A method and a device for data processing in an optical communication network are provided, wherein in an energy saving mode of a polarization multiplexing system data signals are transmitted or received via one polarization plane; and wherein components of the transmitter or receiver of the other polarization plane are at least partially operated in a reduced power mode. Furthermore, a communication system is suggested comprising said device.

A method and a device for data processing in an optical communication network are provided, wherein in an energy saving mode of a polarization multiplexing system data signals are transmitted or received via one polarization plane; and wherein components of the transmitter or receiver of the other polarization plane are at least partially operated in a reduced power mode. Furthermore, a communication system is suggested comprising said device.

A method includes receiving a first data packet on a first polarization portion of an optical signal from a second communication terminal through a free space optical link during a first time period and receiving a first data packet replica on the first polarization portion of the optical signal during a second time period. The second time period is delayed in time relative to the first time period. The method also includes determining receiving powers for the optical link during both the first time period and the second time period based on at least one of the received first data packet and the received first data packet replica. The method also includes selecting the one of the first data packet or the first data packet replica that is associated with the highest receiving power for the optical link as surviving data for maintaining the optical link.

A method includes receiving a first data packet on a first polarization portion of an optical signal from a second communication terminal through a free space optical link during a first time period and receiving a first data packet replica on the first polarization portion of the optical signal during a second time period. The second time period is delayed in time relative to the first time period. The method also includes determining receiving powers for the optical link during both the first time period and the second time period based on at least one of the received first data packet and the received first data packet replica. The method also includes selecting the one of the first data packet or the first data packet replica that is associated with the highest receiving power for the optical link as surviving data for maintaining the optical link.

We disclose an optical add-drop multiplexer that can apply different routing operations to different subcarriers of a data frame. In an example embodiment, the digital signal processor (DSP) of the optical add-drop multiplexer carries out subcarrier-specific add, drop, and pass-through operations in the electrical frequency domain, which enables the DSP to only partially unwrap the pass-through subcarriers, thereby at least partially avoiding some of the more processing-power-hungry DSP operations and reducing the sub-wavelength routing latency accordingly. Also disclosed is an example data-frame structure that can be used to provide subcarrier-specific routing instructions to the optical add-drop multiplexer.

The present application is directed to an optical terminal including two linearly polarized optical transmit beams configured to exhibit a time-delay therebetween. The optical terminal may include a quarter-wave plate such that the linearly polarized transmit beam becomes circularly polarized. The optical terminal may also include a receiving ground terminal including a properly oriented quarter-wave plate for separating and directing the two recovered linearly polarized beams. The application is also directed to a method for reconstructing an originally transmitted data stream.

An optical receiver including: a phase modulation unit that generates local oscillation light and modulates a phase of the local oscillation light; a coherent detection unit that causes a received optical signal and the local oscillation light phase-modulated by the phase modulation unit to interfere and converts the optical signal to an electrical signal; a polarization separation/adaptive equalization unit that performs polarization separation and adaptive equalization on the electrical signal after coherent detection; and decoding units that decode the polarization-separated electrical signals outputted from the polarization separation/adaptive equalization unit.

An optical receiver including: a phase modulation unit that generates local oscillation light and modulates a phase of the local oscillation light; a coherent detection unit that causes a received optical signal and the local oscillation light phase-modulated by the phase modulation unit to interfere and converts the optical signal to an electrical signal; a polarization separation/adaptive equalization unit that performs polarization separation and adaptive equalization on the electrical signal after coherent detection; and decoding units that decode the polarization-separated electrical signals outputted from the polarization separation/adaptive equalization unit.

Disclosed herein is a modulator (50) for polarization-division multiplexing (PDM) transmission. The modulator (50) comprises first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28) associated with first and second polarizations, each DP-MZM (12, 28) having an input for an in-phase and a quadrature driving signal for modulating the in-phase and quadrature components of an optical signal according to respective transfer functions, and a detector (58) suitable for detecting light comprising at least a portion of the light outputted by the first DP-MZM (12) and a portion of the light outputted by the second DP-MZM (28). The modulator (50) is adapted to superimpose a first pilot signal on one of the in-phase and quadrature driving signals of the first DP-MZM (12) and on one of the in-phase and quadrature driving signals of the second DP-MZM (28), and a second pilot signal on the respective other of the in-phase and quadrature driving signals of the first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28). Further, the first and second pilot signals are chosen such that the signal detected by said detector (58) is indicative as to whether the slopes of the transfer functions are different for the in-phase and quadrature components of one of the first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28) and identical for the other of the first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28).

Disclosed herein is a modulator (50) for polarization-division multiplexing (PDM) transmission. The modulator (50) comprises first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28) associated with first and second polarizations, each DP-MZM (12, 28) having an input for an in-phase and a quadrature driving signal for modulating the in-phase and quadrature components of an optical signal according to respective transfer functions, and a detector (58) suitable for detecting light comprising at least a portion of the light outputted by the first DP-MZM (12) and a portion of the light outputted by the second DP-MZM (28). The modulator (50) is adapted to superimpose a first pilot signal on one of the in-phase and quadrature driving signals of the first DP-MZM (12) and on one of the in-phase and quadrature driving signals of the second DP-MZM (28), and a second pilot signal on the respective other of the in-phase and quadrature driving signals of the first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28). Further, the first and second pilot signals are chosen such that the signal detected by said detector (58) is indicative as to whether the slopes of the transfer functions are different for the in-phase and quadrature components of one of the first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28) and identical for the other of the first and second DP-MZMs (12, 28).