [see Fig. 6(A)]. These could be suppressed by using a second IL instead of the 3-dB coupler employed. (AWG-passband rejection generally prevents similar crosstalk occurring in the ROADM path.) Within the ROADM, interchannel crosstalk is dominated by adjacent-channel AWG 40 dB, and switch isolation, typically passband leakage, at 45 dB. Thru-channel switch isolation for this base ROADM (4065 dB) is shown in the insert. If we introduce a second expansion ROADM to replace the express path, by throwing the switches indicated in the figure, we can now provide a full 100% adddrop capacity to the node. On the right-hand side of Fig. 6, (D) shows an example transmission of the expanded ROADM, with four expansion channels passed and four dropped; all the base ROADM channels are also dropped. (The expansion-ROADM AWG passband rejection now largely suppresses base-ROADM crosstalk signals, seen before, passed by the IL.)

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IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 15, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2003

Fig. 6. ROADM DWDM operation. Left-hand side indicates growth arrangement and shows results for the base configuration (A, B, C); insert gives measured thrudrop switching isolation. Lower RHS shows an example transmission through the expanded ROADM (D). Upper RHS shows BER plot for a 10-Gb/s NRZ transmitted signal, alone and in presence of all adjacent and nonadjacent crosstalk channels (E).

We also performed 10-Gb/s transmission experiments (non) return-to-zero (NRZ); psuedorandom binary sequence on the ROADM combination. Single transmitted DWDM signals were examined in the presence of a full compliment of equal-power (out-of-band) adjacent and nonadjacent channels. Crosstalk signals were modulated and decorrelated by passage through 15 km of single-mode fiber. Receiver filter passband was 0.28 nm/0.73 nm at 3/ 20 dB. A bit-error-rate (BER) plot is shown in Fig. 6(E), indicating that no penalty is introduced by the ROADM, as anticipated from the crosstalk rejection measured. Ability to transmit through an eight-node cascade is often a systems requirement. Previous results showed that 10-Gb/s signals could be cascaded through eight such ROADM over 25 GHz about channel center with 0.25-dB penalty, facilitated by the wide AWG passbands [1]. In-band crosstalk from same-channel adddrop (or multipath interference) also lead to no measured penalty, as expected from the 40-dB rejection level [1]. IV. SUMMARY We have reported a fully packaged multifunctional 16 200 GHz ROADM subsystem, suitable for both fixed and wavelength-selectable transceivers, and described its DWDM operation. We illustrated its use in providing a modular

adddrop upgrade path for high channel count systems. We believe the low first-costs and flexible network growth provided by this ROADM architecture make it particularly attractive for future metro applications. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank D. P. Wilt, W. C. Deutremont-Smith, and T. L. Koch for support of this work. REFERENCES
[1] J. B. D. Soole, N. Chand, M. P. Earnshaw, K. Kojima, R. Pafchek, M. Ling, and V. Swaminathan, Multipurpose reconfigurable optical adddrop multiplexer (ROADM), presented at the ECOC, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 812, 2002, Postdeadline Paper PD3.3. [2] K. Okamoto, T. Takiguchi, and Y. Ohmori, 16-channel optical add/drop multiplexer using silica-based arrayed-waveguide gratings, Electron. Lett., vol. 31, pp. 723724, 1999. [3] W. Chen, Z. Zhu, and Y. Chen, Monolithically integrated 32-channel client re-configurable optical add/drop multiplexer on planar lightwave circuit, presented at the OFC, Atlanta, GA, Mar. 2328, 2003, Paper TuE5. [4] C. R. Doerr, L. W. Stulz, D. S. Levy, L. Gomez, M. Cappuzzo, J. Bailey, R. Levy, A. Wong-Foy, E. Laskowski, E. Chen, S. Patel, and T. Murphy, Eight wavelength adddrop filter with true reconfigurability, Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 15, pp. 138140, Jan. 2003.