Reception of signals transmitted over a dispersive optical channel

Abstract

A receiver for recovering transmitted information carried by a received optical signal that has been affected by dispersion includes an optical splitter having an input port arranged to receive the received optical signal, and a plurality of output ports. A proportion of optical power at the input port is transmitted to each of the output ports. A plurality of optical detectors is operably connected to respective output ports of the optical splitter, for generating a corresponding plurality of electrical signals. Optical phase shifters are disposed between the output ports of the optical splitter and respective optical detectors. As a result, each optical phase shifter applies a frequency dependent phase shift to an optical signal passing therethrough. An electronic processor includes analog and/or digital electronic components configured to combine two or more of the plurality of electrical signals, or information recovered separately therefrom, in order to provide improved accuracy or reliability of information recovery as compared with detecting and processing only the received optical signal. The receiver is advantageously able to mitigate the effects of frequency-dependent fading which may occur in intensity modulation/direct detection optical transmission systems due to dispersion in optical transmission paths.