Practical 12.5-Gb/s, 12.5-GHz spaced ultra-dense WDM PON

We report a practical 12.5-Gb/s, 12.5-GHz-spaced ultra-dense wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network (UD-WDM PON). For the cost-effectiveness, we implement the downstream links by using electro-absorption modulated lasers (EMLs) in the 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (4PAM) format and PIN receivers, and the upstream links by using reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOAs) modulated in the quadrature phase-shift-keying (QPSK) format and low-cost self-homodyne receivers. To further enhance its cost-effectiveness, we also utilize an optical frequency comb generator, instead of a large number of wavelength-selected lasers, to provide the seed light for these colorless RSOAs. We optimize the operating conditions of the EMLs and RSOAs to maximize the power margins in the presence of the crosstalk arising from closely spaced neighboring channels and the inter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by the narrow passband of the cascaded arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs) as well as the limited modulation bandwidths of RSOAs. The experimental results show that we can secure the power margins of >2.5 dB for both upstream and downstream links of the proposed UD-WDM PON.