OPTICAL FIBER NONLINEARITIES AND ITS IMPACT ON HIGH BIT RATE LONG HAUL OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS

Kishori Sharan Mathur

Research Scholar, JJT University, Jhunjhunu 333001, Rajasthan, India

Tel :+91- 9971652846, Email: kishorimathur@hotmail.com

FIBER NONLINEARITIES
As long as optical power within an optical fiber is small, the fiber can be treated as a linear medium; that is the loss and refractive index are independent of the signal power When optical power level gets fairly high, the fiber becomes a nonlinear medium; that is the loss and refractive index depend on the optical power

NONLINEAR EFFECTS IN OPTICAL FIBER AROSE DUE TO:

INCREASE IN OPTICAL POWER LEVELS INCREASE IN NUMBER OF TRANSMITTED WAVELENGTHS(DWDM SYSTEMS) INCREASE IN DATA RATE INCREASE IN TRANSMISSION DISTANCES FIBER NONLINEARITIES REPRESENTS FUNDAMENTALS LIMITATIONS TO AMOUNT OF DATA THAT CAN BE TRANSMITTED ON A SINGLE OPTICAL FIBER CABLE

Transmission of multiple channels using WDM systems with 8, 16 or 32 channels (multiplexing of 2.5 Gbit/s signals)

1,2,3--n

FIBER NONLINEARITIES CAN BE CLASIFIED IN TWO CATEGORIES:

Refractive index related Intensity dependent variations in refractive index of silica fibers-Kerr effects
Single channel Self phase modulation (SPM) Multichannel Cross phase modulation (XPM), Four wave mixing (FWM)

Scattering related Stimulated brillouin scattering (SBS) Frequency of scattered light shifted downwards

Stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)

Figure 1 shows relationship of refractive index of silica fiber versus optical power.

MINIMIZING THE AMOUNT OF POWER P LAUNCHED AND MAXIMIZING THE EFFECTIVE AREA i.e., MODE FIELD DIAMETER (MFD) OF THE FIBER i.e., (AEFF) ELIMINATES THE NONLINEARITIES PRODUCED BY REFRACTIVE INDEX POWER DEPENDENCE.
BUT NORMALLY, MINIMIZING THE POWER LEVELS GOES AGAINST THE CURRENT APPROACH TO MINIZE THE NUMBERS OF OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS WHICH HAS DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS ON COST. HOWEVER MAXIMISING THE EFFECTIVE AREA (MFD) REMAINS THE MOST COMMON APPROACH IN THE LATEST FIBER DESIGNS.

STIMULATED BRILLOUIN SCATTERING (SBS)

SBS ARISES WHEN STRONG OPTICAL SIGNAL GENERATES AN ACOUSTIC WAVE WHICH PRODUCES VARIATIONS IN THE REFRACTIVE INDEX. THESE PERIODIC VARIATIONS IN REFRACTIVE INDEX, CAUSED BY HIGH POWER INCIDENT LIGHT WAVE, CAUSES BACK REFLECTIONS SIMILAR TO THE EFFECT OF BRAGG GRATINGS . THE BACK SCATTERING CAUSES LOSS OF SIGNAL POWER.

THE SBS EFFECT IS CONFINED WITHIN A SINGLE WAVELENGTH CHANNEL IN A DENSE WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (DWDM) SYSTEM SBS SETS AN UPPER LIMIT ON THE AMOUNT OF OPTICAL POWER THAT CAN BE LAUNCHED INTO AN OPTICAL FIBER.

STIMULATED BRILLOUIN SCATTERING (SBS)

IT IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT TO CONTROL SBS IN HIGH SPEED TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS USING EXTERNAL MODULATORS AND CONTINUOUS WAVE (CW) LASER SOURCES.

The phenomenon of SBS threshold effects

STIMULATED BRILLOUIN SCATTERING (SBS THE SBS THRESHOLD IS STRONGLY DEPENDENT ON THE OPTICAL SOURCES LINE WIDTH

FIG SHOWS HOW THE SBS THRESHOLD INCREASES PROPORTIONALLY AS THE OPTICAL SOURCE LINE WIDTH INCREASES.

BROADENING THE EFFECTIVE SPECTRAL WIDTH OF AN OPTICAL SOURCE RESULTS IN MINIMIZING THE SBS, BUT BROADENING OF LINE WIDTH OF TRANSMITTER INCREASES THE DISPERSION SUSCEPTIBILITY OF THE TRANSMITTER, PRIMARILY A CONCERN WHEN OPERATING AT 1550 NM OVER NON DISPERSION SHIFTED SINGLE MODE FIBERS.

STIMULATED BRILLOUIN SCATTERING (SBS)

VARIOUS SCHEMES ARE AVAILABLE FOR REDUCING THE POWER PENALTY EFFECTS OF SBS AS FOLLOWS:

I) KEEPING THE OPTICAL POWER OF WDM CHANNELS BELOW THE SBS THRESHOLD. FOR LONG HAUL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, THIS MAY REQUIRE A REDUCTION IN No. OF OPTICAL AMPLIFIER .
(

(ii) INCREASING THE LINE WIDTH OF THE SOURCE. THIS CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH DIRECT MODULATION OF SOURCE (AS OPPOSED TO EXTERNAL MODULATION) SINCE THIS CAUSES THE LINE WIDTH TO BROADEN BECAUSE OF CHIRPING EFFECTS. BUT IT MAY RESULT IN LARGE DISPERSION PENALTY. (III) SLIGHTLY DITHERING THE LASER O/P IN FREQUENCY, ROUGHLY AT 100 TO 200 MHZ TO RAISE THE BRILLOUIN THRESHOLD.

STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING (SRS)

STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING IS AN INTERACTION BETWEEN LIGHT WAVES AND THE VIBRATIONAL MODES OF SILICA MOLECULES. BUT SINCE THE THRESHOLD OF SRS IS CLOSE TO 1 WATT I.E. NEARLY THOUSAND TIMES HIGHER THAN SBS IT IS MUCH LESS A PROBLEM THAN SBS.

BUT THE THRESHOLD LIMIT DROPS PROPORTIONALLY BY THE NUMBER OF OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS IN SERIES.
HENCE A FIBER OPTICAL LINK THAT INCLUDE THREE SUCH OPTICAL AMPLIFIER WILL REACH THIS LIMITS AS EDFAS GIVES OPTICAL POWER OUTPUT OF 500 mw (27dbm) AND IN FUTURE THIS OUTPUT WILL GO EVEN HIGHER.

STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING (SRS)

TO UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISM OF SRS LET US CONSIDER A PHOTON OF ENERGY h1 IS INCIDENT ON A MOLECULE HAVING A VIBRATIONAL FREQUENCY M, THIS MOLECULE CAN ABSORB SOME ENERGY FROM PHOTON. IN THIS INTERACTION, THE PHOTON IS SCATTERED THEREBY ATTAINING THE LOWER FREQUENCY 2 AND A LOWER ENERGY hV2. THE MODIFIED PHOTON IS CALLED A STOKES PHOTON.

THE OPTICAL SIGNAL WAVE THAT IS INJECTED INTO A FIBER IS OFTEN CALLED PUMP WAVE, SINCE IT SUPPLIES POWER TO THE GENERATED WAVE. THIS PROCESS GENERATES SCATTERED LIGHT AT A WAVELENGTH LONGER THAN THAT OF THE INCIDENT LIGHT.

IF ANOTHER SIGNAL IS PRESENT AT THIS LONGER

WAVELENGTH, THE SRS PHENOMENON WILL AMPLIFY IT AND THE PUMP WAVELENGTH SIGNAL WILL DECREASE IN POWER.

STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING (SRS)

SIX CHANNEL DWDM TRANSMITTED OPTICAL SPECTRUM

STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING (SRS)

SRS EFFECT ON SIX CHANNEL DWDM TRANSMITTED OPTICAL SPECTRUM

FOR A SINGLE CHANNEL SYSTEM THRESHOLD IS AROUND 500 mw NEAR 1550 nm

FOR A 20 CHANNEL SYSTEM THRESHOLD PTH EXCEEDS 10 mw AND IT IS AROUND 1 mw FOR A 70 CHANNEL SYSTEM.

16*10Gbit/s Transmitter

+28.5dbm EDFA

310km

Remote amplifier box EDFA

120km

1455nm pump 1.1w

EDFA

Rx

1480nm pump 1.3w

120km

Optical mux

Optical isolator

Optical mux

REPEARTERLESS UNDER SEA LINK WITH RAMAN PREAMPLFICATION AND EDFA AMPLIFICATION

SELF PHASE MODULATION (SPM)

THE REFRACTIVE INDEX OF MANY OPTICAL MATERIALS CAN BE GIVEN BY N = NO+N2 I = NO+N2 P/AEFF WHERE, NO IS THE ORDINARY REFRACTIVE INDEX OF THE MATERIAL AND N2 IS THE NONLINEAR INDEX COEFFICIENT. FOR SILICA, THE FACTOR N2 IS ABOUT 2.6 X 10-8 m2/w. THIS NONLINEARITY IN THE REFRACTIVE INDEX IS KNOWN AS KERR NONLINEARITY.

THE NONLINEARITY PRODUCES A CARRIER BASED PHASE MODULATION OF THE PROPAGATING WAVE WHICH IS CALLED KERR EFFECT.
IN SINGLE WAVELENGTH LINKS, THIS GIVES RISE TO SELF PHASE MODULATION (SPM) WHICH CONVERTS OPTICAL POWER FLUCTUATIONS IN A PROPAGATING LIGHT WAVE TO SPURIOUS PHASE FLUCTUATIONS IN THE SAME WAVE. SPM RESULTS IN DIFFERENT WAY IF ACTING ALONE OR WHEN COUPLED WITH DISPERSION OF THE FIBER.

SELF PHASE MODULATION (SPM) THE COMBINATION OF SPM AND DISPERSION RESULTS IN TWO PHENOMENONS WITH MANY CONSEQUENCES FOR REAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS. (I) IT RESULTS IN MODULATION INSTABILITY. (II) SOLITONS THE SPM EFFECTS CAN BE NEGLIGIBLE WHEN THE PEAK POWER IS BELOW 166 mW OR 18 dbm AVERAGE POWER. BY USING DISPERSION COMPENSATING FIBERS (DCF), SPM CAN BE REDUCED.

SELF PHASE MODULATION (SPM)

AS AN OPTICAL PULSE TRAVELS DOWN THE FIBER, THE TRAILING EDGE OF THE PULSE CAUSES THE REFRACTIVE INDEX OF THE FIBER TO RISE, RESULTING IN BLUE SHIFT IN FREQUENCY (TOWARDS HIGHER FREQUENCIES OR SHORTER WAVELENGTHS). THE LEADING EDGE OF THE PULSE DECREASES THE REFRACTIVE INDEX OF THE FIBER CAUSING A RED SHIFT (TOWARDS LOWER FREQUENCIES OR LONGER WAVELENGTHS). THESE RED AND BLUE SHIFTS INTRODUCE A FREQUENCY CHIRP ON EACH EDGE WHICH INTERACTS WITH FIBER'S DISPERSION TO BROADEN THE PULSE AS SHOWN IN FIG

SELF PHASE MODULATION (SPM)

IN FACT IN CASE OF NORMAL DISPERSION REGION OF THE FIBER WHERE CHROMATIC DISPERSION IS NEGATIVE THE RED LIGHT WHICH HAS LONGER WAVELENGTH AND SEES LOWER REFRACTIVE INDEX RESULTS IN RED LIGHT TRAVELLING FASTER THAN BLUE LIGHT SEEING HIGHER REFRACTIVE INDEX.
HENCE BOTH RED AND BLUE MOVES AWAY FROM THE CENTRE OF PULSE. HENCE CHIRPING RESULTS IN PULSE BROADENING. BUT IN ANOMALOUS REGION WHERE CHROMATIC DISPERSION IS POSITIVE THE RED SHIFTED LEADING EDGE OF THE PULSE TRAVELS SLOWER THAN TRAILING EDGE. THUS BOTH MOVES TOWARDS THE CENTRE OF THE PULSE. IN THIS CASE SPM CAUSES THE PULSE TO NARROW, HENCE PARTLY COMPENSATING FOR CHROMATIC DISPERSION AND UNDOING THE FREQUENCY CHIRP. IN ADVANCE NETWORK DESIGNS, SPM CAN BE USED TO PARTLY COMPENSATE FOR THE EFFECTS OF CHROMATIC DISPERSION. THIS PHENOMENON ALSO RESULTS IN FORMATION OF SOLITON PULSES.

SOLITION ? Linear systems suffer from chromatic dispersion. Typically 10Gbps systems require periodic dispersion compensating fiber. As bit rates increases 40Gbps & beyond, and as distances increases up to 10,000km, the effect of dispersion becomes severe. Also, as bit rate increases, pulses get smaller & their instantaneous power gets higher (i.e. the energy has to be squeezed into a shorter pulse) thus producing nonlinearties. Also, higher power is required to combat noise as distances increases. Thus, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage dispersion & to limit nonlinearties in high bit rate long distance communications. Non linear, or solition, system change the game by accepting & using non linearity to combat the dispersion, solving two problems at once.

Experiment carried out over 10,000 km fiber at a data rate of 10Gbps. The result shows no change in the shape of the pulse, resulting in limitless possibility for data transmission.

Characteristics of a high-intensity sharply peaked solition pulsed that is subject to the Kerr effect as it travels through a nonlinear dispersive fiber

CROSS PHASE MODULATION (XPM) IN CASE OF CROSS PHASE MODULATION REFRACTIVE INDEX NONLINEARITIES CONVERTS OPTICAL INTENSITY FLUCTUATIONS IN A PARTICULAR WAVELENGTH CHANNEL TO PHASE FLUCTUATIONS IN ANOTHER CO PROPAGATING CHANNEL. IN FACT, SPM IS ALWAYS PRESENT WHEN XPM OCCURS. TO AVOID THE XPM FOR TWO CHANNEL SYSTEM THE LIMITING CHANNEL POWER IS AROUND 56 mw (17.5 dbm). FOR A TEN CHANNEL WAVELENGTH SYSTEM THE LIMIT IS AROUND 10 mw. IN FACT SEPARATION BETWEEN DWDM CHANNELS ALSO AFFECTS THE XPM. AN INCREASE IN THE SEPARATION WILL DECREASE THE PENALTY OF POWER DUE TO XPM. FOR DIRECT DETECTION OPTICAL FIBER SYSTEMS THE IMPACT OF XPM IS LESS WHEREAS THE XPM COULD BE A PROBLEM FOR HIGH RATE DWDM SYSTEMS AND WHEN COHERENT DETECTION SCHEMES ARE USED.

FOUR WAVE MIXING (FWM)

GENERALLY SYSTEMS THAT CARRY A NUMBER OF SIMULTANEOUS WAVELENGTHS, SUCH AS DWDM SYSTEMS, EXHIBIT FOUR WAVE MIXING. IT OCCURS DUE TO HIGH LAUNCH POWER AND LOW DISPERSION IN DWDM CHANNELS. FWM IS CLASSIFIED AS THIRD ORDER DISTORTION PHENOMENON. THIS THIRD ORDER DISTORTION MECHANISM GENERATES THIRD ORDER HARMONICS IN THE SYSTEMS WITH ONE CHANNEL. IN MULTI CHANNEL SYSTEMS, THIRD ORDER MECHANISMS GENERATE THIRD ORDER HARMONICS AND A GAMUT OF CROSS PRODUCTS. THESE CROSS PRODUCTS RESULTS IN CROSS TALK WHEN THEY FALL NEAR OR ON TOP OF THE DESIRED SIGNALS.

FOUR WAVE MIXING (FWM)

THESE CROSS PRODUCTS ARE KNOWN AS GHOST CHANNELS SOME OF WHICH OVERLAP THE ORIGINAL INPUT SIGNAL CHANNEL DEPENDING ON THE NUMBERS OF ACTUAL CHANNELS AS SHOWN IN FIGURE

FOUR WAVE MIXING (FWM)

THE MAGNITUDE OF FWM PRODUCTS, REFERRED TO AS THE FWM MIXING EFFICIENCY IS AFFECTED BY FOLLOWING MAJOR FACTORS. CHANNEL SPACING FIBER DISPERSION SIGNAL POWER MIXING EFFICIENCY INCREASES DRAMATICALLY AS THE CHANNEL SPACING BECOMES CLOSER AND CLOSER. IN CASE OF FIBER DISPERSION, MIXING EFFICIENCY IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO TO THE FIBER DISPERSION, BEING STRONGEST AT THE ZERO DISPERSION POINT. FWM EFFICIENCY IS EXPRESSED IN dB AND MORE NEGATIVE VALUES ARE PREFERRED. SINCE THEY INDICATE LOWER MIXING EFFICIENCY.

FOUR WAVE MIXING (FWM)

FWM EFFICIENCY IN SINGLE MODE FIBERS

FOUR WAVE MIXING (FWM)

IN AN OPTICAL DWDM SYSTEM DESIGN USES NON DISPERSION SHIFTED FIBER (NDSF) E.G., STANDARD G652 SINGLE MODE FIBERS WITH DISPERSION OF 17 PS/NM/KM AND THE MINIMUM RECOMMENDED INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION (ITU) DWDM SPACING OF 0.8 NM, THEN MIXING EFFICIENCY WILL BE ABOUT - 48 DB AND WILL HAVE LITTLE EFFECT ON THE SYSTEM.

BUT FOR HIGH DATA RATE SYSTEM HIGH CHROMATIC DISPERSION WILL RESULT IN HIGHER DISPERSION PENALTIES.
TO AVOID HIGH DISPERSION PENALTIES G 655 FIBERS WERE INTRODUCED HAVING CHROMATIC DISPERSION OF 3 TO 9 PS/NM/KM WHICH IS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPRESS FWM EFFECTS.

SIGNIFICANCE OF INTER- AND INTRACHANNEL NONLINEAR IMPAIRMENT IN WDM SYSTEMS OF DIFFERENT PER-CHANNEL BITRATES. FOR HIGH-SPEED TDM SYSTEMS EXCEEDING 10 GB/S PER CHANNEL, THE DOMINANT NONLINEAR INTERACTIONS ARE INTRACHANNEL CROSS-PHASE MODULATION AND INTRACHANNEL FOUR-WAVE MIXING.
29

CONCLUSION
TWO SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES DENSE WAVE LENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING SYSTEM AND ERBIUM DOPED FIBER AMPLIFIERS (OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS) IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ADVANCES IN OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS FIELD. BUT DWDM SYSTEMS CAME WITH A PRICE. THERE WAS SEVERE RESTRICTION ON BIT RATE. ALSO THE HIGH POWER LAUNCHED BY EDFAS IN CONJUNCTION WITH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSMISSION OF MANY CHANNELS RESULTED IN NEW PROBLEMS. SUCH AS FOUR WAVE MIXING PHENOMENON.

ALSO THE TREND TO DECREASE SPACING BETWEEN CHANNELS IN DWDM SYSTEMS AGGRAVATED THE SITUATION.
TO COUNTER THESE TECHNOLOGICAL PROBLEMS NON ZERO DISPERSION SHIFTED FIBER (NZ-DSF) WERE DEVELOPED.

CONCLUSION
TO INCREASE THE REPEATER LESS DISTANCE BETWEEN EDFAS & LAUNCHING OF MORE OPTICAL POWER IS REQUIRED IN THE FIBERS. THIS TOGETHER WITH DWDM TECHNOLOGY INCREASES THE NON LINEAR EFFECTS IN THE FIBERS. SPM AND XPM RESULT IN PULSE SPREADING, WHILE SRS AND SBS BRING ON ATTENUATION.
FORTUNATELY A SOLUTION TO THESE PROBLEMS IS FOUND IN THE FORM OF FIBER WITH LARGE EFFECTIVE AREA (A eff ). THE DEVELOPMENT THAT VAULTED FIBER OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS TO NEW HEIGHTS. ONE SUCH EXAMPLE IS CORNINGS NZ-DSF LEAF (LARGE EFFECTIVE AREA FIBER) WHICH HAS A TYPICAL AEFF OF 72 M2 IN CONTRAST TO 55 M2 FOR REGULAR NZ DSF FIBER.

MANAGEMENT OF FIBER NON LINEARITIES FOR INCREASING SYSTEM CAPACITY AND REACH :

In Shannons channel capacity limit study fiber nonlinear coefficient is of 1.27/w/km, a value typical of SSMFs, with lower nonlinear coefficient, high nonlinear limit and thus higher capacity can be allowed. Lower nonlinear coefficient can be realized by using larger effective fiber core area (Aeff). In fact, pure silica core fibers (PSCF) have Aeff of 118 m , which is about 50% larger than that of SSMF (80 m). Theoretical study has recently shown that Aeff as large as 160 m can be achieved with PSCF. Increasing the fiber effective area improves the spectral efficiency and is most valuable for long haul transmission system. Next Figures shows the difference between traditional NZ-DSF fibers and LEAF fibers.
32

Mode Field Diameter of a Single Mode Fiber

SMALLER THE EFFECTIVE AREA (MFD), HIGHER THE INCIDENCE OF NONLINEAR EFFECTS

34

CONCLUSION

THE MAJOR BENEFIT OF THE NEW FIBER IS IT IS ABILITY TO HANDLE MORE POWER WITHOUT BEING AFFECTED BY NONLINEARITIES, ESSENTIALLY INCREASING IT IS INFORMATION CARRYING CAPACITY. THE VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND HAS ALSO REPORTED A FIBER WITH RIB SHAPED CORE AND NON CYLINDRICAL OUTER FORM HAVING ULTRA LARGE MODE DIAMETER (> 50 M2) CAPABLE OF TRANSMITTING VERY HIGH OPTICAL POWERS WITH LARGE NUMBERS OF WAVELENGTH CHANNELS WITH SMALLER NONLINEARITIES.