Optical performance monitoring technique using asynchronous amplitude and phase histograms

Area of Science:

• Optical Communications
• Signal Processing
• Metrology

Background:

• Accurate optical performance monitoring is crucial for reliable data transmission in modern communication systems.
• Existing techniques may be limited by modulation format dependency or complexity.
• Need for a universal and efficient method to assess optical signal quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a new optical performance monitoring technique.
• To evaluate optical signal quality using amplitude and phase histograms.
• To estimate bit-error rate (BER) independent of modulation format.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an intradyne receiver to capture optical signals.
• Employed asynchronous delay-tap sampling to generate amplitude and phase histograms.
• Calculated amplitude and phase Q-factors from the generated histograms.

Main Results:

• Successfully generated amplitude and phase histograms of optical signals.
• Demonstrated the evaluation of amplitude and phase Q-factors irrespective of modulation format.
• Showcased the estimation of bit-error rate (BER) using the derived Q-factors.

Conclusions:

• The proposed technique offers a modulation-format-agnostic approach to optical performance monitoring.
• Amplitude and phase Q-factors derived from histograms provide a robust measure of signal quality.
• This method enables accurate bit-error rate (BER) estimation for enhanced network management.