Photonic Devices and Subsystems for Future WDM PON and Radio over Fiber Technologies.

摘要

Internet traffic has undergone tremendous growth in the past decades and has already penetrated into the daily lives of the general population. Demand for new high bandwidth services is beginning to drive the deployment of optical fiber-based access networks to solve the so-called last mile bottleneck around the world. Passive optical networks (PON) are attractive because there are no active components in the transmission line, thus reducing operational and deployment costs. Time-division-multiplexing (TDM) used in currently deployed PON, in which the bandwidth is shared among the users by time domain multiplexing, does not fully utilize the bandwidth potential of optical fibers and will not be able to satisfy the bandwidth demand in access networks in the near future. Among the advanced multiplexing techniques, wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) PON is a good candidate technology for providing sustained bit-rates beyond 10 Gb/s in access networks. However, reduction of costs in WDM PON remains a key challenge for their practical deployment.;In this thesis, we describe our research on photonic devices and subsystems for future access networks. Since optical network units (ONUs) are the most cost-sensitive parts, we first investigate the use of advanced modulation format in colorless ONU structure. We implement a scheme which uses dark return-to-zero (DRZ) for downstream transmission and remodulation of it using a differential-phase-shift-keying (DPSK) for upstream both at 10 Gb/s. We also experimentally demonstrate silicon microring based optical frequency discriminators for use in demodulating DPSK and differential-quadrature-phase-shift-keying (DQPSK) signals. We show that the scheme is robust to variations in bit-rates in contrast with conventional Mach-Zehnder delay interferometer scheme.;In order to reduce the complexity and costs of ONU transceiver, we propose a scheme based on a nonreciprocal optical modulator and a linear loop mirror for receiving downstream and sending upstream data We show that the nonreciprocity of traveling wave electrodes can selectively impress signal modulation onto the reflected upstream signals only. Monolithic integrated transceivers may thus remodulate downstream signals for upstream data transmission without needing integrated optical circulators. The proposed ONU is thus compatible with monolithic integration.;Besides colorless ONUs, we investigate potentially low cost, high speed vertical-cavity-surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for use in future access networks. VCSELs are attractive because they may meet the stringent size, power dissipation and cost constraints of access network components. We carry out experiments to demonstrate that up to 20 Gb/s direct modulation of long wavelength VCSEL is possible and evaluate their performance as high-speed transceivers.;Wired and wireless hybrid optical access networks are also investigated. Radio-over-fiber is one low-cost approach to deliver broadband wireless services, in which radio signals at the carrier frequency are delivered over optical networks from a central office to remote antenna base stations. Generation of high frequency carrier and radio frequency fading are the main research challenges. We propose and demonstrate frequency upconversion based on frequency doubling and quadrupling. Novel wired and wireless hybrid subsystems that mitigate millimeter-wave signal distortion are also demonstrated.