Study of a novel high-speed all-optical
orthogonal modulation scheme based on
frequency-shift keying and intensity-modulated
labeling
Minghao Li
Nan Chi
Wei Hong
Wei Li
Hong Liu
Dexiu Huang
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
School of Optoelectronic Science and
Engineering
Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics
Wuhan 430074, China
E-mail: hustlmh76@sina.com
Abstract. We propose and demonstrate a novel orthogonal optical la-
beling scheme based on 40-Gbit/s optical frequency-shift keying 共FSK兲
payload and 2.5-Gbit/ s intensity-modulated 共IM兲 labeling. Using the
technology of carrier-suppressed modulation and conversion of differen-
tial phase-shift keying to IM, only one light source is needed to generate
the optical FSK signal. The system performance, including range of IM
modulation depth, bit error ratio, and dispersion limitation, is carefully
investigated by numerical simulation. With IM modulation depth of 0.4,
the 40 Gbit/ s FSK payload and 2.5-Gb/ s IM label are transmitted over a
50-km standard single mode fiber 共SMF兲 with 0.87 and 0.92 dB penalty
and show immunity to input power range upto 11 and 15 dB, respec-
tively. Optimal methods to improve the system performance are also
proposed and discussed. After optimization, the IM modulation depth can
be reduced to 0.2.
© 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation
Engineers. 关DOI: 10.1117/1.2977526兴
Subject terms: frequency-shift keying with intensity modulation 共FSK/IM兲;or-
thogonal modulation; carrier suppression; delay interferometer 共DI兲
.
Paper 080189R received Mar. 10, 2008; revised manuscript received Jun. 13,
2008; accepted for publication Jul. 3, 2008; published online Sep. 9, 2008.
1 Introduction
All-optical label swapping 共AOLS兲 has become a promis-
ing technique for implementing packet routing and for-
warding functions over wavelength-division multiplexing
共WDM兲 optical networks.
1
In AOLS networks, optical label
swapping is regarded as an indispensable technology, and
various methods for label coding have been studied,
2
such
as bit serial labels, optical subcarrier multiplexed labels,
and optical code division multiplexing. A more efficient
scheme of orthogonal frequency-shift keying with intensity
modulation 共FSK/IM兲 was also proposed recently,
3,4
where
the payload is in IM format, while the label is in FSK
format. The main merit of FSK labeling is that the low-
speed FSK label can be superimposed on and extracted
from the optical carrier without affecting its intensity.
5
However, the FSK label is generated by direct modulation
of electric current in a laser light source, so the FSK bit rate
is limited by the response of the laser. Moreover, a fre-
quency discriminator and a tunable light source must be
used to demodulate the old FSK label and generate a new
one for the next hop at each core router, which may result
in a great increase of the system complexity and cost.
6
To overcome these problems, a novel scheme using FSK
for the payload with new high-speed external FSK modu-
lation technology is required. An integrated optical FSK
modulator
7
based on the single sideband 共SSB兲 modulator
technology
8,9
has been reported, employing four optical
phase modulators.
10
However, the mentioned modulator re-
quires precise phase and amplitude adjustment of four driv-
ing rf signals, which may lead to high cost and discourage
its use. Another scheme, which utilizes the combination of
two demodulated differential phase-shift keying 共DPSK兲
signals to generate an optical FSK payload, has also been
proposed and experimentally demonstrated at 10 Gbit/ s.
11
However, two light sources are used to generate the FSK
signal in this scheme, which may result in high cost and
performance instability. So far, developement of a
40-Gbit/ s FSK transmitter and its application in payload
coding for AOLS are still a challenge. The performance of
this modulation system has not been investigated either.
In this paper, we propose and numerically demonstrate a
novel high-speed optical FSK/IM orthogonal modulation
scheme using the optical FSK as the modulation format for
the 40-Gbit/ s payload, on which the 2.5-Gbit/ s intensity-
modulated label is superimposed. With the use of the tech-
niques of carrier-suppressed modulation and DPSK-to-IM
conversion, only one light source is needed in the proposed
scheme to generate the high-speed FSK payload.
The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. 2, the opera-
tion principle of the proposed FSK/IM orthogonal modula-
tion scheme is described. In Sec. 3 and its subsections, the
system performance with respect to IM modulation depth,
transmission limitation, and dispersion tolerance is pre-
sented. Some optimization methods that can greatly im-
prove the system performance are also provided and dis-
cussed. In Sec. 4, summarizing conclusions are given.
0091-3286/2008/$25.00 © 2008 SPIE
Optical Engineering 47共9兲, 095002 共September 2008兲
Optical Engineering September 2008/Vol. 47共9兲095002-1