Bidirectional TFDM 200 G coherent PON with a simplified receiver at the ONU side

Time and frequency division multiplexing (TFDM) coherent passive optical networks (PONs) are considered as a promising candidate for future optical access networks due to the advantage of high sensitivity, high spectral efficiency, and flexibility. We propose a novel, to our knowledge, bidirectional TFDM 200-Gb/s coherent PON architecture based on the digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) technology. A polarization-insensitive simplified coherent receiver is achieved at the ONU side by Alamouti coding and heterodyne detection. We experimentally demonstrate this bidirectional coherent PON with a 50-Gbaud Alamouti 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal transmitted downstream and a 25-Gbaud dual polarization (DP)-16QAM signal transmitted upstream. By using a single sideband modulated transmitter, only one laser source is required at the optical network unit (ONU) side. The power budgets can reach 30 and 33 dB for the downstream and upstream, respectively, after the 20-km transmission over a standard single-mode fiber (SSMF).