Optical Fiber Communications

Chapter 10 WDM Concepts and Components

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Overview Chapter 10
10.1 Overview of WDM 10.2 Passive Optical Couplers 10.3 Isolators and Circulators 10.4 Fiber Grating Filters 10.5 Dielectric Thin-Film Filters 10.6 Phased-Array-Based Devices 10.7 Diffraction Gratings 10.8 Active Optical Components 10.9 Tunable Light Sources
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Overview of WDM
A characteristic of WDM is that the discrete wavelengths form an orthogonal set of carriers that can be separated, routed, and switched without interfering with each other. WDM networks require a variety of passive and active devices to combine, distribute, isolate, and amplify optical power at different wavelengths.

WDM Spectral Bands

Many independent narrowband regions in the O- through Lbands can be used simultaneously. These regions are designated either in terms of spectral width or optical bandwidth. The optical bandwidth related to a particular spectral width is found by differentiating c = ; for << 2

WDM Standards
ITU-T Recommendation G.694.1 specifies DWDM operation in the S-, C-, and L-bands for frequency spacing of 100 to 12.5 GHz (or, equivalently, 0.8 to 0.1 nm at 1550 nm). The number NM is used by ITU-T to designate a specific 19N.M-THz Cband 100-GHz channel, e.g., the frequency 194.3 THz is ITU channel 43.

10.2 Passive Optical Couplers

Passive devices operate completely in the optical domain to split and combine light streams. They include N N couplers (with N 2), power splitters, power taps, and star couplers. They can be fabricated either from optical fibers or by means of planar optical waveguides using material such as LiNbO3, InP, silica, silicon oxynitride, or various polymers.

The 2 2 Fiber Coupler

P0 is the input power, P1 is the throughout power, and P2 is the power coupled into the second fiber. P3 and P4 are extremely low signal levels (-50 to -70 dB below the input level) resulting from backward reflections and scattering in the device

The evanescent tail from one fiber core couples into another closely spaced fiber core Optical power coupling

Performance of an Optical Coupler

3-dB coupler: P1 = P2 = 0.5 P0 Tap coupler: P2 = 0.005 P0 (- 23 dB)

Example Coupler Performance

Star Couplers
In general, an N M coupler has N inputs and M outputs

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N N Star Coupler
Can construct star couplers by cascading 3-dB couplers The number of 3-dB couplers needed to construct an N N star is

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Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Multiplexers

By splitting the input beam and introducing a phase shift in one of the paths, the recombined signals will interfere constructively at one output and destructively at the other. In the central region, when the signals in the two arms come from the same light source, the outputs from these two guides have a phase difference

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Cascaded MZIs
Using basic 2 2 MZIs, any size N N multiplexer (with N = 2n) can be constructed. Each module i has a different Li in order to have all wavelengths exit at port C

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Optical Isolators
Optical isolators allow light to pass in only one direction. This prevents scattered or reflected light from traveling in the reverse direction. E.g., can keep backward-traveling light from entering a laser diode and possibly causing instabilities in the optical output.
Polarizationindependent isolator made of three miniature optical components

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Optical Circulators
An optical circulator is a nonreciprocal multiport passive device that directs light sequentially from port to port in only one direction. In the 3port example, an input on port 1 is sent out on port 2, an input on port 2 is sent out on port 3, and an input on port 3 is sent out on port 1.

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Isolator and Circulator Parameters

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Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)

Example formation: Two ultraviolet beams will create a permanent interference pattern in a GeO2-doped silica fiber to form a periodic index variation along the axis.

Operating Principle: Incident optical wave at l0 will be reflected back if the following grating condition is met: l0 = 2neffL, where neff is average weighting of n1 and n2 and L = grating period (periodicity of index variation)
Incident l0 Reflected l0

n2 n1
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Fiber Bragg Grating Application

Demultiplexing (wavelength dropping) process: Consider 4 wavelengths entering a circulator at port 1. All wavelengths exit from port 2. The fiber Bragg grating is designed to reflect 2 and pass all other wavelengths. After reflection, 2 enters port 2 and comes out of port 3.

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Multiplexing of Four Wavelengths

One needs to cascade N-1 FBGs and N-1 circulators for combining or separating N wavelengths. Example for multiplexing four wavelengths using three FBGs and three circulators (labeled C2, C3, and C4). The fiber grating filters labeled FBG2, FBG3, and FBG4 are constructed to reflect wavelengths 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and to pass all others.

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Etalon Theory
A dielectric thin-film filter (TFF) is used as an optical bandpass flter. It allows a very narrow wavelength band to pass straight through it and reflects all other wavelengths. The basis of these devices is a reflective mirror surfaces called a FabryPerot interferometer or an etalon. The transmission T of an ideal etalon in which there is no light absorption by the mirrors is an Airy function

The periodicity of the device is called the free spectral range or FSR

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Dielectric Thin-Film Filter

Dielectric reflector stacks Input: l1 lN Reflection: l1 lk-1 , Throughput lk
Filter transmission (dB) 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 0.996 0.998 1 1.002 1.004 Relative wavelength lc/l

Steep rolloff

3 cavities 2 cavities 1 cavity

lk+1 lN

Dielectric cavity layers

Glass substrate

A thin-film dielectric resonant cavity filter is a Fabry-Perot interferometer Mirrors surrounding cavity are multiple reflective dielectric thin-film layers Cavity length determines a particular wavelength to pass & reflects all others Flat passbands with steep rolloffs Low insertion loss: 0.5 dB at peak and < 3.5 dB at center frequency 10 GHz High optical return loss (> 45 dB) Thin-film filters with a 50-GHz passband are commercially available

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Arrayed Waveguide Grating

3
Lens region

4 5
Lens region

At (4): DF = 2p neff DL / lc
neff = effective index lc = center wavelength

l1, l2, l3, l4

2 1
l2 l3

l1

At (6): DlFSR = lc2/ (DL neff)

FSR-A FSR-B

l1A l4A l1B l4B l4 l4 l The input waveguides (1) enter a lens region (2) (2) divides the power among the different waveguides in the grating array (3) Each grating waveguide has a precise length difference DL with its neighbors Light in each waveguide emerges with different phase delays DF at (4) The second lens region (5) refocuses the light from all array waveguides onto the output waveguide array (6) [DlFSR = free spectral range = AWG periodicity] Each wavelength is focused into a different output waveguide in region (6)

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FSR Example
The FSR specifies the spectral width that will be separated across the output waveguides of an AWG

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Diffraction-Grating Couplers
Diffraction gratings spatially separate ls in a beam Reflection gratings are ruled or etched fine parallel lines on a reflective surface Transmission gratings have periodic index variations Each wavelength will reflect or refract at a different angle

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Active Optical Components

Active components require some type of external energy either to perform their functions or to be used over a wider operating range than a passive device, thereby offering greater application flexibility Many active optical components use micro-electrical-mechanical systems or MEMS technology A simple example of a MEMS actuation method.

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Examples of Active Devices

A tunable optical filter can be varied to select a specific narrow spectral band within a much wider optical band.

A dynamic gain equalizer (DGE) equalizes the gain profile of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)

An optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) inserts (adds) or extracts (drops) wavelengths at a designated point in an optical network.
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