Abstract: Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system are presented herein. Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system may be configured to use a technology-aware optical device to support co-existence of multiple optical technology types in a point-to-multipoint optical network.

Abstract: Various example embodiments for providing a passive optical network (PON), supporting communications between an optical line terminal (OLT) and a set of optical network units (ONUs) of a PON, are presented. The PON may be enabled based on use of an optical frequency comb (OFC), generated at the OLT and reconstructed at the ONUs for locking the OFC at the ONUs to the OFC at the OLT. The OFC may include a set of optical frequency lines used as seed lines for reconstruction of the OFC at the ONUs (e.g., the pair of OFC lines at the center of the OFC which may be used to regenerate locked OFCs at the ONUs), a set of optical frequency lines used to support downstream communications from the OLT to the ONUs, and a set of optical frequency lines used to support upstream communications from the ONUs to the OLT.

Abstract: A burst-mode laser driver includes a driver circuit, a switching circuit, and an energy recycling or harvesting circuit. The driver circuit is adapted to be electrically coupled to a burst-mode laser, the driver circuit configured to control a bias current supplied to the burst-mode laser to change the laser between the burst-on and the burst-off state. The switching circuit is electrically coupled to the driver circuit and adapted to switch the bias current between the laser during a burst-on state and a dummy electrical path during a burst-off state. The energy recycling circuit electrically coupled to the switching circuit and is adapted to harvest at least a portion of energy from the bias current during the burst-off state.

Abstract: A bi-directional optical controller includes an upstream optical interface, a downstream optical interface, and an optical circuit coupling the interfaces such that optical signals received at either interface is routed to the other interface. The optical circuit is adapted to allow, for example, enable or disable, a first set of prespecified optical services to be provided in at least one of the upstream or downstream direction on an optical signal received at the respective downstream or upstream interface.

Abstract: Systems and methods for power budgeting within a coherent optical network are provided. A phase shift controller may be provided for controlling a phase shift (?) between an in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) branches of an optical IQ modulator to generate a complex IQ signal. The phase shift of the optical IQ modulator may be controlled between an orthogonal mode, such as a conventional QPSK mode, and a nonorthogonal mode, based on an operational state of the modulator. The nonorthogonal mode may include a high-suppression mode and a high-power mode.

Abstract: Various example embodiments of a signal analysis capability are presented herein. The signal analysis capability may be configured to support analysis of a signal for determining the signal integrity of the signal, where the signal integrity of the signal corresponds to a set of one or more measures of the quality of an electrical signal (e.g., one or more signal integrity metrics indicative of the signal integrity of the signal). The signal analysis capability may be configured to support analysis of a signal for determining the signal integrity of the signal for various types of signals which may be communicated within various types of communication networks. The signal analysis capability may be configured to support analysis of a signal for determining the signal integrity of the signal where the signal may include various types of data traffic (e.g., live data traffic, user data traffic, test data traffic, or the like).

Abstract: Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system are presented. Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system may be configured to support optical communications in a passive optical network (PON). Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system such as a PON may be configured to support clock synchronization in the PON and polarization tracking in the PON. Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in a PON may be configured to support joint clock synchronization and polarization tracking the PON. Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system such as a PON may be configured to support clock synchronization in the PON and polarization tracking in the PON, along with various other functions (e.g., symbol rate sampling and so forth).

Abstract: Various example embodiments supporting optical communications in an optical communication system may be configured to support joint stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) suppression and polarization tracking for a set of orthogonal polarization optical channels in an intensity modulated/direct detection (IM/DD) passive optical network (PON). Various example embodiments may be configured to support joint SBS suppression and polarization tracking for a set of orthogonal polarization optical channels based on a set of frequency tones (e.g., using a single frequency tone per optical channel in the set of orthogonal polarization optical channels, respectively) such that SBS suppression is supported for transmissions from the transmitter (e.g., based on application of the frequency tones to the optical channels) and polarization tracking is supported at the receiver (e.g.

Abstract: Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system are presented. Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system may be configured to support optical communications in a passive optical network (PON). Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system such as a PON may be configured to support clock synchronization in the PON and polarization tracking in the PON. Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in a PON may be configured to support joint clock synchronization and polarization tracking the PON. Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system such as a PON may be configured to support clock synchronization in the PON and polarization tracking in the PON, along with various other functions (e.g., symbol rate sampling and so forth).

Abstract: Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system may be configured to support dual-polarization based communications within the context of a direct detection based point-to-multipoint optical network (e.g., a passive optical network (PON) based on direction detection). Various example embodiments for supporting optical communications in an optical communication system may be configured to support optical communications based on application of dual polarizations to each of one or more wavelengths within the context of a direct detection based point-to-multipoint optical network to support multiple optical channels within the direct detection based point-to-multipoint optical network (e.g.

Abstract: Various example embodiments for providing a passive optical network (PON), supporting communications between an optical line terminal (OLT) and a set of optical network units (ONUs) of a PON, are presented. The PON may be enabled based on use of an optical frequency comb (OFC), generated at the OLT and reconstructed at the ONUs for locking the OFC at the ONUs to the OFC at the OLT. The OFC may include a set of optical frequency lines used as seed lines for reconstruction of the OFC at the ONUs (e.g., the pair of OFC lines at the center of the OFC which may be used to regenerate locked OFCs at the ONUs), a set of optical frequency lines used to support downstream communications from the OLT to the ONUs, and a set of optical frequency lines used to support upstream communications from the ONUs to the OLT.

Abstract: Various example embodiments of a signal analysis capability are presented herein. The signal analysis capability may be configured to support analysis of a signal for determining the signal integrity of the signal, where the signal integrity of the signal corresponds to a set of one or more measures of the quality of an electrical signal (e.g., one or more signal integrity metrics indicative of the signal integrity of the signal). The signal analysis capability may be configured to support analysis of a signal for determining the signal integrity of the signal for various types of signals which may be communicated within various types of communication networks. The signal analysis capability may be configured to support analysis of a signal for determining the signal integrity of the signal where the signal may include various types of data traffic (e.g., live data traffic, user data traffic, test data traffic, or the like).