We demonstrate a novel, multiple-bit DPSK detection scheme, capable of correcting isolated bit errors using simple logic gates, without an increase in the transmission rate. Simulations predict a 0.4dB back-back gain, 0.85dB in the presence of 1 radian of nonlinear phase noise, and further increased gains in the presence of receiver impairments. A 2dB OSNR gain is realized experimentally at a BER of 1e-3 using this error correction scheme.
IntroductionOptical differential-phase-shift-keying (DPSK) has become a promising format for future optical transmission systems due to its increased receiver sensitivity when compared to on-off-keying (OOK) and its high tolerance to nonlinear effects and chromatic dispersion. However, when compared to earlier coherent systems, DPSK is still inferior in terms of receiver sensitivity (~1.2 dB at a bit error rate of 1E-3). A number of schemes have been exploited in the RF domain to bring the performance of differential receivers closer to coherent. One prominent scheme, involves the use of multiple delay-interferometers (DIs), with the outputs combined to extract more information from the transmitted signal than would be possible with a single DI [1-3]. The demodulated signals in the multiple DIs have partially uncorrelated noise, allowing for some error correction after suitable processing of the received information, without any increase in the rate at the transmitter. Possibly more compelling, it has been shown that these techniques provide even more error correction gain in the non-back-to-back scenario. That is, these techniques provide compensation for transmission, transmitter and receiver impairments [1,3]. Recently multi-bit detection has been utilized in the optical domain to increase the back-to-back receiver sensitivity and to provide compensation for nonlinear phase noise (NLPN) and chromatic dispersion (CD) [4][5][6][7]. The schemes proposed so far in the optical domain have required either electronic soft detection [4] or modifications to the optical DI, along with possibly unrealistically small feedbacks to control the DI phase [6]. Current limitations of high-speed RF electronics may make it highly desirable to transfer the post-detection circuitry to the digital domain. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a novel DPSK multi-bit detection scheme utilizing a 1-bit and a 2-bit DI, followed by all-digital, error-correction logic requiring only a few simple logic gates. The error correction logic allows for the correction of isolated bit errors that occur in either one of the DIs (but not both). Through simulation, we demonstrate an enhanced receiver sensitivity of 0.4 dB in the back-back linear regime and 0.85 dB in the presence of 1 radian of NLPN. Possibly more compelling, we demonstrate that this technique is very powerful at increasing the robustness to receiver impairments, through tolerance simulations to frequency offset and non-optimal optical filtering. We demonstrate our technique experimentally at 10 Gb/s and obtain a performance gain of ~2 dB at...