Calibration of pluggable optical module

Abstract

An optical communications apparatus comprising a host () and an optical module () comprising a Mach-Zehnder modulator (), MZM, wherein the optical module is removably connected to the host via a connection path, the optical communications apparatus comprising: a signal generator () at the host, configured to generate a plurality of calibration signals at a plurality of frequencies; a host interface () configured to transmit the calibration signals to the optical module via the connection path; a module interface () configured to receive the transmitted calibration signals; wherein the MZM is configured to use the calibration signals to modulate a laser light source () and biased to a point at which average output power is proportional to the output modulated signal; an optical detector configured to measure an average magnitude of an output of the MZM when each of the calibration signals is used to modulate the laser light source; one of a host calibration unit () and a module calibration unit (), configured to determine a magnitude response of the connection path based on the measured average magnitudes and magnitudes of the respective calibration signals, and further configured to determine a pre-emphasis characteristic based on the magnitude response, the pre-emphasis characteristic for application to signals transmitted by the optical transmitter in use.