Nortel Networks Corporation

Northern Telecom Limited

Julian Fells

Richard E Epworth

Kim Bryon Roberts

Alan Robinson

Robert William Spagnoletti

Anagnostis Hadjifotiou

Ian Hardcastle

Daniel A Watley

Howard Neil Rourke

Andrew J Collar

Garry Adams

Optical impairments such as dispersion and fibre nonlinearity are compensated by generating a pre-distorted electrical signal at the transmitter. This signal is modulated onto a carrier signal, so that it is upconverted in frequency. This up converted signal is then used to modulate an optical source. Generally the optical signal will have two sidebands, one of which has the correctly pre-distorted information and the other which is unwanted. Information in the unwanted optical sideband is either filtered optically or electrically. In the preferred embodiments, the transmitter uses a tunable semiconductor laser with an integrated electroabsorption modulator to modulate the light. The preferred receiver is a coherent receiver with a tunable local oscillator laser. The receiver uses an electrical filter to remove the information in the unwanted sideband.

Electrical compensation of optical impairments

A method and system for mitigating effects of dispersion in an optical link. A pair of digital sample streams are synthesized representing a target optical E-field having a spectrum selected such that the convolution of the spectrum with itself yields a signal having beat terms that contain phase information of the target optical E-field. A complex optical modulator is driven in accordance with the computed orthogonal sample values.

Digital synthesis of readily compensated optical signals

A polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensation arrangement receives an optical input data signal which has been subjected to PMD. The arrangement comprises an adaptive chromatic dispersion compensator ( ) and a first-order PMD compensator ( ) in series, wherein the adaptive chromatic dispersion compensator is controlled to provide compensation for both chromatic dispersion and second order PMD. The compensation arrangement is used in a node of an optical network.

Dispersion compensation

An optical dispersion compensation device includes a first optical compensation unit that applies non-linear dispersion compensation across a signal band, the first optical compensation unit being coupled to a second optical compensation unit that applies a degree of linear dispersion compensation across the signal band. The approach taken is to provide broadband dispersion compensation by applying dispersion slope compensation across the signal band to equalise residual dispersion slope and by applying a degree of linear compensation separately to affect the required linear dispersion compensation. Using these two degrees of freedom it is possible to set the desired dispersion slope and linear dispersion (whether positive or negative) to affect broadband dispersion compensation without needing to demultiplex the optical signal.

Chromatic dispersion compensation

Conventional quadratically chirped fiber Bragg gratings are typically apodized at both their high and low chirp ends. The present specification describes an improved Bragg grating reflector in which a second quadratically chirped region is arranged in front on the high chirp end of a substantially conventional quadratically chirped portion. The high chirp end of the first portion is not apodized; instead this apodization takes place in the second portion, and so enables the first portion to exhibit appreciable reflectivity to signals having wavelengths extending to the Bragg wavelength corresponding to the high chirp end of the first portion. The present invention thus enables the useable bandwidth of a quadratically chirped grating to be increased, and so enables an increased tuning range to be achieved in adjustable dispersion (and adjustable dispersion compensation) apparatus incorporating such gratings.

Chirped Bragg grating reflectors and adjustable dispersion apparatus incorporating such gratings

An underwater telecommunications system has a first underwater cable for carrying data traffic, one or more underwater repeaters, and an underwater power network for supplying power to the repeaters. By providing a separate cable for some or all of the power supply, the power route may be made shorter, thus more power can be delivered, therefore more repeaters can be used, which enables more fiber pairs to be laid, and thus the capacity to be increased.

Telecommunications system power supply

An optical waveguide provided with a linearly chirped Bragg reflective grating can be employed as a device that provides linear dispersion compensation. The amount of the linear dispersion thereby provided can be rendered adjustable by adjustment of the magnitude of axial strain imposed upon the grating. If the chirp is purely linear, and if also, the strain is at all times uniform along the length of the grating, adjustment of the strain magnitude will have no such effect. This requires the presence of a quadratic chirp term, but such a term introduces its own transmission penalty. This penalty is compensated at least in part by causing the light to make a reflection in a second Bragg reflection grating identical with the first, but oriented to provide a quadratic component of chirp that has the opposite sign to that of the first Bragg reflection grating.

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Epping, United Kingdom

Julian Fells