1

Subscriber Multiplexing

The recent WDM-based FTTH network uses 1550 nm wavelength for CATV video

stream, 1490nm for digital data downstream and 1310nm upstream TDMA as shown in

Figure 1-1. In terms of system design, this approach requires WDM filters, addi tional

lasers and photodiodes at central office ( CO) and end-users. It is not efficient for

bandwidth utilization and the difficulty of this architecture is the more demanding

1310nm TDMA upstream transmission resulting from the increase of the sharing rat io.

There goal another approach i.e. sub -carrier multiplexing (SCM) Optical Network as

shown in figure 1-2 and 2-1.

Because of the simplicity and stability of microwave and RF devices, SCM over WDM

can combine different RF channels (analog & digital signals) closely with each other in

electrical domain, and then modulate onto an optical carrier.

2

In this study, 78 NTSC standard analog video streams and 1Gb ps digital data are mixed

by different microwave frequencies and combined together in the electr ical domain

before modulating onto one wavelength using optical single sideband modulation. This

composite signal is modulated at the lower sideband of the optical carrier. In addition, a

microwave frequency is modulated at the upper sideband of optical ca rrier.

At the end-users, an optical filter (fabry-Perot Interferometer) and optical circulator can

be used to separate the optical subcarriers at the upper and lower sideband of optical

carrier. The optical subcarriers at the lower sideband of optical carrier will then

demodulate into electrical domain for CATV broadcasting and downstream digital data

transmission. The optical subcarriers at the upper sideband of optical carrier can be used

as an optical source for end-user upstream digital data transmi ssion.

Analog SCM Systems

Most CATV networks distribute television channels by using analog techniques based on

frequency modulation (FM) or amplitude modulation with vestigial sideband (AM -VSB)

formats. As the waveform of an analog signal must be preserve d during transmission,

analog SCM systems require a high SNR at the receiver and impose strict linearity

requirements on the optical source and the communication channel.

In analog SCM lightwave systems, each microwave subcarrier is modulated using an

analog format, and the output of all subcarriers is summed using a microwave power

3

combiner (see Fig. 8.29). The composite signal is used to modulate the intensity of a

semiconductor laser directly by adding it to the bias current.

In practice, the analog signal is distorted during its transmission through the fiber link.

The distortion is referred to as intermodulation distortion (IMD) and is similar in nature

to the FWM distortion. Any nonlinearity in the response of the semiconductor laser used

inside the optical transmitter or in the propagation characteristics of fibers generates new

frequencies of the form fi + fj and fi + fj ± fk, some of which lie within the transmission

bandwidth and distort the analog signal. The new frequencies are referred to as the

intermodulation products (IMPs).

These are further subdivided as two -tone IMPs and triple-beat IMPs. The triple-beat

IMPs tend to be a major source of distortion because of their large number. An N-channel

SCM system generates N(N-1)(N-2)/2 triple-beat terms compared with N(N -1) two-tone

terms. The second-order IMD must also be considered if sub carriers occupy a large

bandwidth.

Several other mechanisms, such as fiber dispersion, frequency chirp, and mode -partition

noise can cause IMD that induces deg radation of the system performance.

Digital SCM Systems

The capacity of a digital SCM system is more that analog SCM systems. Moreover, a

single digital video channel requires a bit rate of more 100 Mb/s; a common technique

uses a multilevel QAM format is introduced to support high data rates. If M represents

the number of discrete levels used, the resulting non -binary digital signal is called M-ary

because each bit can have M possible amplitudes (typically M = 64). Such a signal can be

4

recovered at the receiver without using coherent detection and requires a lower CNR

compared with that needed for analog AM -VSB systems.

The capacity of an SCM system can be increased considerably by employing hybrid

techniques that mix analog and digital formats. The hybri d SCM systems can transmit a

large number of video channels over the same fiber simultaneously. Such hybrid SCM

systems can transport up to 80 analog and 30 digital channels using a single optical

transmitter. If only QAM format is employed, the number of digital channels is limited to

about 80.

The performance of such systems is affected by the clipping noise, multiple optical

reflections, and the nonlinear mechanisms such as self -phase modulation (SPM) and

SBS, all of which limit the total power and the number of channels that can be

multiplexed. Further increase in the system capacity can be realized by combining the

SCM and WDM techniques, a topic discussed next.

WDM- SCM Systems

Further, combining the SCM and WDM techniques can increase the system capa city. The

combination of WDM and SCM provides the potential of designing broadband passive

optical networks capable of providing integrated services (audio, video, data, etc.) to a

large number of subscribers. In this scheme, multiple optical carriers are launched into

the same optical fiber through the WDM technique. Each optical carrier carries multiple

SCM channels using several microwave subcarriers. The limiting factor for multi -

wavelength SCM networks is inter -channel crosstalk caused by SRS and XPM .

Multi-wavelength SCM systems are quite useful for LAN and MAN applications,

providing multiple services (telephone, analog and digital TV channels, computer data,

etc.) with only one optical transmitter and one optical receiver per user because different

services can use different microwave subcarriers. This approach lowers the cost of

terminal equipment in access networks.

Different services can be offered without requiring synchronization. The main advantage

of multi-wavelength SCM is that the network ca n serve NM users, where N is the number

of optical wavelengths and M is the number of microwave carriers. In another approach,

the hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) technology is used to provide broadband integrated

services to the subscriber.

5

Optical Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is generically known as “Spread Spectrum”

transmission technique in the world of radio communications systems. In the optical

world, CDMA technology uses in two roles:

1. Optical shared medium LANs

2. Local access networks

In most communications systems, our objective is to fit the maximum amount of useful

signal into minimal bandwidth. In CDMA, a spread spectrum system, we use some

artificial technique to broaden the amount of bandwidth used a nd transmit multiple

signals over the same frequency band, using the same modulation techniques at the same

time to achieve the above-mentioned aim. This has the following effects:

Capacity Gain

Using the Shannon-Hartly law for the capacity of a band limit ed channel, it is easy to see

that for a given signal power, the wider the bandwidth used, the greater the channel

capacity. So if we broaden the spectrum of a given signal, we get an increase in channel

capacity and an improved signal -to-noise ratio is obtained.

Security

Military people, initially, use spread spectrum technique for security issues as spread

spectrum signals have an excellent rejection of intentional jamming. In addition, the

Direct Sequence (DS) technique results in a signal, which is ver y hard to distinguish from

background noise unless you know the random code sequence used to generate the signal.

Thus, not only are DS signals hard to jam, they are extremely difficult to decode (unless

you have the key) and quite hard to detect.

Immunity to Multipath Distortion

Some spectrum spreading techniques have a significantly better performance in the

presence of multipath spreading than any available narrowband technique.

Interference Rejection

Spread spectrum signals can be received even in th e presence of very strong narrowband

interfering signals (up to perhaps 30 dB above the wanted signal).

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

6

DSSS is a popular technique for spreading the spectrum. Figure 371 shows how the

signal is generated.

1. The binary user data is used to “modulate” a pseudo -random bit stream. The rate

of this pseudo-random bit stream is much faster (from 9 to 100 times) than the

user data rate. The bits of the pseudo -random stream are called chips. The ratio

between the speed of the chip stream and the data stream is called the spread ratio.

2. The output of the faster bit stream is used to modulate a radio frequency (RF) or

optical carrier.

3. Any suitable modulation technique, bi -polar phase shift keying (BPSK) is usually

adopted.

4. In optical systems, NRZ coding is typically used.

Whenever a carrier is modulated the result is a spread signal with two “sidebands” above

and below the carrier frequency. These sidebands are spread over a range plus or minus

the modulating frequency. The sideb ands carry the information and it is common to

suppress the transmission of the carrier (and sometimes one of the sidebands). It can be

easily seen that the width (spread) of each sideband has been multiplied by the spread

ratio.

1. The secret of DSSS is in the way the signal is received. The receiver knows the

pseudo-random bit stream (because it has the same random number generator).

Incoming signals are correlated with the known pseudo -random stream. Thus the

chip stream performs the function of a known wa veform against which we

correlate the input. Co-relational receivers can be constructed in several ways.

7

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

The DSSS technique gives rise to a novel way of sharing the bandwidth. Multiple

transmitters and receivers are able to use the same frequencies at the same time without

interfering with each other. This is a by -product of the DSSS technique. The receiver

correlates its received signal with a known (only to it) random sequence - all other signals

are filtered out. This is interesting because it is really the same process as FDM.

When we receive an ordinary radio station (channels are separated by FDM), we tune to

that station. The tuning process involves adjusting a resonant circuit to the frequency we

want to receive. That circuit allows the selected frequency to pass and rejects all other

frequencies. What we are actually doing is selecting a sinusoidal wave from among many

other sinusoidal waves by selective filtering. If we consider a DSSS signal as a

modulated waveform, when there are many overlapping DSSS signals then the filtering

process needed to select one of them from among many is exactly the same thing as FDM

frequency selection except that we have waveforms that are not sinusoidal in shape.

However, the DSSS “chipping sequences” (pseudo -random number sequences) must be

orthogonal (unrelated). Fortunately there are several good simple ways of generating

orthogonal pseudo-random sequences.

For this to work, a receiving filter is needed which can select a s ingle DSSS signal from

among all the intermixed ones. In principle, you need a filter that can correlate the

8

complex signal with a known chipping sequence (and reject all others). There are several

available filtering techniques, which will do just this. T he usual device used for this

filtering process is called a Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filter. CDMA has a number of

very important characteristics:

“Statistical” Allocation of Capacity

Any particular DSSS receiver experiences other DSSS signals as noise. This means that

you can continue adding channels until the signal -to-noise ratio gets too great and you

start getting bit errors. The effect is like multiplexing packets on a link. You can have

many active connections and so long as the total (data traffic ) stays below the channel

capacity all will work well. For example, in a mobile telephone system, (using DSSS

over radio) only about 35% of the time on a channel actually has sound (the rest of the

time is gaps and listening to speech in the other directio n). If you have a few hundred

channels of voice over CDMA what happens is the average power is the channel limit -

so you can handle many more voice connections than are possible by FDM or TDM

methods. This also applies to data traffic on a LAN or access n etwork where the traffic is

inherently bursty in nature. However, it has particular application in voice transmission

because, when the system is over committed, there is no loss in service but only

degradation in voice quality. Degradation in quality (dro pping a few bits) is a serious

problem for data but not for voice.

No Guard Time or Guard Bands

In a TDM system when multiple users share the same channel there must be a way to

ensure that they don't transmit at the same time and destroy each other's sig nal. Since

there is no really accurate way of synchronizing clocks (in the light of propagation delay)

a length of time must be allowed between the end of one user's transmission and the

beginning of the next. This is called “guard time”. At slow data rate s it is not too

important but as speed gets higher it comes to dominate the system throughput. CDMA

of course does not require a guard time - stations simply transmit whenever they are

ready.

In FDM (and WDM) systems, unused frequency space is allocated b etween bands

because it is impossible to ensure precise control of frequency. These guard bands

represent wasted frequency space. Again, in CDMA they are not needed at all.

9

Requirement for Power Control

DSSS receivers can't distinguish a signal if its stre ngth is more than about 20 dB below

other similar signals. Thus if many transmitters are simultaneously active a transmitter

close to the receiver (near) will blanket out a signal from a transmitter which is farther

away. The answer to this is controlling the transmit power of all the stations so that they

have roughly equal signal strength at the receiver. In a reflective -star type optical LAN

topology this is not a problem since there will be very little variation in signal levels. But

in some possible access network configurations it could be a limitation.

Practical Optical CDMA

Optical CDMA is still very much a research technology. In the early 1990's it was

proposed as a technology for shared medium LANs but since then the shared medium

LAN itself has proven more costly than switch based star networks. Thus there isn't a lot

of interest in shared medium LANs in either the optical or electronic world. Today

however finding a low cost technology for the upstream transport in a passive optical

network is a significant and important challenge. CDMA might well be a good choice

here. Practical optical CDMA systems have some differences from RF ones:

Instead of using a random number generator to generate the chipping sequence, a

fixed sequence only as long as on e data bit is likely to be used. For example, you

might have 31 chips per bit and the chipping sequence would be the same for

every bit transmitted.

Zero data bits are not transmitted at all. This nets out to saying that a 1 bit (for a

particular end-user) is transmitted as an invariant 31 -chip sequence.

The codings used in an optical system need to be different from those used in an

RF system as we don't have a negative signal state in optical communications. We

only have positive (or zero) states.

Optical Time Division Multiplexing (OTDM)

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) provides a very simple and effective way of sub -

dividing a high-speed digital data stream into many slower speed data streams. Indeed

most optical communications links are really TDM data streams but the TDM is done

electronically rather than optically. SDH and SONET are standards for electronic TDM

10

over an optical carrier. The main objective of OTDM is to allow the optical signal stream

to run at speeds significantly in excess of the maxi mum speed of the electronics.

TDM Concept

Figure 373 illustrates the principle of time division multiplexing. In the illustration, there

are four slow-speed bit streams merged into a single high -speed stream at four times the

speed of any one of the component signals. Each input stream is assigned one bit in every

four in turn. There are a number of points to note:

In the illustration, we are allocating time slots in the high -speed data stream at the

individual bit level, which is not necessary. In TDM electronic communications

system, time “slots” are often allocated on the basis of 8 -bit groups or even in

larger groupings. However, in optical TDM proposed systems use the “bit -

interleaving” technique almost exclusively.

The data stream is arranged in r epeating patterns of time slots usually called

“frames”. In the example, a frame would be just four bits. Thus, input channel x

might be allocated bit number 3 in every frame.

It is not necessary for each of the slow -speed streams to be the same. For

example, we could allocate three TDM signals at different rates by allocating a

different number of bits in each time frame to each stream. Thus, input stream 1

might be allocated bit numbers 1, 3, 5, 7..., stream 2 might be allocated bits 2,

11

6,10... and stream 3 bits 4, 8, 12... In this example stream 1 would be twice the

rate of either stream 2 or stream 3.

There is very little delay experienced by the slow speed streams due to their travel

over the higher speed “trunk”. There will be a need for some speed -matching

buffering at the points of multiplexing and demultiplexing but this can usually be

limited to a single bit.

Once the time slots are allocated each subordinate signal stream has a fixed and

invariant data rate. Re-allocating the bits can change this but this is difficult to do

dynamically, takes time and wastes resources.

Each signal stream must be synchronized to the higher speed stream! This is the

most significant problem in TDM. Each slow speed stream must deliver its bits at

exactly the correct rate or there will be times when a bit needs to be transmitted

and it has not yet arrived or times where too many bits arrive and some must be

discarded. Neither of these situations is compatible with error -free transmission.

Of course at the destination each slow speed stream must be received at exactly

the rate that the bits are delivered from the high speed one. TDM takes no

prisoners!

TDM Network Principles

Figure 374 illustrates the general principle of a TDM network. For the sake of illustration

we will assume that data is multiplexed in units of a single byte. In the figure we have

illustrated a 1 Mbps synchronous connection between the two end users (User A and User

B). The network is configured as follows

12

User A is connected on a dedicated link to Node B at a speed of 1 Mbps (125,000

bytes/sec). Note that Node B not by the end user provides the timing for the link.

This means that Node B sends a clock signal to User A each time that a bit is to

be sent.

Node B has been set up with a rule that says “whenever a byte is received on Link

1 place it into time-slot x of Link 2”.

Node B has a connection with Node A at a speed of 4 Mbps. Our connections

between end users is allocated to this link and so gets every fourth byte on Link 2.

Node A has a rule that says “whenever time-slot x of Link 2 arrives take the data

in it and place it into time-slot y of Link 3”.

Node A to Node C is a 10 Mbps link, which will also carry our end -user

connection. Thus only 1 byte in 10 on the link will belong to this particul ar end-

user connection.

Node C to Node E is at 4 Mbps (same as B to A) and again we get every fourth

byte.

Node E is connected directly to User B at a dedicated speed of 1 Mbps. Clocking

for this link is again provided by the network not the end user.

Note that each connection is bi -directional (although strictly it doesn't need to be).

Thus we have an end-to-end connection where data is passed on from link -to-link one

byte at a time in a strictly controlled way. Of course, the 10 Mbps connection and the 4

Mbps connection must have a strictly identical timing source. If the timing relationship

13

between the two links was to vary even slightly loss or corruption of data would result.

Connections can be set up in two ways:

By network management: In this case the node is called a “cross -connect”.

Connection setup or tear-down may take from a few minutes to a few days.

By signalling :Signalling means by request in real -time by the end user.

Connection setup may take from about 10 ms up to about a second depending o n

the type of network and it's size. In this case the nodes are called “switches”. The

best-known switched TDM network is the telephone network. In the optical

world, operating at much higher speeds, it is likely the early networks will be

cross-connects only.

Optical TDM Principles

Figure 375 illustrates one particular proposed method for building an optical TDM

system. The system illustrated shows four streams merged into one. The modulation

technique used is RZ coding as discussed in 7.2.1.4, “RZ Coding” on page 305. RZ

coding is used because it alleviates the extremely difficult problem of synchronizing

different bit streams into adjacent time slots. (In RZ the laser ON state for only the first

half of the bit-time represents coding a 1-bit).

14

There will always be some jitter in the slow stream bit stream as it is mixed into the faster

stream. In addition any optical pulse will be bell shaped rather than square. Thus no

matter what we do there will be gaps between the bits. The system operates in the

following way:

Each time slot (illustrated by the downward pointing arrows) is sub -divided into 4

bit times.

Each bit-time (in conformity to the RZ code in use) is further divided into two

halves. For a “1” bit the first half of the bit time will be occupie d by an optical

pulse (and the second half will be dark). For a “0” bit the whole bit time will be

dark.

A laser produces a short pulse (for half a bit time) at the beginning of each time

slot. In this example the laser is ON for one -eighth of the time slot. This can be

done in many ways. Self-pulsating laser diodes have been suggested (See 3.3.7,

“Mode-Locking and Self-Pulsating Lasers” on page 117.). However a standard

laser with an external modulator or an integrated modulator may be more

appropriate because we want to avoid laser chirp.

The laser signal is split 4-ways. (There are many ways to do this - concatenated 3

dB couplers being the most obvious.) A planar free -space coupler will also do this

and would be used if the whole TDM device were built on a single planar

substrate.

Each signal (except one) is then delayed by a fixed amount. Using a loop of

standard fiber easily and conveniently provides this delay. Of course each signal

is delayed by a different amount.

Then each signal is separately modul ated to carry it's own unique information

stream. The trick here is to synchronize the modulators accurately given that their

response will be much slower than a single bit time (at the full link speed).

The signals are then re-combined (perhaps using concatenated 3 dB splitters or a

free space coupler) to form a single data stream.

During all this the original signal has lost a very large amount of power. Each

pulse will lose a minimum of 6 dB in each of the 4 -way splitter and the combiner.

In addition there will be loss in the modulator. It would be a very good modulator

15

if the insertion loss was only about 6 dB. So in total each output bit pulse will be

at least 18 dB (and maybe as much as 25 dB) less than the original pulse

amplitude as it left the transmit laser.

The whole stream then must be amplified to reach a strength suitable for transmission on

the link. Indeed, if soliton transmission is to be used (and we can't go at 100 Gbps rates

any other way), there will need to be a very high level of ampli fication. The power level

needs to be around 3 mw or above for a soliton to form. Hence we will probably be

looking for around 40 dB or more of gain from the amplifier! (This is no problem for a

multi-stage EDFA but there is an interesting challenge here i n amplifier design to manage

the amplified spontaneous emission.)

Sources of Power Penalty

Besides fiber dispersion, there are several physical phenomena that degrade the receiver

sensitivity like modal noise, dispersion pulse broadening and intersymbol i nterference,

mode-partition noise, frequency chirp, and reflection feedback. In this section, we discuss

how the system performance is affected by considering these phenomena.

Modal Noise

Modal noise originates from the interference among the various propa gating modes in

multimode fiber, creating speckle pattern at the receiver. Any fluctuations in this speckle

pattern with time leads to the fluctuations in the received power. Such fluctuations are

termed as Modal noise. Modal noise can cause a serious prob lem in optical transmission

by producing an important degradation of the bit -error-rate. The measurement of the bit -

error-rate in optical links is a difficult task because modal noise tends to group errors in

packets. Modal noise is strongly affected by so urce spectral width as mode interference

occurs if the coherent time (duration during which the source phase remains relatively

stable and inversely proportional to the source spectral width) is lon ger than inter modal

delay time. That is why the designer to avoid modal noise over lasers mostly adopts

LEDs. The following Figure reveals that as the number of propagating modes increases,

the power penalty at the receiver to combat with modal noise increases. Modal noise is

not only associated with multimode fiber but also occurs in single mode fiber if small

sections of fibers i.e. below 2mm are installed between two connectors or splices.

16

Dispersive pulse broadening

The use of single-mode fibers for light wave systems nearly avoids the problem of

intermodal dispersion and the associated modal noise. The group -velocity dispersion

(GVD) still limits the bit rate–distance product BL by broadening optical pulses beyond

their allocated bit slot and depends on th e source spectral width’ v ’. Dispersion-induced

pulse broadening affects the receiver performance in two ways.

First, a part of the pulse energy spreads beyond the allocated bit slot and leads to

ISI (discussed previously).

Second, the pulse energy within the bit slot is reduced when the optical pulse

broadens. Such a decrease in the pulse energy reduces the SNR at the decision

circuit.

Since the SNR should remain constant to maintain the system performance, the receiver

requires more average power. This is the origin of dispersion induced power

penalty’ dPP ’, which is given as.

105log 1 4dPP BLD v

Figure shows the power penalty as a function of the dimensionless parameter

combination BLD v . Although the power penalty is negligible ( dPP = 0.38 dB) for

17

BLD v = 0.1, it increases to 2.2 dB when BLD v = 0.2 and becomes infinite when

BLD v = 0.25.

Mode Partition Noise

Mode partition noise is a problem in single -mode fiber operation. In multimode fiber

modal noise and intermodal dispersion dominate. Mode -partition noise (MPN) occurs

because of an anti-correlation among pairs of longitudinal modes. In particular, various

longitudinal modes fluctuate in such a way that individual modes exhibit large intensity

fluctuations but the total intensity remains relatively constant. MPN is harmless in the

absence of fiber dispersion, as all modes remain synchronized during transmission and

detection. But practically, different modes travel at slightly different speeds inside the

fiber because of group-velocity dispersion and become unsynchronized, As a result of

such de-synchronization; the receiver current exhibits additional fluctuations that reduce

the SNR at the decision circuit. A power penalty must be paid to improve the SNR to

achieve the required BER, which is calculated as

2 2105log 1MPN MPNPP Q r

Here MPNr is the relative noise level of the received power in the presence of MPN

. 21 exp

2MPN

kr BLD

18

Here the mode-partition coefficient 1 cck with values in the range 0–1 and is

likely to vary from laser to laser. A nd BLD is normalized dispersion parameter. The

following figure shows the power penalty at a BER of 10 -9 (Q = 6) as a function of the

normalized dispersion parameter BLD for several values of the mode -partition

coefficient k.

Frequency Chirping

Frequency chirping is a phenomenon that limits the performance of light wave systems

operating near 1.55μm. The amplitude modulation in semiconductor lasers is

accompanied by phase modulation, which introduces transient changes in the refractive

index governed by the linewidth enhancement factor. Such a pulse is called chirped. As a

result, this frequency chirp, imposed on an optical pulse, broadens its spectrum

considerably. Such spectral broadening affects the pulse shape at the fiber output because

of fiber dispersion and degrades system performance. An exact calculation of the chirp -

induced power penalty ChirpPP is difficult because frequency chirp depends on both the

shape and the width of the optical pulse. In a simple model the chirp -induced power

penalty is given by

1010log 1 4Chirp cPP BLD

19

Here, c is the spectral shift associated with frequency chirping. The following figure

shows the power penalty as a function of the normalized dispersion parameter cBt , here

ct is the chirp duration (100–200 ps).

Reflection Feedback and Noise

Control and minimization of reflections is a key issue in every optical communication

system. Of course, there are many instances where we create reflections intentionally: for

example at the end facets of a las er. The reflections discussed here are unintended ones

that occur at connectors, joins and in some devices. These unwanted reflections could

have many highly undesirable effects. Among the most important of these are:

Disruption of laser operation

Reflections entering a laser disturb its stable operation adding noise and shifting

the wavelength.

Return Loss

Reflections can vary with the signal and produce a random loss of signal power.

This is termed “return loss” and is further described in 2.4.4, “Refl ections and

Return Loss Variation” on page 67.

Amplifier operation

Reflections returning into an optical amplifier can have two main effects:

In the extreme case of reflections at both ends the amplifier becomes a laser and

produces significant power of its own. (In a simple EDFA with only Ge as co -

dopant this would happen at the “ASE” wavelength of erbium, which is 1553 nm.

20

However, with other co-dopants present the lasing wavelength will often be

between 1535 nm and 1540 nm.

In lesser cases reflections can cause the amplifier to saturate (by taking away

power) and again introduce noise to the signal.

Reflections can be created at any abrupt change in the refractive index of the optical

material along the path. The major causes are:

Joins between high RI material and fiber (such as at the junction between a laser

or LED and a fiber or between any planar optical component and a fiber).

Joins between fibers of different characteristics. This is a bit unusual but there are

some cases where this has to happen . For example where a Pr doped amplifier

employing ZBLAN host glass is coupled to standard fiber for input and output.

Any bad connector produces significant reflections. For that matter most good

connectors produce some reflection albeit slight.

Some optical devices such as Fabry-Perot filters reflect unwanted light as part of

their design.

Reflections need to be kept in mind and can be controlled by one or more of the

following measures:

1) Taking care with fiber connectors and joins to ensure that they are made correctly

and produce minimum reflections. This can be checked using an OTDR.

2) By inclusion of isolators in the packaging of particularly sensitive optical

components (such as DFB lasers and amplifiers). The use of isolators is important

but these devices (of course) attenuate the signal and are polarization sensitive.

They can also be a source of polarization modal noise. Their use should be

carefully planned and in general, minimized.

3) In critical situations a diagonal splice in the fiber can be made o r a connector

using a diagonal fiber interface can be employed. The use of a diagonal join

ensures that any unwanted reflections are directed out of the fiber core.

Nevertheless, diagonal joins are difficult to make in the field due to the tiny

diameter of the fiber and the high precision required.

Anti-reflection coatings are very important where the reflection is due to an RI

difference. This may be at the edge of a planar waveguide for example. The fiber or

21

waveguide end is coated with a 1/4 wave thick l ayer of material of RI intermediate

between the device material and the air (if air is the adjoining material). The principle

involved here was discussed in 2.1.3.2, “Transmission through a Sheet of Glass” on page

22. In many systems it is critical to ensu re that reflections are considered in the system

design and that links are tested after installation to ensure that reflections are minimized.