Low-complexity algorithms for coherent optical systems with transceiver IQ imbalance

The next-generation coherent optical communication relies on higher symbol transmission rates with higher modulation cardinality. The imbalance between the in-phase (I) and the quadrature (Q) arms in such systems leads to deteriorated performance if not corrected. In this work, we propose a reference constellation adaptation-based single-tap, novel carrier phase recovery algorithm, tolerant to the transmitter IQ imbalance and a pilot-free geometric parameter extraction-based receiver IQ imbalance correction method for MQAM signals. The proposed scheme is numerically investigated through extensive simulations for 32 GBaud polarization multiplexed (PM)-16QAM, and 64QAM modulation formats and experimentally verified for 32 GBaud PM-16QAM signal. The proposed pilot-free scheme is applicable to any modulation format and offers lower computational complexity than traditional algorithms.