Optical Signal Quality Monitoring Method Based on Sub-harmonically Synchronous Sampling

摘要

We propose a new method for monitoring optical signal quality. The new method is based on sub-harmonic sampling technique and is experimentally verified. With the new method, the amplitude histogram of the optical signal is acquired by sub-harmonically synchronous sampling. We demonstrate experimentally that the Q-factor obtained from the amplitude histogram coincides very well with the Q-factor deduced from the bit-error-rate that is directly measured by an bit-error-rate tester. The new method does not require highspeed sampling circuits, and hence it is very cost effective for monitoring high-speed optical signals that have different bit rates and coding formats.