Multiple access interference rejection in OCDMA using a two-photon absorption based semiconductor device

An experimental demonstration of a two-channel OCDMA system with detection performed using standard linear detection or a TPA-based nonlinear detector is presented. These results show an improvement in the extinction ratio of the decoded signal by ∼5 dB using TPA detection. A simulation model of the TPA detector used during the experiments was created and used in a four-channel OCDMA system simulation using both linear and nonlinear detection methods. The simulation results show that error-free performance is achievable for a 4-user system using the nonlinear TPA detector while the OCDMA system employing linear detection is severely limited by the effects of noise generated by adjacent optical channels (multiple access interference).