Abstract: An apparatus includes a digital data transmitter capable of sequentially exciting different sets of one or more propagation modes in a physical communication channel. Each set of one or more propagation modes has a different spatial distribution of transmitted energy in the channel. The digital data transmitter is configured to sequentially change the excited set of one or more propagation modes to transmit a different value of data to the communication channel.

Abstract: Various embodiments provide secure optical transmission of data. Noise may be added to optical signals transmitted by spatial paths of a multimode optical fiber. The noise may be added electrically prior to modulation, or optically after modulation. In some embodiments a transmitter and a receiver cooperate to maintain a noise level sufficient to place a tapped signal in a noise regime that provides a predetermined level of data security.

Abstract: Various embodiments provide for detection of tapping of an optical signal. In one embodiment an optical fiber includes a cladding region and first and second core regions. The first core region has a first core medium having a first mode-dependent loss (MDL) figure of merit. The second core region has a second core medium having a second different MDL figure of merit. Tapping of the optical signal may be determined to occur when the MDL of the first and second optical signals differs by a predetermined threshold value.

Abstract: An optical receiver comprising an optical-to-electrical converter and a digital processor having one or more equalizer stages. The optical-to-electrical converter is configured to mix an optical input signal and an optical local-oscillator signal to generate a plurality of electrical digital measures of the optical input signal. The digital processor is configured to process the electrical digital measures to recover the data carried by the optical input signal. At least one of the equalizer stages is configured to perform signal-equalization processing in which the electrical digital measures and/or digital signals derived from the electrical digital measures are being treated as linear combinations of arbitrarily coupled signals, rather than one or more pairs of 90-degree phase-locked I and Q signals.

Abstract: The outage probability in an under-addressed optical MIMO system may be reduced by configuring an intra-link optical mode mixer to dynamically change the spatial-mode mixing characteristics of the link on a time scale that is faster than the channel coherence time. Provided that the MIMO system employs an FEC code that has a sufficient error-correcting capacity for correcting the amount of errors corresponding to an average state of the MIMO channel, this relatively fast dynamic change tends to reduce the frequency of events during which the number of errors per FEC-encoded block of data exceeds the error-correcting capacity of the FEC code.

Abstract: The outage probability in an under-addressed optical MIMO system may be reduced by configuring an intra-link optical mode mixer to dynamically change the spatial-mode mixing characteristics of the link on a time scale that is faster than the channel coherence time. Provided that the MIMO system employs an FEC code that has a sufficient error-correcting capacity for correcting the amount of errors corresponding to an average state of the MIMO channel, this relatively fast dynamic change tends to reduce the frequency of events during which the number of errors per FEC-encoded block of data exceeds the error-correcting capacity of the FEC code.

Abstract: In one embodiment, an optical receiver has a bulk dispersion compensator and a butterfly equalizer serially connected to one another to perform dispersion-compensation processing and electronic polarization de-multiplexing. The bulk dispersion compensator has a relatively large dispersion-compensation capacity, but is relatively slow and operates in a quasi-static configuration. The butterfly equalizer has a relatively small dispersion-compensation capacity, but can be dynamically reconfigured on a relatively fast time scale to track the changing conditions in the optical-transport link. The optical receiver has a feedback path that enables the configuration of the bulk dispersion compensator to be changed based on the configuration of the butterfly equalizer in a manner that advantageously enables the receiver to tolerate larger amounts of chromatic dispersion and/or polarization-mode dispersion than without the use of the feedback path.

Abstract: An optical transmitter configured to perform digital signal equalization directed at mitigating the detrimental effects of a frequency roll-off in the transmitter's optical I-Q modulator. In various embodiments, a frequency-dependent spectral-correction function used for the digital signal equalization can be constructed to cause the spectrum of the modulated optical signal generated by the transmitter to have a desired degree of flatness in the vicinity of an optical carrier frequency and/or to at least partially mirror the frequency roll-off in the optical I-Q modulator.

Abstract: A digital signal processor (DSP) operating within, for example, an optical receiver wherein the DSP processes complex sample streams derived from a received digitally modulated optical signal, the DSP configured to perform a method comprising: using a filter adaptation algorithm (FAA), processing digitized complex sample streams for each of a sequence of unitary matrix different starting conditions associated with the FAA to establish a converged FAA.

Abstract: Introduced herein is an optical network device employing three-level duobinary modulation and a method of use thereof. One embodiment of an optical network receiver module includes: (1) an optical input configured to receive an optical non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal having a data rate, and (2) an encoder having a maximum bandwidth, coupled to the optical input and configured to receive and encode the optical NRZ signal into an electrical three-level duobinary signal, the maximum bandwidth being related to, but substantially less than, the data rate.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a digital data transmitter capable of sequentially exciting different sets of one or more propagation modes in a physical communication channel. Each set of one or more propagation modes has a different spatial distribution of transmitted energy in the channel. The digital data transmitter is configured to sequentially change the excited set of one or more propagation triodes to transmit a different value of data to the communication channel.

Abstract: A space division multiplexed (SDM) transmission system that includes at least two segments of transmission media in which a spatial assignment of the two segments is different is provided. For example, the SDM transmission may include a first segment of transmission media having a first spatial assignment and a second segment of transmission media having a second spatial assignment, wherein the first spatial assignment differs from the second spatial assignment. An example method obtains an optical signal on a first segment of transmission media having a first spatial assignment and forwards the optical signal on a second segment of transmission media with a different spatial assignment. The transmission media may be a multi-core fiber (MCF), a multi-mode fiber (MMF), a few-mode fiber (FMF), or a ribbon cable comprising nominally uncoupled single-mode fiber (SMF).

Abstract: A digital signal processor (DSP) operating within, for example, an optical receiver wherein the DSP processes complex sample streams derived from a received modulated optical signal, the DSP configured to perform a method comprising: processing at least one block of symbols within a complex symbol stream to define a received constellation having symbols located within decision boundaries; and verifying that the received constellation does not exhibit errors by comparing the received constellation to each of a sequence of reference constellations having corresponding phase shifts within an angular ambiguity range of the first constellation.

Abstract: An embodiment of an apparatus includes an optical fiber for which a complete orthogonal basis of propagating modes at an optical telecommunication frequency includes ones of the propagating modes with different angular momenta. The optical fiber has a tubular optical core and an outer optical cladding in contact with and surrounding the tubular optical core. The tubular optical core has a larger refractive index than the optical cladding. The tubular optical core is configured such that those of the propagating modes whose angular momenta have the lowest magnitude for the propagating modes have substantially the same radial intensity profile.

Abstract: An apparatus includes an optical fiber having a plurality of optical cores therein. Each optical core is located lateral in the optical fiber to the remaining one or more optical cores and is able to support a number of propagating optical modes at telecommunications wavelengths. Each number is less than seventy.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a digital data transmitter capable of sequentially exciting different sets of one or more propagation modes in a physical communication channel. Each set of one or more propagation modes has a different spatial distribution of transmitted energy in the channel. The digital data transmitter is configured to sequentially change the excited set of one or more propagation modes to transmit a different value of data to the communication channel.

Abstract: An example apparatus comprises an optical transmitter which includes a first processor and at least two optical modulators. The first processor is configured to generate a first electronic representation for each of at least two optical signals for carrying payload data modulated according to a one-dimensional (1-D) modulation format, and to induce on respective ones of the first electronic representations an amount of dispersion that depends on a power-weighted accumulated dispersion (ADPW) of a transmission link through which the at least two optical signals are to be transmitted thereby generating complex-valued electronic representations of pre-dispersion-compensated optical signals. Each of the at least two optical modulators modulate a respective analog version corresponding to a respective one of the complex-valued electronic representations onto a polarization of an optical carrier.

Abstract: One coherent optical receiver includes a 3×3 coupler for receiving a signal and a local oscillator into a first and a third input port respectively, and three detectors for detecting a respective output of the coupler to generate corresponding first, second and third detected signals. A detected signal is filtered by an Alternating Current (AC) coupler to generate a respective first, second or third filtered signal. An adder adds the first, the second and the third filtered signals to determine a directly detected signal term. A first subtractor subtracts the directly detected signal term from the first filtered signal to determine an in-phase signal. A second subtractor subtracts the directly detected signal term from the third filtered signal to determine a quadrature signal. A digital signal processor processes the in-phase signal and the quadrature signal to recover the optical signal.

Abstract: An optical transport system configured to transmit at least two phase-conjugated optical variants carrying the same modulated symbols, with the phase-conjugated optical variants in being different from one another in one or more of polarization of light, the time of transmission, spatial localization, optical carrier wavelength, and subcarrier frequency during transmission. The two phase-conjugated optical variants can be generated by a single polarization-diversity transmitter to be orthogonally polarized, and propagate through an optical transmission link with the same wavelength and spatial path. The optical variants are detected and processed at the receiver in a manner that enables coherent summation of the corresponding electrical signals prior to constellation de-mapping.

Abstract: An apparatus comprises an optical transmitter that comprises a processor and at least one optical modulator. The processor is configured to generate electronic representations of at least two pre-dispersion-compensated phase-conjugated optical variants carrying a same modulated payload data for transmission. The at least one optical modulator is configured to modulate the electronic representations, wherein an amount of dispersion induced on the pre-dispersion-compensated phase-conjugated optical variants depends on an accumulated dispersion (AD) of a transmission link through which the pre-dispersion-compensated phase-conjugated optical variants are to be transmitted. The amount of dispersion induced on the phase-conjugated optical variants may be approximately ?AD/2, where AD is the accumulated dispersion of the transmission link.