An optical WDM system configured to use direct detection of communication signals that is compatible with electronic CD compensation on a per-channel basis. In an example embodiment, to enable full (e.g., amplitude and phase) electric-field reconstruction at the receiver, the optical WDM system uses a carrier-frequency plan according to which the carrier-frequency comb used at one end of the WDM link and the carrier-frequency comb used at the other end of the WDM link are offset with respect to one another by one half of the bandwidth of an individual WDM component transmitted therethrough. This frequency offset places each local carrier frequency at a roll-off edge of the corresponding incoming data-modulated signal. As a result, the corresponding combined optical signal beneficially lends itself to direct detection that can be followed by full electric-field reconstruction using a known self-coherent Kramers-Kronig method and then by conventional electronic CD compensation.

The present disclosure relates to a method for decoding a combined AM/FM encoded signal, comprising the steps of: combining said encoded optical signal with light from a local oscillator configured with a local oscillator frequency; converting the combined local oscillator and encoded optical signal into one or more electrical signals by means of at least one opto-electrical converter having a predefined frequency bandwidth, thereby providing an amplified and encoded electrical signal having one or more encoded signal current(s), where one type of states have a higher oscillation frequency than other type of states; rectifying the encoded signal current(s), thereby obtaining an encoded power spectrum, wherein said power spectrum has different states, such as 0-states and 1-states, with different power levels such that they can be discriminated, said local oscillator frequency is defined by a positive local oscillator frequency-offset from the frequency of one of the states in said encoded optical signal, and said local oscillator frequency-offset is selected to be dependent on said frequency bandwidth.

An example system includes a hub transceiver and a plurality of edge transceivers. The hub transceiver is operable to transmit, over a first communications channel, a first message to each of the edge transceivers concurrently, including an indication of available network resources on an optical communications network. Each of the edge transceiver is operable to transmit, transmit, over a second communications channel, a respective second message to the hub transceiver including an indication of a respective subset of the available network resources selected by the edge transceiver for use in communicating over the optical communications network. Further, the edge transceiver is operable to receive, from the hub transceiver, a third message acknowledging receipt of a selection and a fourth message confirming an assignment of the selected subset of the available network resources to the edge transceiver.

The present disclosure relates to a method for decoding a combined AM/FM encoded signal, comprising the steps of: combining said encoded optical signal with light from a local oscillator configured with a local oscillator frequency; converting the combined local oscillator and encoded optical signal into one or more electrical signals by means of at least one opto-electrical converter having a predefined frequency bandwidth, thereby providing an amplified and encoded electrical signal having one or more encoded signal current(s), where one type of states have a higher oscillation frequency than other type of states; rectifying the encoded signal current(s), thereby obtaining an encoded power spectrum, wherein said power spectrum has different states, such as 0-states and 1-states, with different power levels such that they can be discriminated, said local oscillator frequency is defined by a positive local oscillator frequency-offset from the frequency of one of the states in said encoded optical signal, and said local oscillator frequency-offset is selected to be dependent on said frequency bandwidth.

A coherent optical transmitter is in operable communication with an optical fiber an includes a plurality of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) configured to (i) receive a plurality of radio frequency analog input signals, respectively, and (ii) convert the received plurality of RF analog input signals into a plurality of respective digital data streams. The transmitter further includes a source laser configured to output at least two orthogonal polarization component signals, and at least two polarization modulators configured to modulate (i) an in-phase portion output from a first ADC, (ii) an in-quadrature portion output from a second ADC, and (iii) one polarization component signal of the at least two orthogonal polarization component signals. The transmitter further includes a polarization beam combiner configured to (i) multiplex the respective outputs of the at least two polarization modulators, and (ii) transmit the multiplexed output from the polarization beam combiner to the optical fiber.

An optical receiver includes an APD that converts an input optical signal into a current signal, a TIA that converts the current signal output from the APD into a voltage signal, an LIA that shapes a waveform of the voltage signal output from the TIA, an AOC having a time constant switching function, the AOC automatically compensating for an offset voltage between differential outputs from the TIA, and a convergence-state detection circuit that outputs, after detecting convergence completion of the automatic compensation in the AOC, to the AOC, a time constant switching control signal for switching a time constant from a high-speed time constant to a low-speed time constant.

A pluggable electric connector is configured to be insertable into and removable from an optical communication apparatus. An optical output module outputs an optical signal and a local oscillation light. An optical reception module outputs a communication data signal generated by demodulating using the local oscillation light. A pluggable optical receptor is configured in such a manner that optical fibers are insertable thereinto and removable therefrom. A first optical fiber is connected between the optical output module and the pluggable optical receptor. A second optical fiber is connected between the optical output module and the optical reception module. A third optical fiber is connected between the optical reception module and the pluggable optical receptor. Optical fiber housing means winds extra lengths of the first to third optical fibers around a guide.

An optical receiving device includes an optical coherent detecting unit to cause an optical signal in which a plurality of channels is frequency-multiplexed to interfere with single interference light and perform coherent detection, and output an analog signal, an analog signal separating unit to branch the analog signal from the optical coherent detecting unit by the number of branches of N (N is a natural number of 2 or more) in a frequency domain, and output analog signals branched in the frequency domain as analog signals each of which is frequency-converted into a frequency equal to or lower than a set frequency, and an analog-digital converting unit to perform analog-digital conversion on each of the analog signals branched by the analog signal separating unit and converted into a low frequency, and output resultant signals as digital signals.

A coherent receiver includes a receive signal path including i) an input configured to connect a receive signal, ii) one or more signal paths connected to the input and to one or more optical hybrids, and iii) a variable optical attenuator (VOA) in each of the one or more signal paths; and a local oscillator (LO) signal path including i) an input configured to connect to an LO and the one or more optical hybrids, and ii) one or more complementary VOAs located between the input and the one or more optical hybrids, wherein the one or more complementary VOAs are configured to cancel any phase changes from the VOA in each of the one or more signal paths. The VOA in each of the one or more signal paths and the one or more complementary VOAs can be p-i-n junctions.

An object is to be capable of housing an optical fiber that connects between components not to exceed a bending limit of the optical fiber in a housing of a pluggable optical module. A pluggable electric connector (11) is configured to be insertable into and removable from an optical communication apparatus (93). An optical output module (12) outputs an optical signal (LS1) and a local oscillation light (LO). An optical reception module (13) outputs a communication data signal (DAT) generated by demodulating using the local oscillation light (LO). A pluggable optical receptor (15) is configured in such a manner that optical fibers are insertable thereinto and removable therefrom. A first optical fiber (F11) is connected between the optical output module (12) and the pluggable optical receptor (15). A second optical fiber (F12) is connected between the optical output module (12) and the optical reception module (13). A third optical fiber (F13) is connected between the optical reception module (13) and the pluggable optical receptor (15). Optical fiber housing means winds extra lengths of the first to third optical fibers (F11 to F13) around a guide.