Straight-Line Dual-Polarization PSK Transmitter with Polarization Differential Modulation

Abstract

Coherent transceivers are now regarded as promising candidates for upgrading the current 400Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE) transceivers to 800G. However, due to the complicated structure of a dual-polarization IQ modulator (DP-IQM) with its bulky polarization-beam splitter/comber (PBS/PBC), the increase in the transmitter size and cost is inevitable. In this paper, we propose a compact PBS/PBC-free transmitter structure with a straight-line configuration. By using the concept of polarization differential modulation, the proposed transmitter is capable of generating a DP phase-shift-keyed (DP-PSK) signal, which makes it directly applicable to the current coherent systems. A detailed analysis of the system performance reveals that the imperfect equalization and the bandwidth limitation at the receiver are the dominant penalty factors. Although such a penalty is usually unacceptable in long-haul applications, the proposed transmitter can be attractive due to its significant simplicity and compactness for short-reach applications, where the cost and the footprint are the primary concerns.