OPTICAL FIBER

COMMUNICATIO
NS SYSTEMS -
MODULATION
ECC3603 OPTICAL
COMMUNICATIONS
ZURAIDAH ZAN, PHD

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

To understand the overall picture of optical fiber

communication
Tx
systems Rx

Able To Understand The Modulation Types Used In

Optical Communication And Review The
Modulation Techniques Learn In Previous Courses
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 A FIBER OPTIC COMMUNICATION LINK
Signal Splicing
Processing
The main components of
an optical communication
system are:

 Optical source
 Modulator

Beam
Transmission media
 Repeaters/Amplifiers combine
 Optical detector r or
 Demodulator splitter
(Coupler
Signal )
Processing

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CHANNEL MULTIPLEXING: INTRO

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 COHERENT FIBER SYSTEMS

used before optical amplifiers (EDFA) for increased sensitivity

y hard to obtain stable phase-locked operation

ntly re-gained popularity

ws increased spectral efficiency (phase modulation, dual-polarization)
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS: AIMS
Transport information,
over a long distance,
with as few errors as possible.
Considerations:
 Cost
 Reliability
 Compatibility with existing
methods
 Upgradability
 Security
 Sustainability
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OPTICAL FIBER VS WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
 Wireless systems:
 Fiber systems:  • “Low” data rates
 • High data rates  • Short distances
 • Long distances  • Shared bandwidth
 • Large bandwidth per  – Limiting regulations
system  – Cross-talk problems
 • Static links  • Enables mobility
 • Expensive installation  • Easy and flexible
installation
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 ENCODING OF OPTICAL SIGNALS

 We can write the electrical field corresponding to a

monochromatic optical wave as

e is a unit vector in the direction of E

A0 is the (real) amplitude  Often simply
k0 is the wave number written as
ω0 is the angular frequency
φ is the phase
Data can be encoded using:
• Polarization, e
• Amplitude, A0 (Power is proportional to A02)
• (Angular) frequency, ω0
• Phase, φ
• Or by a combination of these 8
MODULATION

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 ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNALS
 physical signal is interpreted as being analog or digital:
 A digital signal will be interpreted as one of the members from a
finite set
 Digital modulation can be
 Pulse-position modulation (PPM)
 Pulse-duration modulation
 Pulse-code modulation (PCM)

 PCM is most common

𝐵 ≥ ( 2 ∆ 𝑓 ) 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 ( 𝑀 )
 Required bit rate is
 f = bandwidth of the analog signal
 M = number of quantization level
 We see that B >> f
 What is gained from digital modulation?
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DIGITAL OPTICAL MODULATION

 Advantages over analog:

 – Handles noise better
 – Robust to distortion
 – Can be regenerated
 – Can use error correction (FEC)
 Disadvantages:
 – Requires higher bandwidth
 – Requires more electronics
 Difficult to implement with analog components

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 SIGNAL MODULATION

 Our task: Carry a sequence of digital information over a channel (fiber + amplifiers) using
an analog optical waveform
 Signal is often written as
 – ak is the kth symbol
 – p(t) is the pulse shape
 – T is the duration of the symbol

 Traditional classification of optical pulse shapes

 – Nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ)
 – Return-to-zero (RZ)
 – (Modern systems sometimes use digital pulse shaping)

 Possible modulation formats

 – On-off Keying (OOK)...
 – ...and more modern ones, see following slides

 Note: can have complex values (ASK + PSK = QAM)

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WHY OPTICAL MODULATION (PT. 1)

- Typical bit rates employed are 2.5-10 Gbit/s per channel

(meaning per wavelength in wavelength division
multiplexing -WDM- systems where the capacity can be
increased beyond the channel bit rate by simultaneously
transmitting a large number of channels at different
wavelengths in a single optical fibre)
- A key functionality of an optical system is therefore the
modulation
operation, which consists in “converting” the high bit-
rate electrical data signal into the optical domain.
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WHY OPTICAL MODULATION (PT. 2)
- Ideal modulation is therefore equivalent to performing
a frequency translation from the baseband to an optical
carrier frequency, of the order of 193 THz (i.e. 193×1012
Hz) for the usual 1550 nm transmission window.

- Most optical communication systems make use of

intensity modulation of the lightwave (i.e. its intensity or
power is varied according to the data to be transmitted)
since it allows to use a very simple detection process
under the form of a photodiode whose generated
photocurrent is proportional to the incoming 14
 Modulation technique requirements (pt. 1)
Speed of operation

The physical processes that are exploited to perform the

modulation
operation should be fast enough to allow proper
operation at the desired bit rate.

At 10 Gbit/s, the bit slot duration is 100 ps and we will

expect the transmitter, whether a directly modulated
laser or a continuous wave laser followed by an external
modulator, to be able to switch between
Direct and External Modulation of Light
the “mark” and “space” states within a fraction of this
Christophe Peucheret
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 Modulation technique requirements (pt. 2)
Extinction ratio

The extinction ratio of the optical signal is defined as:

ER =
where P1 and P0 are the power levels corresponding to the
“marks” and “spaces”, respectively.

It is important to achieve a good extinction ratio for the

optical signal, i.e. to achieve a large separation between the
power of the “marks” and “spaces”, and ensure that as little
power as possible is present in the signal when a “space” is
being transmitted.
Direct and External Modulation of Light
Notes: “marks” refer to bit “1”, “spaces” refer to bit “0”.
Christophe Peucheret
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 Modulation technique requirements (pt. 3)
The effect of a poor extinction ratio will otherwise manifest itself
under the form of power penalty at the receiver (i.e. an increased
required optical power at the receiver in order to achieve a
maximum required bit-error-rate, typically 1.0×10−9, compared to
the case of an ideal signal with infinite extinction ratio) that will
reduce the power budget of the system. In practice, values of
the extinction ratio of
the order of 15 dB will
be considered nearly
ideal. 𝐸𝑅+1
𝛿 𝐸𝑅( 𝑑𝐵)=10 𝑙𝑜𝑔10
𝐸𝑅 −1

Direct and External Modulation of Light

Power penalty as a function of extinction ratio. Christophe Peucheret
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 Modulation technique requirements (pt. 4)
Frequency chirping

The desired intensity modulation of the lightwave is often

accompanied by a modulation of its phase induced by the
physical process used to realise the intensity modulation.

Consequently, a time varying phase is equivalent to a

change in the signal instantaneous frequency. This
frequency modulation is usually referred to as frequency
chirping. The amount of frequency chirp depends on the
physical mechanism used to achieve light modulation, as
well as on the design and operating conditions of the
Direct and External Modulation of Light
Christophe Peucheret
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 Modulation technique requirements (pt. 5)
Frequency Chirping

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 Modulation technique requirements (pt. 6)
Frequency Chirping – cont.
As the effect of dispersion worsens with increasing
signal spectral width, frequency chirping will, in
general, result in reduced tolerance to group velocity
dispersion.
In many cases, having an unchirped signal at
the transmitter output will be a desired
feature, unless some benefit can be found from
the chirp for special applications, such as e.g.
pulse compression

Direct and External Modulation of Light

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Christophe Peucheret
 Modulation technique requirements (pt. 7/7)
Frequency Chirping – cont.

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 Modulation techniques
Two different strategies are used for the
optical intensity modulation operation:

Direct modulation External modulation

Direct and External Modulation of Light

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Christophe Peucheret
 OPTICAL MODULATION
 The modulation of data onto an optical carrier can be
done in two ways:
 Using direct modulation, the light source is modulated
by the electrical signal
 This is simple and requires less hardware
 Hard to modulate amplitude without changing other
parameters, like phase
 Cannot do PSK

 Using external modulation, a specifically made

modulator is used
 Light source is ”not disturbed”
 Modulators can have very high performance

 External modulation has better performance and is

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 DIRECT MODULATION

 is done by superimposing the modulating

(message) signal on the driving current
 can be done with either digital or analog
modulating signals
 The message signal (ac) is superimposed on the
bias current (dc) which modulates the laser
 Robust and simple, hence widely used
 Issues: laser resonance frequency, chirp, turn on
delay, clipping and laser nonlinearity
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Direct Modulation

Direct and External Modulation of Light

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Christophe Peucheret
Direct Modulation
 The power at the output of a semiconductor laser depends on the
current injected through the laser diode according to the transfer
function represented in Figure 5.
 First, no light (apart from spontaneous emission) is emitted by the
laser diode, until the current reaches the threshold value I th.
 Above threshold, population inversion is achieved, leading to lasing
action.
 The laser output power then increases linearly with increasing
current, until some saturation is reached for high bias current
values.
 Obviously, this dependence of the laser diode output power on the
bias current can be exploited to convert the information from the
electrical domain to the optical domain, if we let the current vary 26
 Direct Modulation (cont.)

TURN-ON DELAY
 The principle to achieve an infinite extinction ratio is:
 by letting the laser driving current below threshold to generate “Spaces”
 Increasing the driving current to an above-the-threshold value to generate
“Marks”
 Under these conditions, the laser switches from a state where no lasing occurs,
to a state where population inversion is achieved, resulting in lasing operation.
 However, population inversion is achieved by injecting carriers into the structure
and it takes some time for the carrier density to reach its threshold value when
lasing begins.
 Consequently lasing will be delayed from the time the driving current is increased
by a time td known as turn-on delay. The turn-on delay can be approximated by

 where I1 and I0 are the driving currents corresponding to “marks” and “spaces”,
respectively, and τc is the carrier lifetime, of the order of a few nanoseconds.
Such a delay might not be compatible with high speed operation, for instance at
10 Gbit/s, where the bit slot is only 100 ps long. 27
 Direct Modulation (cont.)

EXTINCTION RATIO
 We have seen above that high speed operation of a
directly modulated laser diode will require to operate
above threshold, even when a “space” is generated, in
order to avoid the turn-on delay.
 In this case, lasing occurs all the time, but the laser
output power will take one of the two values, P1 or P0 ≠
0, for “marks” and “spaces”, respectively, depending on
the value of the bias current. Consequently, an infinite
extinction ratio will not be achieved.

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 Direct Modulation (cont.)

BANDWIDTH
 the modulation bandwidth of a directly modulated laser can be shown to increase
with the bias current according to

 where GN is related to the dependence of the rate of stimulated emission on the

carrier number, Ib and Ith are the bias and threshold current, respectively, and e is
the elementary charge.
 High modulation bandwidths suitable for high speed operation will therefore be
obtained for large bias currents.
 Note however that the modulation bandwidth as stated above is defined under small
signal modulation conditions (i.e. the electrical modulating signal is taken as a
sinusoidal signal whose peak-to-peak current is small compared to Ib − Ith).
 However it can still provide valuable qualitative information under large signal
modulation such as when the semiconductor laser is used for digital communication.

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 Direct Modulation (cont.)

 Relaxation Oscillations:
RELAXATION OSCILLATIONS & FREQUENCY CHIRPING
 When the laser is subjected to a transient in its bias current, for
instance during a transition from a “mark” to a “space” or vice versa,
its output power will exhibit damped oscillations known as “relaxation
oscillations”.
 Frequency Chirping:
 When the laser is directly modulated, a change in the bias current
will lead to a change in the carrier density, which in turn will lead to a
change of the refractive index of the semiconductor material.
 Since the lasing wavelength is determined from the feedback
condition in the laser cavity, which itself depends on the refractive
index, the instantaneous frequency of the emitted signal will be a
time varying signal.
 Consequently, directly modulated lasers are inherently chirped, an
effect that has prevented their use for the generation and 30
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MODULATION OF LED
 The frequency response of an LED depends on:
1. Doping level in the active region
2. Injected carrier lifetime in the recombination region, 𝞃i .
3. Parasitic capacitance of the LED

 If the drive current of an LED is modulated at a

frequency 𝞈, of the output optical power of the device will
vary as:

 Electrical current is directly proportional to the optical

power, thus we can define electrical bandwidth and optical
bandwidth, separately.
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34
 MODULATION OF LASER DIODES
 Internal Modulation: Simple but suffers from non-linear
effects.
 External Modulation: for rates greater than 2 Gb/s, more
complex, higher performance.
 Most fundamental limit for the modulation rate is set by
the photon life time in the laser cavity:

 Another fundamental limit on modulation frequency is the

relaxation oscillation frequency given by:
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LIMITATIONS
 Turn on delayOF
andDIRECT MODULATION
resonance frequency are the two major
factors that limit the speed of digital laser modulation
 Saturation and clipping introduces nonlinear distortion
with analog modulation (especially in multi carrier
systems)
 Nonlinear distortions introduce second and third order
intermodulation products
 Chirp: Laser output wavelength drifts with modulating
current
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 EXTERNAL MODULATION

 Modulation and light generation are separated

 Offers much wider bandwidth  up to 60 GHz
 More expensive and complex
 Used in high end systems

Note that, the key point is that the physical

process that should permit the switch to toggle
between its two states (“open” and “closed”)
should be fast enough to allow proper operation
at the desired bit rate.

A continuous wave (CW) laser is used to emit light whose power is constant with
time. A second component, known as modulator, is then used as a switch to let the
light pass whenever the data corresponds to a “mark” and to block it whenever the
signal is a “space”. This switch can be implemented in several ways. Two physical
effects that are customarily used to perform external optical modulation at high bit 48
 IMPORTANT PARAMETERS USED TO CHARACTERIZE
AND COMPARE DIFFERENT MODULATORS
 Modulation efficiency: Defined differently depending on
whether we modulate intensity, phase or frequency.
 For intensity it is defined as (Imax – Imin)/Imax.

 Modulation depth: For intensity modulation it is defined in

decibel by 10 log (Imax/Imin).
 Modulation bandwidth: Defined as the high frequency at which
the efficiency has fallen by 3dB.
 Power consumption: Simply the power consumption per unit
bandwidth needed for (intensity) modulation.
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 External Modulation
Two types of External Modulation:
1.Electro-Absorption Modulator:
• relies on the modification of the absorption of a
semiconductor material when an external electric field is
applied
2.Electro-Optic Modulator
• based on the change of the refractive index observed for
some crystals under an external electric field
• A change in refractive index itself does not permit
modulation of the intensity of a lightwave. However,
using an interferometric structure, such as the Mach-
Zehnder structure enables to convert the induced phase
modulation into the desired intensity modulation.
Direct and External Modulation of Light
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Christophe Peucheret
 External Modulation (cont.)

ELECTRO-ABSORPTION MODULATOR
 Relies on the fact that the effective bandgap, Eg of a
semiconductor material decreases when an external
voltage is applied.
 If we chose the frequency, v of the incoming lightwave
so that its energy E = hv is < Eg when NO VOLTAGE is
applied  the material will be transparent
 When VOLTAGE is APPLIED: the effective bandgap, Eg
will be reduced, meaning that the lightwave will be
absorbed by the material when E > Eg.
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 ELECTRO-ABSORPTION MODULATOR
(CONT.)

How to have the optical modulation?:

- By properly selecting the signal wavelength so that it
experiences a significant change in absorption when
the voltage is applied, it thus becomes possible to
achieve optical modulation controlled by an electrical
signal. 54
 External Modulation (cont.)

ELECTRO-OPTIC MODULATOR
 The refractive index of some materials can be modified by
applying an external electric field to them through the
linear electro-optic effect.
 Since the phase shift experienced by a lightwave of
wavelength λ propagating through a length, L of a medium
with refractive index, n is

 A straightforward application is the realisation of phase

modulators made from an electro-optic waveguide
subjected to a time dependent electric field.
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 External Modulation (cont.)

ELECTRO-OPTIC MODULATOR (CONT.)

 The applied voltage will modulate the refractive index of
the waveguide material, hence the phase shift
experienced by a lightwave propagating along the
waveguide.
 But, we want Intensity Modulation (the legacy modulation
technique), how do we get this from the phase shift (phase
modulation) of the electro-optic modulator?
 This can be achieved by transforming phase modulation
induced by the electro-optic effect to intensity
modulation using an interferometric structure.
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External Modulation (cont.)

ELECTRO-OPTIC MODULATOR (CONT.)

 Fig. 4 a): simple interferometric structure

 It is based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer including one
electro-optic material in one of the arms.
 this interferometer is realised by implanting waveguides
into an electro-optic crystal, typically lithium-niobate
60
(LiNbO3).
 External Modulation (cont.)

ELECTRO-OPTIC MODULATOR (CONT.)

 Assuming a power splitting and combining ratio of 1/2 for the input and output
couplers of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the power at the output of the
interferometer depends on the phase shift difference ∆φ = φ (t)−φ0 experienced by
the light propagating in the upper and lower arms of the structure according to
 (10)
 The phase shift induced in the upper arm of the interferometer depends on its
refractive index, which itself depends on the applied external electric field through the
electro-optic effect:
 If a time-dependent voltage V (t) is applied to the upper waveguide of the modulator, its refractive index
will become time-dependent and, in turn the transmission of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer will also
depend on time.
 If a continuous optical wave is applied to the input of the modulator, the output power will thus be
modulated according to the electrical data V (t).

 In any case it is possible to make abstraction of the actual physical implementation of

the modulator and describe the ability of the material and chosen configuration to
respond to an applied voltage by introducing a quantity known as the Half-wave
voltage, V𝜋
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External Modulation (cont.)

ELECTRO-OPTIC MODULATOR (CONT.)

 The half-wave voltage, V𝜋:

 Applying a voltage of Vπ to the electrode of an electro-optic waveguide will
result in a voltage-induced phase shift of π.
 The voltage-induced phase shift φ(t) can therefore be related to the applied
voltage V(t) according to
 (11)
 Through eq. (10) and (11), it is then possible to calculate the transfer function
Pout/Pin of the modulator as a function of the applied voltage. 62
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 Electro-absorption modulator
Some amount of frequency chirping will be
introduced by electro-absorption modulators.
However, the generated frequency chirp will
usually be smaller than when direct current
modulation of a semiconductor laser is used.

Electro-optic modulator

Using two arms of the Mach-Zehnder

modulator, frequency chirping can be
suppressed.
Direct and External Modulation of Light
64
Christophe Peucheret