Optical Networking Components

Overview

ƒ Reading: A review for routing and wavelength assignment

approaches for wavelength routed optical WDM networks,
Hui Zang et al
ƒ Couplers, Splitters, Isolators, Circulators
ƒ Filters, Gratings, Multiplexers
ƒ Optical Amplifiers, Regenerators
ƒ Light Sources, Tunable Lasers, Detectors
ƒ Modulators
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 Couplers, Splitters

Optical Couplers

ƒ Combines & splits signals

ƒ Wavelength independent or selective
ƒ Fabricated (a) fusing two fibers together in the middle; (b) using
waveguides in integrated optics
ƒ α = coupling ratio
ƒ Power(Output1) = α Power(Input1)
ƒ Power(Output2) = (1- α) Power(Input1)
- Power splitter if α=1/2: 3-dB coupler
- Tap if α close to 1
- λ-selective if α depends upon λ (used in EDFAs)
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8-port Splitter Made by Cascading Y-Couplers

8x8 Star Coupler

Power from
all inputs equally
split among
outputs

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 Isolators and Circulators
ƒ Extension of coupler concept
ƒ Non-reciprocal => will not work same way if inputs and outputs
reversed
ƒ Isolator: allow transmission in one direction, but block all
transmission (e.g.: reflection) in the other
ƒ Circulator: similar to isolator, but with multiple ports.

Multiplexers, Filters, Gratings

Wavelength selection technologies…

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 Applications
ƒ Wavelength (band) selection
ƒ Static wavelength cross-connects (WXCs), OADMs
ƒ Equalization of gain
ƒ Filtering of noise

Characteristics of Filters

ƒ Low insertion (input-to-output)

loss
ƒ Loss independent of: geometry of
waveguides
ƒ Filter passband independent of
temperature
ƒ Flat passbands
ƒ Sharp “skirts” on the passband &
crosstalk rejection
ƒ Cost: integrated optic waveguide
manufacture
ƒ Usually based upon interference
or diffraction

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 Dynamic Wavelength Cross-
connects
ƒ Æ Dynamic cross-
connects!

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High Channel Count Multiplexers

ƒ Multi-stage Banded multiplexers

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 Multi-stage Interleaving
ƒ Filters in the last stage can be much wider than each
channel width

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Amplifiers, Regenerators

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 Amplification

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Optical Amplifiers vs Regenerators

40-80 km

Terminal Terminal

Regenerator - 3R (Reamplify, Reshape and Retime)

120 km

Terminal Terminal

EDFA - 1R (Reamplify)

Terminal Terminal
Terminal Terminal
Terminal Terminal
EDFA amplifies all λs

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 OEO Regenerator

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1R, 2R and 3R Regeneration

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 Regenerators vs O-Amplifiers

ƒ Regenerators specific to bit rate and modulation format

used; O-Amps are insensitive (I.e. transparent)
ƒ A system with optical amplifiers can be more easily
upgraded to higher bit rate w/o replacing the amplifiers
ƒ Optical amplifiers have large gain bandwidths Æ key
enabler of DWDM

ƒ Issues:
- Amplifiers introduce additional noise that accumulates
- Spectral shape of gain (flatness), output power, transient
behavior need to be carefully designed

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EDFA Enables DWDM!

EDF EDF
...
WDM WDM
... Optical
Coupler Coupler Optical Optical
Isolator Filter Isolator

DCF

980 1480
Pump Pump
Laser Laser

‰ EDFAs amplify all λs in 1550 window simultaneously

‰ Key performance parameters include
‰ Saturation output power, noise figure, gain flatness/passband

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 Optical Amplifier Varieties

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Optical Amplifier Flat Gain Region

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 Principles: Stimulated Emission
ƒ Transitions between discrete energy levels of atoms accompanied by
absorption or emission of photons
ƒ E2 → E1 can be stimulated by an optical signal
ƒ Resulting photon has same energy, direction of propagation, phase,
and polarization (a.k.a coherent!)
ƒ If stimulated emission dominates absorption, then we have
amplification of signal
ƒ Need to create a “population inversion” (N2 > N1) through a pumping
process

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Spontaneous Emission

ƒ E2 → E1 transitions can be spontaneous (I.e. independent

of external radiation)
- The photons are emitted in random directions, polarizations
and phase (I.e. incoherent)!

ƒ Spontaneous emission rate (or its inverse, spontaneous

emission lifetime) is a characteristic of the system
- Amplification of such incoherent radiation happens along with
that of incident radiation
- A.k.a. amplified spontaneous emission (ASE): appears as
noise
- ASE could saturate the amplifier in certain cases!

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 Optical Amplification: mechanics

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Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA)

ƒ Length of fiber: core doped with (rare earth) erbium ions

Er3+
ƒ Fiber is pumped with a laser at 980 nm or 1480nm.
ƒ Pump is coupled (in- and out-) using a λ-selective coupler
ƒ An isolator is placed at the end to avoid reflections (else
this will convert into a laser!)

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 EDFA success factors

ƒ 1. Availability of compact and reliable high-power

semiconductor pump lasers
ƒ 2. EDFA is an all-fiber device Æ polarization-
independent & easy to couple light in/out
ƒ 3. Simplicity of device
ƒ 4. No crosstalk introduced while amplifying!

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EDFA: Operation

ƒ When Er3+ ions introduced in silica, electrons disperse into an energy

band around the lines E1, E2, E3 (Stark splitting)
ƒ Within each band, the ion distribution is non-uniform (thermalization)
ƒ Due to these effects, a large λ range (50 nm) can be simultaneously
amplified & luckily it is in the 1530nm range

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 EDFA: Operation (Contd)

ƒ 980 nm or 1480nm pumps are used to create a population inversion

between E2 and E1
ƒ 980 nm pump Æ E1 → E3 (absorption) & E3 → E2 (spontaneous
emission)
ƒ 1480 nm pump Æ E1 → E2 (absorption, less efficient)
ƒ Lifetime in E3 is 1µs, whereas in E2 it is 10ms

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Towards Flat EDFA Gain

ƒ Long period
fiber-grating
used to add
some “loss” in
the peaks of
the curve
(see →)

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Reducing EDFA Gain Ripples

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EDFA: Summary

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 Long-Haul All-optical Amplification

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Light Sources: LEDs, Lasers, Tunable

Lasers

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 Lasers: Key Target Characteristics

ƒ Laser: an optical amplifier enclosed in a reflective cavity that causes

it to oscillate via positive feedback
ƒ High output power (1-10 mW normal, 100-200mW EDFA pumps, few
Ws for Raman pumps)
ƒ Narrow spectral width at specified λ
- Side-mode suppression ratio
- Tunable laser: operating λs
ƒ λ-stability: drift over lifetime needs to small relative to WDM channel
spacing
ƒ Modulated lasers: low (accumulated) chromatic dispersion

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Recall: Energy Levels & Light Emission

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Spontaneous Emission, Meta-Stable States

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Recall:Stimulated Emission

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 Laser vs LEDs
ƒ LED: Forward-biased pn-junction
- Spontaneous emission produces light
- Broad spectrum
- Low power: -20dBm
- Low internal modulation rates: 100s of Mbps max
- Useful in free space optical communication

ƒ Laser:
- Higher power output
- Sharp spectrum (coherence): ↓ chromatic dispersion
- Internal or External modulation: ↑ distance, ↑ bit rates
- Multi-longitudinal mode (MLM): larger spectrum (10s of nm) with discrete
lines (unlike LEDs)

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Lasers vs Optical Amplifiers

ƒ As reflectivity of the cavity boundaries (aka facets) ↑, the gain is high
only for the resonant λs of the cavity
- All resonant λs add in phase
- Gain in general is a function of the λ and reflectivity

ƒ If reflectivity (R) and gain is sufficiently high, the amplifier will

“oscillate” I.e. produce light output even in the absence of an input
signal!!!
- This lasing threshold is where a laser is no longer a mere amplifier, but
an oscillator
- W/o input signal, stray spontaneous emissions are amplified and appear
as light output

ƒ Output is “coherent”: it is the result of stimulated emission

ƒ LASER = “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”

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 Longitudinal Modes: SLM and MLM
ƒ λ: within the b/w of the gain medium inside the cavity
ƒ Cavity length should be integral multiple of λ/2
- Such λs are called “longitudinal modes”
- a multiple-longitudinal mode (MLM) laser (Large spectral width (10 nm or
~1.3 Thz!)
ƒ Desired: single-longitudinal mode (SLM):
- Add a filter to suppress other λs by 30dB+

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Lasing

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 Recall: History of SLM/MLM Usage

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Tunable Lasers
ƒ Tunable lasers: key enabler of re-configurable optical networks

ƒ Tunability characteristics:
- Rapid (< ms ranges)
- Wide and continuous range of over 100 nm
- Long lifetime and stable over lifetime
- Easily controllable and manufacturable

ƒ Methods:
- Electro-optical: changing RI by injecting current or applying an E-field
(approx 10-15 nm)
- Temperature tuning: (1 nm range) may degrade lifetime of laser
- Mechanical tuning: using MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems ) Æ
compact

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 Photodetectors

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Optical Receivers: Basic Ideas

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 Photoconductive Detector

* Application of external bias Æ absorbed photons lead to

electron/hole pairs and a current (aka “photo-current”)
• Energy of incident photon at least the bandgap energy
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Modulators

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 Electronic vs Photonic Regime

Cannot go negative in the photonic regime

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Optical Modulation Methods

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 Issues in Optical Modulation
ƒ On-Off keying (OOK) is the simplest
ƒ Direct modulation vs External modulation
- Extinction ratio: ratio of output power for bit=1 to output power for bit=0
- Some lasers cannot be directly modulated
- Direct modulation adds “chirp,” I.e., time variation of frequency within the
pulse!
• Chirped pulses are more susceptible to chromatic dispersion
• Combat chirp by increasing the power of bit=0, so that lasing
threshold is not lost
• Reduction of extinction ratio (down to 7dB)
ƒ Solution: external modulation for higher speeds, longer
distance/dispersion-limited regimes

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External Modulation
ƒ External
modulation can
be:
ƒ one-stage
designs (if
mode-locked
lasers used) or
ƒ two stage
designs

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 Switches

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Multiplexing: WDM

ƒ TDM: Time Division

Multiplexing B b/s
- 10Gb/s upper limit 1 NB b/s

ƒ WDM: Wavelength 2
Division Multiplexing
- Use multiple carrier N
frequencies to
transmit data
simultaneously 1 λ1 B b/s
λ2 λ1 λ2... λN
2
λN
N

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 Multiplexers, Filters, Routers

ƒ Filter selects one

wavelength and
rejects all others

ƒ Multiplexer combines
different wavelengths
ƒ Router exchanges
wavelengths from one
input to a different
output

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Switch Parameters

ƒ Extinction Ratio: ratio of output power in ON state to the

power in the OFF state
- 10-25 dB in external modulators
ƒ Insertion loss: fraction of power lost
- Different losses to different outputs Æ larger dynamic range
Æ may need to equalize (esp. for large switches)
ƒ Crosstalk: ratio of power at desired vs undesired output
ƒ Low polarization dependent loss (PDL)
ƒ Latching: maintain switch state even if power turned off
ƒ Readout capability: to monitor current state
ƒ Reliability: measured by cycling the switch through its
states a few million times

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 Switch Considerations
ƒ Number of switch elements: complexity of switch
ƒ Loss uniformity: different losses to different outputs (esp for large
switches)
ƒ Number of crossovers: waveguide crossovers introduce power loss
and crosstalk (not a problem for free-space-switches)
ƒ Blocking characteristics: any unused input port can be connected to
any unused output port?
- Wide-sense non-blocking: without requiring any existing connection to be
re-routed Æ make sure future connections will not block
- Strict-sense non-blocking: regardless of previous connections
- Re-arrangeably non-blocking: connections may be re-routed to make
them non-blocking

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Crossbar Switch

Wide-sense non-
blocking

Shortest path length = 1

vs longest = 2n-1

Fabricated w/o any

crossovers

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MEMS Mirror Switching Component

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NxN Switching with MEMS Mirror Arrays

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Analog Beam Steering Mirror

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Planar Waveguide Switch

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Planar Waveguide Switch

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