Comparison of polarization-switched QPSK and polarization-multiplexed QPSK at 30 Gbit/s

Martin Sjödin; Pontus Johannisson; Henk Wymeersch; Peter A Andrekson; Magnus Karlsson

doi:10.1364/OE.19.007839

Comparison of polarization-switched QPSK and polarization-multiplexed QPSK at 30 Gbit/s

Opt Express. 2011 Apr 11;19(8):7839-46. doi: 10.1364/OE.19.007839.

Authors

Martin Sjödin¹, Pontus Johannisson, Henk Wymeersch, Peter A Andrekson, Magnus Karlsson

Affiliation

¹ Photonics Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden. martin.sjodin@chalmers.se

PMID: 21503095
DOI: 10.1364/OE.19.007839

Abstract

We present the first experimental results for polarization-switched QPSK (PS-QPSK) and make a comparison with polarization-multiplexed QPSK. Our measurements confirm the predicted sensitivity advantage of PS-QPSK. We have also studied the single channel performance after transmission over 300 km and support the results with numerical simulations. It is shown that the two modulation formats have similar nonlinear tolerance and that optical dispersion compensation outperforms compensation with digital signal processing in the single channel case. Finally, we propose a novel transmitter for PS-QPSK based on an IQ modulator and two amplitude modulators driven in a push-pull configuration.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't