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We perform theoretical analysis and systematic measurement of the degree-of-polarization and eye-closure penalty for optical signals with orthogonal polarizations. Both the theory and experiment show that the symmetry of the DOP is maintained for the orthogonal polarizations under both first and higher-order PMD, whereas the symmetry of eye-closure penalty is broken under second-order PMD. As a result, an orthogonal polarization pair can have large disparity of eye-closure penalty despite an identical degree-of-polarization. We also demonstrate a novel approach to estimate the maximum eye-closure penalty asymmetry with three orthogonal polarizations on the Poincare Sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed transoceanic optical fiber transmission using direct modulation (DM) and direct detection (DD) was one of the most stirring breakthroughs for telecommunication in 1990s, which drove the internet as a global phenomenon. However, the later evolution of optical coherent communications in 2000s gradually took over the long-haul applications, due to its superior optical spectral efficiency. Nowadays, DM–DD systems are dominant mainly in cost- and power-sensitive short-reach applications, because of its natural characteristics—the simplicity. This paper reviews the recent advances of DM–DD transceivers from both hardware and signal processing perspectives. It introduces a variety of modified DM and/or DD systems for 3 application scenarios: very-short-reach interconnect with little fiber channel impact; single or a few spans of fiber transmission up to several hundred km; and distance beyond the 2nd scenario. Besides the DM–DD and multi-dimension DM–DD with polarization diversity, this paper focuses on how to rejuvenate traditional DM and DD technologies in order to bridge the transmission application gap between DM-DD and coherent transceivers, using technologies such as dispersion compensation, signal field recovery from the intensity-only DD receiver, and complex direct modulation with coherent detection. More than 30 years since the birth, DM and DD still hold indispensable roles in modern optical communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A 320.6-GHz multi-band optical OFDM signal generation scheme consisting of continuous 4,104 subcarriers is demonstrated for 1-Tb/s coherent optical OFDM (CO-OFDM) transmission. The 36 uncorrelated orthogonal bands are generated using a recirculating frequency shifter (RFS) with single laser by adjusting the loop delay of RFS to be an integer multiple of OFDM symbol period. The principle and performance of this generation scheme is studied theoretically and experimentally. The 1-Tb/s CO-OFDM signal is successfully received after 600-km SSMF fiber transmission without any dispersion compensation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A photonic switch is an integral part of optical telecommunication systems. A plasmonic bandpass filter integrated with materials exhibiting phase transition can be used as a thermally reconfigurable optical switch. This paper presents the design and demonstration of a broadband photonic switch based on an aluminium nanohole array on quartz utilising the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition of vanadium dioxide. The fabricated switch shows an operating range over 650 nm around the optical communication C, L, and U band with maximum 20%, 23% and 26% transmission difference in switching in the C band, L band, and U band, respectively. The extinction ratio is around 5 dB in the entire operation range. This architecture is a precursor for developing micron-size photonic switches and ultra-compact modulators for thin film photonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]