SPM and phase-noise tolerant optical self-homodyne using a polarization-multiplexed and intensity-modulated pilot-carrier

Abstract

We propose a novel self-homodyne scheme using a polarization-multiplexed and intensity-modulated pilot-carrier. The scheme has the capability to cancel nonlinear waveform distortion caused by self-phase modulation (SPM) in optical fibers, as well as the phase-noise of a laser diode. It has been known that a conventional constant-intensity pilot-carrier can cancel the waveform distortion caused by SPM to some extent. Theoretically, however, the proposed intensity-modulated pilot-carrier can completely cancel the effect of SPM. The performance in terms of the error vector magnitude was evaluated by numerical simulations of 50-km optical fiber transmission of 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) signals.