Wide-Band Inline-Amplified WDM Transmission Using PPLN-Based Optical Parametric Amplifier

Abstract

This paper proposes an optical parametric amplifier (OPA), as an inline-repeater, using a periodically-poled-LiNbO3 (PPLN) waveguide with over-10-THz amplification bandwidth, and also presents wide-band wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) inline-amplified transmission with the OPA. Our PPLNbased OPA is polarization-independent and has a spectrally efficient configuration by filtering phase-conjugated signals (idlers). We implemented our PPLN-based OPA with half its ideal configuration with an over-10-THz amplification bandwidth because of the limited number of PPLN waveguides. The implemented OPA had 5.125-THz amplification bandwidth, gain of beyond 15 dB, and noise figure of less than 5.1-dB. The gain excludes the 5.6-dB loss of an idler rejection filter employed in the transmission experiment so that the implemented OPA can compensate 9.5-dB link loss of transmission fibers and optical components. A 3 × 30.8-km inline-amplified transmission with 41channel 800-Gbps WDM signal in 125-GHz spacing was successfully demonstrated using our PPLN-based OPA as an inline-repeater. The results also indicate that the OPA's amplification bandwidth can potentially be extended to 10.25 THz.

Looped Polarization-Insensitive Fiber Optical Parametric Amplifiers for Broadband High Gain Applications

“…This can significantly improve the nonlinear tolerance of the GL and the GFL variants. Alternatively, the loop can be replaced with the Mach-Zehnder architecture similar to LiNbO3-based polarization-insensitive optical parametric amplifiers [38]. This architecture can have a noise figure of the GL variant and the nonlinearity tolerance of the LG variant simultaneously.…”

“…Although FOPAs share most of their merits with other optical parametric amplifiers (e.g. based on LiNbO3) [14], [15], FOPAs are capable of much higher output signal power due to superior power handling of optical fiber.…”

PPLN-Based Optical Parametric Amplification for Wideband WDM Transmission

“…The optical parametric amplifier (OPA) is also attracting attention in research as a wideband optical amplifier outperforming the EDFA band. OPAs utilizing nonlinear optical processes have been studied using periodically poled LiNbO3 (PPLN) waveguides as a χ (2) -based medium [8][9][10][11][12][13] or highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs) as a χ (3) -based medium [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Recently, a highly efficient χ (3) -based OPA using a silicon nitride waveguide was also proposed [20].…”

“…Recently, a highly efficient χ (3) -based OPA using a silicon nitride waveguide was also proposed [20]. The attractive features of the OPA are a wideband [8,12,15,16], high gain [12,13,17], and small gain-transient response [18,19].…”

POL-MUX System for Noncoherent Optical Networks

“…POL-MUX system was the subject of research mostly in the 1990s and plenty of research groups were interested in this topic. Although it allows doubling of bandwidth and brings many advantages in comparison with other known multiplexing techniques, due to difficult demultiplexing, it was no longer prospective for further development, and WDM systems played the main role in the field of optical networks for many years [8][9][10][11][12][13]. The renaissance came after 2000, when the group of Yao et al [5,6] engaged in research of POL-MUX systems using an all-optic scheme for polarization demultiplexing.…”