This paper presents the concept of an optical transmitter based on optical arbitrary waveform generation (OAWG) capable of synthesizing Tb/s optical signals of arbitrary modulation format. Experimental and theoretical demonstrations in this paper include generation of data packet waveforms focusing on (a) achieving high spectral efficiencies in quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) modulation formats, (b) generation of complex data waveform packets used for optical-label switching (OLS) consisting of a data payload and label on a carrier and subcarrier, and (c) repeatability and accuracy of duobinary (DB) data packet waveforms with BER measurements. These initial demonstrations are based on static OAWG, or line-by-line pulse shaping, to generate repeated waveforms of arbitrary shape. In addition to experimental and theoretical demonstrations of static OAWG, simulated results show dynamic OAWG, which involves encoding continuous data streams of arbitrary symbol sequence on data packet waveforms of arbitrary length.

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We demonstrate a flexible-bandwidth network testbed with a real-time, adaptive control plane that adjusts modulation format and spectrum-positioning to maintain quality of service (QoS) and high spectral efficiency. Here, low-speed supervisory channels and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) enabled real-time impairment detection of high-speed flexible bandwidth channels (flexpaths). Using premeasured correlation data between the supervisory channel quality of transmission (QoT) and flexpath QoT, the control plane adapted flexpath spectral efficiency and spectral location based on link quality. Experimental demonstrations show a back-to-back link with a 360-Gb/s flexpath in which the control plane adapts to varying link optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) by adjusting the flexpath's spectral efficiency (i.e., changing the flexpath modulation format) between binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK), and eight phase-shift keying (8PSK). This enables maintaining the data rate while using only the minimum necessary bandwidth and extending the OSNR range over which the bit error rate in the flexpath meets the quality of service (QoS) requirement (e.g. the forward error correction (FEC) limit). Further experimental demonstrations with two flexpaths show a control plane adapting to changes in OSNR on one link by changing the modulation format of the affected flexpath (220 Gb/s), and adjusting the spectral location of the other flexpath (120 Gb/s) to maintain a defragmented spectrum.

We demonstrate an optical transmitter based on dynamic optical arbitrary waveform generation (OAWG) which is capable of creating high-bandwidth (THz) data waveforms in any modulation format using the parallel synthesis of multiple coherent spectral slices. As an initial demonstration, the transmitter uses only 5.5 GHz of electrical bandwidth and two 10-GHz-wide spectral slices to create 100-ns duration, 20-GHz optical waveforms in various modulation formats including differential phase-shift keying (DPSK), quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK), and eight phase-shift keying (8PSK) with only changes in software. The experimentally generated waveforms showed clear eye openings and separated constellation points when measured using a real-time digital coherent receiver. Bit-error-rate (BER) performance analysis resulted in a BER < 9.8 × 10(-6) for DPSK and QPSK waveforms. Additionally, we experimentally demonstrate three-slice, 4-ns long waveforms that highlight the bandwidth scalable nature of the optical transmitter. The various generated waveforms show that the key transmitter properties (i.e., packet length, modulation format, data rate, and modulation filter shape) are software definable, and that the optical transmitter is capable of acting as a flexible bandwidth transmitter.

Optical filtering has been used to extend the reach of directly modulated laser in 10Gb/s WDM systems via two separate mechanisms: narrowing the broadened spectrum, and converting frequency modulation into useful amplitude modulation. We investigate in detail, the impact of asymmetric and narrowband optical filtering at the transmitter or receiver. Experimental demonstrations for both shorter distance and long-haul like transmission using optical filtering are performed. The transmission reach is nearly doubled from <25-km to >45-km without dispersion compensation. 1400-km error-free transmission (Q > 15.6-dB) is further achieved over dispersion-managed link for a directly modulated DFB laser within an 8x10-Gb/s WDM system.