ELEN90034 Optical Networking and Design

Lecturers:
Dr. An Tran Email: tranav@unimelb.edu.au Mr. Trevor Anderson Email: trevora@unimelb.edu.au Location: NICTA, Level 2, EEE Building 193

ELEN90034 Optical Networking and Design An Tran

Contact Hours
Recommended Prerequisites:
Not required

Time & Place:

Monday 2:15 pm 5:15 pm ICT Theatre 1

Consultation:
To be determined We do not like pop-in. If urgent, can arrange appointment.

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Course Information
References:
Optical Networks: A Practical Perspective by Rajiv Ramaswami and Kumar Sivarajan Ethernet Passive Optical Networks by Glen Kramer

Lecture notes
Available before the lecture. Students encouraged to read reference texts before lecture.

Additional notes
Will provide online links to other sources of helpful learning information.

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Assessment
60% Final exam
Hurdle: need to pass exam to pass the subject

30% Mid-semester test

Tentative date: 5 Sep 2011

10% Assignments

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Subject Objectives
Develop skills and knowledge in:
Fundamental optical network elements Optical network architectures ranging from optical access networks to backbone optical transport networks Approaches and methodologies of optical network design and optimization Techniques of optical network survivability Problem-solving skills and critical thinking in the discipline of optical networks

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Syllabus
Introductions to optical communications and optical components SDH/SONET and Gigabit Ethernet Optical access networks (including EPON, GPON, WDM PON) Next-generation optical networks Optical performance monitoring Optical network control, management and survivability Energy efficiency issues in networks

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ELEN90034: Optical Networking and Design

Lecture 1: Introduction to Optical Communications and Optical Components

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Introduction
Recently, dramatic growth in demand for communication capacity
Internet growing at about 50% annually Huge bandwidth demand for new applications:
Video on demand Peer to peer traffic Interactive services

Speed of electronics is not increasing fast enough Only optical systems can provide the capacity for the future Optical communication systems are now the preferred technology for:
Long distance networks (undersea network, national networks) High capacity networks (optical LAN, fibre-to-the-home)
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Electromagnetic Spectrum

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What is an Optical System?

Optical fibre communication system uses optical frequencies (1014 Hz) as carrier frequency to carry information
Such high carrier frequency allows modulation rates of up to 1013 bit/s Today rates are 2.5 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s. 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s are being developed

Optical signal is confined inside an optical fibre and isolated from surrounding environment. First-generation optical system: point-to-point, now evolving into optical network.

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Elements of Optical System

Laser diode
Drive circuitry

Optical fibre Optical components:

Coupler, multiplexer/demultiplexer Filter, isolator, circulator Optical switches

Optical amplifier Detector

Receiver circuitry

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Evolution of Optical Networks

LED (light-emitting diode) over multimode fibre in 0.8 m and 1.3 m band Fabry-Perot laser (multiple modes) over single-mode fibre in 1.3 m band DFB laser (single mode - reduce dispersion) over single-mode fibre in 1.5 m band to reduce loss Current system: WDM with optical amplifier in 1.5 m band

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Example of a Wavelength-Routing Mesh Network

Optical crossconnect (OXC) Wavelength conversion

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Coupler
A directional coupler is used to combine and split optical signals Couplers are made by fusing 2 fibers together in the middle, called fused fiber couplers. Can also be made from waveguides. Design parameters:
Wavelength selective or wavelength independent Coupling ratio Excess loss

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Star Coupler

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Isolators
An isolator is a passive nonreciprocal device.
Lightpath can be transmitted in one direction, but not in the opposite direction Example of application: anti-reflection

Isolator

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Circulators
A circulator is similar to an isolator, except that it has multiple ports, typically three or four.
Example of application: OADM

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Multiplexers and Filters

Filter: separate one wavelength from multiple wavelengths Multiplexer: aggregate multiple wavelengths in a single output port. In reverse direction becomes demultiplexer Used in wavelength cross-connect and optical add-drop multiplexer

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Filter Characteristics
Insertion loss: loss from input to output Polarisation independence Temperature independence Flat passband measured by 1-dB bandwidth Sharp passband skirts (or slope)

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Static Wavelength Crossconnect

Static wavelength crossconnect: crossconnect pattern is fixed and cannot be changed dynamically

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Gratings
The term grating is used to describe almost any type of device whose operation involves interference among multiple optical signals originating from the same source but with different relative phase shifts In WDM systems, gratings used as demultiplexer/multiplexer to separate/combine individual wavelengths

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Diffraction Gratings

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Bragg Gratings
Any periodic perturbation in the propagating medium serves as a Bragg grating. This perturbation is usually a periodic variation of the refractive index of the medium

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Fibre Bragg Gratings

Gratings written in fibre using photosensitivity of certain fibre type Exposing silica fiber doped with germanium to UV light causes changes in fiber refractive index. Advantages: Low loss, easy of coupling, polarisation insensitivity, low temperature coefficient, simple packaging High wavelength accuracy, flat tops, high crosstalk suppression Applications: optical add-drop multiplexer, dispersion compensator
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Fabry-Perot Filters
A Fabry-Perot filter consists of a cavity formed by two highly reflective mirrors placed parallel to each other
The input light beam to the filter enters the first mirror at right angles to its surface. The output of the filter is the light beam leaving the second mirror Interference occurs within the cavity

Advantages: can be tuned to select different WDM wavelengths by changing cavity length or refractive index. Used in Fabry-Perot lasers
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Multilayer Dielectric Thin-Film Filters

Thin-film filter is a Fabry-Perot interferometer where mirrors are realised using multiple reflective dielectric thin-film layers
Act as bandpass filter, pass through a wavelength and reflect other wavelengths Passthrough wavelength determined by cavity length

Multiple cavities: flatter passband and sharper passband skirts

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Multilayer Dielectric Thin-Film Filters (2)

TFF cascaded to make multiplexer/demultiplexer Each filter passes a different wavelength and reflects all others Good temperature stability, flat passband, sharp skirts, low loss, polarisation insensitive.

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Mach-Zehnder Interferometers
MZI: interferometric device that makes use of two interfering paths of different lengths to resolve different wavelengths MZI consists of 2 3-dB couplers interconnected through 2 different paths Used as multiplexer/demultiplexer and tunable filter by changing temperature in one arm.

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Arrayed Waveguide Grating

AWG is a generalization of MZI
Consists of 2 multiport couplers connected by array of waveguides AWG is a device where several copies of the same signal, but shifted in phase by different amounts, are added together

Used as multiplexer/demultiplexer or static wavelength crossconnect Temperature coefficient not low, require active temperature control
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Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF)

AOTF can select several wavelengths simultaneously Principle of operation:
Acoustic wave used to create a Bragg grating Changing the frequency changes the grating Tunable

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AOTF (2)

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ELEN90034 Optical Networking and Design An Tran

High Channel Count Multiplexer Architectures

Serial:
The demultiplexing is done one wavelength at a time The demultiplexer consists of W filter stages in series, one for each of the W wavelengths Allow pay as you grow High loss and not scalable Non-uniform loss across channels Eg: multilayer dielectric thin-film filters
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High Channel Count Multiplexer Architectures (2)

Single-stage:
All the wavelengths are demultiplexed together in a single stage Lower loss and better loss uniformity No. of channels limited by device capability Eg: AWG

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High Channel Count Multiplexer Architectures (3)

Multistage banding:
Divide wavelengths into bands Demultiplexing done in 2 stages Need a guard wavelength space between bands More scalable

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High Channel Count Multiplexer Architectures (4)

Multistage interleaving:
Demultiplexing done in 2 stages First stage separates wavelengths into odd and even-numbered group Second stage separates individual wavelength Benefit: last-stage filters can have much wider bandwidth, easier to be built Realised by using fiberbased MZI
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Switches
Automatic provisioning of lightpath services: replacing fibre patch panels Protection switching in case of fiber and network failure Packet switching: packet-by-packet External modulation: in front of laser, switching time is fraction of bit duration Important parameters:
Extinction ratio: output power ratio in on and off states Insertion loss Crosstalk Polarisation dependent loss

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Large Optical Switches

Considered issues
Number of switch elements required: cost and complexity Loss uniformity Number of crossovers Blocking characteristics:
Nonblocking: any unused input port can be connected to any unused output port
Strict-sense nonblocking: without requiring existing connections to be rerouted Wide-sense nonblocking: use particular algorithm to route without requiring existing connections to be rerouted Rearrangeably nonblocking: require rerouting of connections

Blocking: some interconnection pattern between unused input port and unused output can no be realised
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Crossbar Switch
Use 2x2 switches Wide-sense nonblocking nxn crossbar switch requires n2 2x2 switches. Large difference between shortest and longest path

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Clos Switch
Strict-sense nonblocking Individual switch in each stage uses crossbar switch Use smaller no. of 2x2 switches and better loss uniformity

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Spanke Switch
Strict-sense nonblocking Use n 1xn and n nx1 switches Use smaller no. of switches Low insertion and uniform loss

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Benes Switch
Rearrangeably nonblocking Use smallest no. of 2x2 switches Uniform loss Require waveguide crossover, hard to fabricate

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Spanke-Benes Switch

Rearrangeably nonblocking Requires n stages to realise nxn switch No waveguide crossover Non-uniform loss

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Comparison of Different Switch Architectures

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Optical Switch Technologies

Bulk mechanical switches Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) switches Bubble-based waveguide switch Liquid crystal switch Electro-optical switch Thermo-optic switch Semiconductor optical amplifier switch

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Bulk Mechanical Switches

Use mechanical means to perform switching Eg: moving mirror, directional coupler Low insertion loss, low crosstalk, inexpensive Slow switching speed and small no. of ports Used in small wavelength crossconnect for provisioning and protection
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MEMS Switches (2D or Digital)

MEMS consists of tiny movable mirrors Mirrors are deflected using electromagnetic, electrostatic, or piezoelectric methods

MEMS switch

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MEMS Switches (3D or Analog)

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MEMS Switches (3D or Analog)

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Bubble-based Waveguide Switch

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Electro-Optic Switches
Constructed using Lithium Niobate Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Applying voltage to change refractive index in coupling region Relatively fast switching speed Can integrate into large switches High loss and more expensive than mechanical switches
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Thermo-Optic Switches

Constructed using MachZehnder Interferometer Applying temperature to change refractive index in coupling region Slow switching speed Poor crosstalk

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Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Switches

Use semiconductor optical amplifier as on-off device by changing bias voltage Large extinction ratio Fast switching speed SOA is expensive and polarisation dependence

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Comparison of Different Types of Switches

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ELEN90034 Optical Networking and Design An Tran

Lasers
Two types:
Semiconductor lasers use semiconductors as gain medium - most popular type of laser due to small size and low cost Fiber lasers use erbium-doped fiber as gain medium

Principle of operation:
Optical energy is reflected at the ends of the amplifying or gain medium or cavity, which forms an oscillation if optical waves add in phase at the ends (resonant wavelengths of the cavity) The parameters of the cavity, e.g., cavity length, determines the emitting wavelength of a laser

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Lasers (2)
Lasing threshold: beyond this, the device produces light output, even in the absence of input signal This is due to spontaneous emission gets amplified without input signal and appears as light output. This is called stimulated emission. Multiple wavelengths exist within cavity if cavity length is integral multiple of half the wavelength. Multiple-longitudinal mode (MLM) laser (e.g. Fabry-Perot laser): large spectral width around 10 nm with multiple modes, not suitable for highspeed communication due to chromatic dispersion and crosstalk. Single-longitudinal mode (SLM) laser: narrow spectral width using filtering

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DFB and DBR Lasers

FP laser: light feedback from reflecting facets Distributed feedback laser: light feedback due to distributed reflectors, provided by periodic variation of cavity width Reflected waves add in phase if period of corrugation is integral multiple of half the wavelength. Strongest transmitted wavelength is equal twice the corrugation period. DFB laser: corrugation occurs within gain region DBR (distributed Bragg reflector) laser: corrugation is outside gain medium
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External Cavity Laser

External cavity to suppress oscillation of other modes. Laser oscillates only at resonant wavelengths of both primary and external cavities. Diffraction gratings can be used in external cavity. Wavelengths reflected determined by grating characteristic and its angle. ECL used primarily in test instruments and not for low-cost transmission. ECL cant be directly modulated due long cavity.
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Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSEL)

Easy to make active layer by depositing on semiconductor substrate. This leads to vertical cavity with mirrors formed on top and bottom of semiconductor wafer. Hence named VCSEL. Problem with high temperature operation. VCSEL advantages: simpler fibre coupling, easier packaging, easy to be integrated into array. 0.85 m VCSEL used for shortdistance multimode fiber in optical LAN 1.3 m and 1.5 m VCSEL being developed for single-mode fiber
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Other Types of Lasers

Light-emitting diodes (LED)
pn-junction using spontaneous emission, no reflective facets Broad wavelength spectrum Low output power, cannot be directly modulated for > 100 Mb/s Can use LED slicing provides cheap source with narrow spectral width

Tunable lasers
Important for WDM and reconfigurable network External cavity lasers: varying angle and distance from grating to cavity Tunable VCSELs: adjusting cavity length by applying voltage to upper and lower mirrors Two- and three-section DBR lasers: injecting current to change wavelength and power

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Direct Modulation
On-off keying (OOK): light stream is turned on and off depending on data bit 1 or 0. Drive current set well above threshold for 1 bit and below threshold for 0 bit. Direct modulation: simple and inexpensive. Disadvantage: chirped pulses, where frequency varies with time, causing broadening of transmitted spectrum. Chirped pulses have much shorter transmission limit than unchirped pulses.

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External Modulation
External modulator in front of light source, turns light on and off. Light source is continuously operated. Two ways to generate RZ pulses:
Using mode-locked laser to generate periodic pulses then standard modulator Using 2-stage modulator to impose clock signals before data signals.

Two types of external modulators:

Lithium niobate modulators Semiconductor electro-absorption (EA) modulators: using electric field to make material to absorb incident photons. Easy to be integrated with DFB lasers for compact, low-cost solution. Chirp performance not as good as lithium niobate modulators.
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Lithium Niobate Modulators

Use electro-optic effect: applied voltage induces change in refractive index of material. Directional coupler configuration:
Apply voltage to coupling region to change its refractive index, Then determining how much power coupled from input to output waveguide

Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI):

Applying voltage so that signals in 2 arms of MZI are in phase and interfere constructively and appear at output When signals are out of phase, they interfere destructively and do not appear at output Have higher modulation speed and extinction ratio than directional coupler
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Photodetectors
Principle of operation: incident photon absorbed by electrons in valence band, then electrons excited to conduction band leaving a hole. When voltage applied, electron-hole pairs give rise to electrical current. In practice, use semiconductor pn junction to improve efficiency Two types:
PIN photodiode: use intrinsic semiconductor between pn junction Avalanche photodiode: have higher gain by applying higher electric field

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Front-End Amplifiers
Two types:
High-impedance front-end amplifier Transimpendance front-end amplifier: higher dynamic range and better noise performance

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