Advanced Modulation For High

Data Rate Optical Transmission:

100G and Beyond
Leigh Wade, Infinera
The State of the Market Today
800G
10Gb/s
NRZ
C-band
80 ch. @ 10G = 800G
More
channels
Higher
Data Rates
More
Spectrum
I will propose that photonic integration
is an excellent solution to all three
capacity challenges
Why do we need
more than 800G?
Lower Cost per Bit
More Capacity
Higher Speed Services
Fiber Exhaust & Network Economics
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Time
10G
40G
100G
You want to move
to 40G here
but what if you hit
fiber exhaust here?
Excess
cost
Fiber exhaust can force uneconomic network decisions
Double Density Optics Mean Investment Protection
and Option Value
Conventional 80-96 WDM
1 per 50 GHz
At 40% bandwidth growth, double-density optics mean
two more years to select the lowest cost transmission.
Infinera Double Density WDM
1 per 25 GHz
800G in the C-band 1.6T in the C-band
Why doesnt everybody offer Double Density?
Two basic reasons:
WSS ROADMs
designed
around 50GHz
spacing
Operational challenge of 160 discrete
transponders on a single fiber!!
What are you going to see?
Adding a single PIC-
based line card, with
10x10Gb/s waves
100Gb/s of capacity for
the same effort as one
10Gb/s transponder
Optical
Spectrum
Analyzer
Stopwatch
Existing 10G waves
on the fiber
Gaps for
additional waves
PICs reduce operational burden by 10x
But the rest of the optical industry
does not have access to PICs so
They are under pressure to move to
40G and 100G as soon as possible
Not necessarily when its economical!
Fiber Capacity
Advanced
Modulation
Coherent
Detection
High Gain FEC
Table
Stakes
Core Switching & Grooming
3
Large Scale PICs
2
Photonic Integration
1
Differentiators
100G Technology Features
Complex modulation requires
complex optical circuits
Why do I need Complex Modulation?
Optical transmission is about:
Sending high data rates
Over very long distances
For very little money

Our biggest problem is optical fiber:
Loss
Dispersion
Modal dispersion
Chromatic dispersion
Polarization mode dispersion
Non-linear effects
Self phase modulation
Cross phase modulation
Four wave mixing
If you stress any one of these variables, the
others will respond
For a given modulation type, the
gross magnitude of these
impairments scales roughly with
the square of the symbol rate
Think of a light wave...
Oscillating wave
Wavelength
1550nm
Frequency
193.1 THz
State of the shelf
electronics can process at
~10GHz
Electronics is about 20,000 times
too slow for direct detection of
wave properties
So how do we encode and detect signals on
an optical carrier?
Historically, used amplitude modulation




Measures the strength of a large number of waves
On/Off Keying (OOK) may interpret the presence of a
signal as a 1, and the absence of a symbol as a 0
1 bit per symbol: NRZ Modulation
Laser Modulator
Detector
Tx
Rx
NRZ
Simple modulation technique
Easy to implement
Low power use
But very sensitive to fiber impairments
as bitrate increases
This is what were talking about with the square
relationship
Increasing power will trigger non-linear
effects
Phase Shift Keying
Phase is fundamental property of waves
Two waves in-phase when the peaks & troughs line up
We say that such waves are coherent
If non-coherent waves combine we see:
Reinforcement, cancellation, interference
Interference can be used to extract a lower frequency
modulation from a high frequency carrier
In-phase Out of phase
Interference
patterns
Using Phase to Apply a Signal
LD
Laser generates a
constant carrier
The carrier is
split into 2
The carriers travel
over different paths
S
Can apply a data signal,
S, to vary the delay on
one of the arms
When the carriers
recombine they will
contain the data signal
encoded as a series of
phase changes
Tx
Rx
Q: How do we recover the data signal at the receiver?
Hold that thought!
MZI
Component Complexity
Tx Rx
Part 1
The Transmitter
ODB Modulation (Optical Duo-Binary)
Laser MZ Modulator
Detector
Tx
Rx
ODB
First generation 40G modulation scheme
Phase & Amplitude based modulation
Requires MZ modulator
Can use simple, direct detection
Much more tolerant of dispersion
Limited reach
Widely used by 1st Gen 40G
Stratalight, Mintera
1 bit per symbol: DPSK
Most basic phase modulation technique
Differential technique allows phase slips to be ignored
Used by OpNext & Mintera, and their OEMs
AKA: BPSK, where local oscillator coherent detection is used
Re{Ex}
1 0
2 bits per symbol: Quadrature PSK
Advanced modulation, 4 phase states = 2 bits
More bits per symbol
2 bits per symbol: Quadrature PSK
Advanced modulation, 4 phase states = 2 bits
More bits per symbol
0,0
0,1
1,1
1,0
3 bits per symbol: 8-PSK
...And higher orders of modulation
8 phase states = 3 bits
Twice as complex, but only 50% more bits
1,0,0
0,0,1
1,1,0
1,0,1 0,0,0
0,1,1
1,1,1
0,1,0
For discrete implementations, 8-PSK seems to be too complex
The Law of Diminishing Returns
Phase States vs Component Complexity
Lets set a circuit complexity factor of 1, to be the
equivalent of a simple DPSK transponder
DPSK (D)QPSK 8-PSK 16-QAM 32-QAM 64-QAM
16x
Bit/Hz
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
9
8
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5
4
3
2
1
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F
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Is there a better way to
get to more bit/Hz?
32x
PM-QPSK, 4 bits per symbol
Im{E
x
}
Re{E
x
}
Im{E
x
}
Re{E
x
}
Im{E
y
}
Re{E
y
}
Two Polarizations
X-Polarization
Y-Polarization
Implementing Phase Modulation Using Discrete
Optical Components...
S
S
Implementing Phase Modulation Using Discrete
Optical Components...
This is QPSK...
S1
S2
Im{E
x
}
Re{E
x
}
This structure called a Super Mach Zehnder
This is a PM-QPSK Transmitter
PBS
LD
X Polarizations
Y Polarizations
Component Complexity
Tx Rx
Part 2
The Detector
Lets cut to the chase
The only practical, long haul 100G implementations will
be required to use Coherent Detection

What is it, and why is it useful?
What is coherent detection?
Physics definition
A detection technique that is based on the phase properties
of the carrier
If you are using a phase-based detector, you could claim to
be implementing coherent detection
however
Practical definition
The market has now come to expect a coherent detector to
make use of sophisticated, digital signal processing (DSP)
algorithms
Conventional WDM Detection
PD
Mixture of waves on fiber
wideband detector
How do we select the
channel we want to detect?
Conventional WDM Detection
Wavelength demux
PD
Mixture of waves on fiber
wideband detector
Direct conversion
of photons into
electrons that
look like bits
11010110
Conventional WDM Detection
Wavelength demux
PD
Summary of Conventional WDM Detection
Wideband Photodetector (PD) is used
To prevent inter-channel interference, a wavelength
demux is used to spatially separate channels
Modulation technique allows minimal Rx circuit
complexity essentially direct detection
No additional signal processing normally required
ADC
DSP
Coherent WDM Detection
PD
LO
We could take a mixed signal that uses a
phase-based modulation technique
Use a local oscillator to choose the
color we want to detect
ADC
DSP
Coherent WDM Detection
PD
LO
11010110
Convert the
photons to
electrons
Convert the
analog electrons
into digital
electrons
Clean it all up!
If you need to detect 5 from 1n, then choose a
local oscillator tuned to 5
Local oscillator does not carry a signal simply a
continuous beam of light
But it is non-coherent with the received signal (ie. it is
out of phase)
Use an array of interferometers to measure the
interference patterns
Convert the interference patterns into an electronic
signal, and process it
Why phase-based modulation?
The Detector Requires a Complex Optical Circuit
Example: For PM-QPSK Modulation
PBS
LO
PBS
PD
PD
PD
PD
The signals that come
out of the PD array are
analog and dirty
PM-QPSK Signal
Two very different functions in the detector
Phase state
extraction
Signal processing
Separate the polarization components
Create interference against a
reference laser (local oscillator)
Separate the phase components
PD & A/D conversion
Compensate for local oscillator
instability
Compensate for static CD
Compensate for dynamic PMD
How do we implement these functions?
Separate the polarization components
Create interference against a
reference laser (local oscillator)
Separate the phase components
PD & A/D conversion
Compensate for local oscillator
instability
Compensate for static CD
Compensate for dynamic PMD
Sophisticated
optical circuit
(PIC)
Sophisticated digital
signal processing
(DSP)
A Coherent Detector Schematic
(For one wavelength only)
Incoming carrier
(2 polarizations, each
with 4 phase states)
ADC A/D Converter
AMZ Adjustable Mach Zehnder
DSP Digital Signal Processor
LO Local Oscillator
PD Photo Detector
PS Polarization Splitter
LO
PD
PD
PD
PD
ADC
ADC
ADC
ADC
D
S
P

AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
Optical Circuit Electronic Circuit
PBS
PBS
Incoming carrier
(2 polarizations, each
with 4 phase states)
LO
PD
PD
PD
PD
ADC
ADC
ADC
ADC
D
S
P

AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
Optical Circuit Electronic Circuit
PBS
PBS
ADC A/D Converter
AMZ Adjustable Mach Zehnder
DSP Digital Signal Processor
LO Local Oscillator
PD Photo Detector
PS Polarization Splitter
1
Step 1: Take the two optical sources signal and local oscillator
A Coherent Detector Schematic
(For one wavelength only)
Incoming carrier
(2 polarizations, each
with 4 phase states)
LO
PD
PD
PD
PD
ADC
ADC
ADC
ADC
D
S
P

AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
Optical Circuit Electronic Circuit
PBS
PBS
ADC A/D Converter
AMZ Adjustable Mach Zehnder
DSP Digital Signal Processor
LO Local Oscillator
PD Photo Detector
PS Polarization Splitter
2
Step 2: Separate the X and Y polarizations
A Coherent Detector Schematic
(For one wavelength only)
Incoming carrier
(2 polarizations, each
with 4 phase states)
LO
PD
PD
PD
PD
ADC
ADC
ADC
ADC
D
S
P

AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
Optical Circuit Electronic Circuit
PBS
PBS
ADC A/D Converter
AMZ Adjustable Mach Zehnder
DSP Digital Signal Processor
LO Local Oscillator
PD Photo Detector
PS Polarization Splitter
3
Step 3: Generate a set of interference patterns in the SMZ array
A Coherent Detector Schematic
(For one wavelength only)
Incoming carrier
(2 polarizations, each
with 4 phase states)
LO
PD
PD
PD
PD
ADC
ADC
ADC
ADC
D
S
P

AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
Optical Circuit Electronic Circuit
PBS
PBS
ADC A/D Converter
AMZ Adjustable Mach Zehnder
DSP Digital Signal Processor
LO Local Oscillator
PD Photo Detector
PS Polarization Splitter
4
Step 4: Convert optical signals to analog electronic signals
A Coherent Detector Schematic
(For one wavelength only)
Incoming carrier
(2 polarizations, each
with 4 phase states)
LO
PD
PD
PD
PD
ADC
ADC
ADC
ADC
D
S
P

AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
AMZ
Optical Circuit Electronic Circuit
PBS
PBS
ADC A/D Converter
AMZ Adjustable Mach Zehnder
DSP Digital Signal Processor
LO Local Oscillator
PD Photo Detector
PS Polarization Splitter
5
Step 5: Convert analog to digital and process
A Coherent Detector Schematic
(For one wavelength only)
Coherent Detection Pros and Cons
Pros:
Operates over the existing fiber plant and amp chains
Outstanding reach performance
Closest thing to achieving 40G and 100G with same reach as 10G NRZ
Significant pilot test results indicate it really does work!
Cons:
Potential non-linear interaction with 10G NRZ in same fiber
The cure is managing launch power
Probably represents the practical complexity limit for discretes
State of the shelf DSP technology draws too much power to allow for large
scale implementations (ie. multiple waves in one modules)
Solution is to use emerging 40m DSP technology
DSP operation probably eliminates the chance of future line side interop
Complex modulation requires
complex optical circuits
So remember
Where have we seen this problem before?
In the 1950s computers were made from individual
transistors, resistors and capacitors...




today?
The electronics industry controlled component
complexity with large scale integration
We know the same thing works for optical
components we did it 5 years ago!
Small Scale vs Large Scale Photonic Integration
Small Scale
Operates on a single wavelength
Primarily used to address manufacturing cost
If it works for one wave, why not
CPUs with 2-8 cores GPUs with 200-800 cores!!
Infinera 100G Transmission Differentiators
500G, Large Scale, Monolithic PIC Implementation
500G
Tx PIC
500G
Rx PIC
Number of channels 5 x 100G
Monolithic InP Chips 2
Optical elements > 600
Gold Box Replacements > 100
Fiber Replacements > 400
COST
SIZE
POWER
CAPACITY
RELIABILITY
54 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
How much capacity can
actually be used?
Fat Pipes Are Not Enough
100 Gb/s Transmit
100 Gb/s Receive
PICs enable
cost-effective OEO
100Gb/s to 1Tb/s WDM
system on a chip
Affordable access to
digital domain
Photonic
Integration
56 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Infinera 100G Transmission Differentiators
PICs Enable Pervasive Digital Switching
1001
0101
0101
1010
1101
0101
0101
1010
1101
0101
Enables digital functionality
Integrated switching at every node
High functionality Digital ROADM
Dramatic network simplification
100101011101010000101011
100101010101101011010101
110101000010101110010101
001010111011010110010101
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P
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Optical (O) Electrical (E) Optical (O)
Trib
Integrated
Switching + WDM
Photonic
Integration
57 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Infinera 100G Transmission Differentiators
PICs Enable Pervasive Digital Switching
1001
0101
0101
1010
1101
0101
0101
1010
1101
0101
100101011101010000101011
100101010101101011010101
110101000010101110010101
001010111011010110010101
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P
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Pervasive Digital
Switching
Integrated
Switching + WDM
Photonic
Integration
10010101110101010000
10010101010110101011
10010101110101010000
10010101010110101011 end-end service
Software-based Ease-of-Use
Digital OTN switching at every node
Unconstrained bandwidth everywhere
Lowest cost per switched Gb/s
58 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Infinera 100G Transmission Differentiators
PICs Enable Pervasive Digital Switching
Solving The 100G Muxponder Tax
The Problem:
Backbone waves move to 100G, but service demands still 10G or lower
All-optical ROADMs have no inter-wavelength, or sub-wavelength
grooming capability 100G muxponders!
How big is the
Muxponder Tax
in a real 100G
network?
A B
All services must go A B
10GbE
10GbE
10GbE
M
u
x
p
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r

10GbE
M
u
x
p
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ROADM Network
A C
A D
B C
B D
Require Extra,
Partially Filled
Muxponder Pairs
Service Demands:
2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary 59
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
D
e
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C
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(
%
)

R
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(
%
)

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
100G
Muxponder
50%
40G
Muxponder
66%
Infinera Digital
ROADM
92%
Infinera National Network Model Summary
Large N. Am. Network Model: 33,084 route km, 47 core WDM links
About 10 Tb/s of customer service demands (network traffic volume)
2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary 60
Summary of Network Efficiency
A Perfect Storm is emerging in terms of network
bandwidth efficiency:
Wavelength speeds moving to 100Gbit/s
Majority of services demands remaining at 10Gbit/s or less for near-term
All-optical ROADMs have no effective way to offer contentionless
wavelength conversion and sub-wavelength grooming in the core
Muxponders are simply point-point aggregators and do not do grooming
The result is that a Service Provider may need to
purchase 2X Network Capacity for 1X Service Revenue
The solution is an Integrated Digital OTN Network with:
End to End, Any to Any service capability
Integrated OTN switching and grooming in the core
End to End intelligent optical control plane
Bandwidth
Virtualization
8Tb/s
More
channels
Higher
Data Rates
More
Spectrum
Beyond 8Tb/s?
Gridless Super-
Channels
Even more complex
modulation!
L-Band
S-Band
E-Band
O-Band
Outside the scope of this discussion
Whats changed so far
Since the advent of DWDM
now
Phase Modulation
Coherent Detection
ITU Frequency Grid
Intensity Modulation
Direct Detection
ITU Frequency Grid
63 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
What Comes Next For Terabit Transport?
Since the advent of DWDM
so what has to change
Phase Modulation
Coherent Detection
ITU Frequency Grid
Intensity Modulation
Direct Detection
ITU Frequency Grid
Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation (QAM)
Coherent Wave Combining
and Separation
Grid-less FlexChannels
64 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Advanced Modulation Formats
Pol-Mux
QPSK
Pol-Mux
8-QAM
Pol-Mux
16-QAM
IM-DD
PM-
BPSK
1.6 8 12 16 24
C-Band Capacity (Tb/s)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
C
a
p
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y

*

R
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P
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65 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Since the advent of DWDM
so what has to change
Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
Coherent Wave Separation
Grid-less FlexChannels
On-Off Keyed Modulation
Direct Detection
ITU Frequency Grid
What Comes Next For Terabit Transport?
66 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary 67
Single Carrier vs Multi-Carrier
Goal: Create a 1Tb/s unit of transmission capacity
How?
Option 1:
Build a single-
carrier 1Tb/s
channel
Option 2:
Build a multi-
carrier 1Tb/s
super-channel
2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary 68
1Tb/s Single Carrier: The A/D Converter Problem
1 2 4 6 8 10 12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
O
S
N
R

P
e
n
a
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y

(
d
B
)

Number of bits per symbol
PM-BPSK
640GBaud
PM-QPSK
320GBaud
PM-8QAM
210GBaud
PM-16QAM
160GBaud
PM-32QAM
128GBaud
PM-64QAM
105GBaud
By 2014 commercial ADCs are
expected to operate at ~64GBaud
wavelength
demux
DWDM Direct Detection
PD
Spacing on the fiber
needed between waves:
Guard Bands
Spatially separate the
channels using a
wavelength demux
69 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
wavelength
demux
Spatially separate the
channels using a
wavelength demux
DWDM Coherent Detection
Spacing on the fiber
needed between waves:
Guard Bands
ADC DSP PD
LO
Use a local oscillator to
choose the color we want
to detect to match the
demux port color
70 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
How 1Tb/s Might Look
Conventional WDM vs FlexChannels
Guard bands to allow for
individual wavelength demux

Fewer guard-bands
25% increase in useable
amplifier spectrum
Conventional Per-Channel
WDM Filtering
1Tb/s
Multi-Carrier FlexChannel
1Tb/s
71 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
What Comes Next For Terabit Transport?
Since the advent of DWDM
so what has to change
Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
Coherent Wave Separation
Grid-less FlexChannels
On-Off Keyed Modulation
Direct Detection
ITU Frequency Grid
72 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
FlexChannels Increase Total Fiber Capacity
More complex modulation more capacity per fiber
PM-QPSK
8-QAM
16-QAM
1Tb/s
12 Tb/s
18 Tb/s
25 Tb/s
73 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Reach, Spectral Efficiency, and Co-Existence
1Tb/s PM-8QAM
FlexChannel
1Tb/s PM-16QAM
FlexChannel
10x100G PM-QPSK
1Tb/s PM-QPSK
FlexChannel
or
A
E
B
C
D
74 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Summary:
The Key Technologies For 1Tb/s Are Well Understood
But the implementation of those technologies will be
critical to allowing service providers to differentiate their
products and services
Advanced
Modulation
Coherent
Processing
Advanced
FEC
Foundation
Features
Large Scale PICs
1
FlexCoherent Modulation
2
Pervasive, Switched DWDM
3
Differentiators
75 2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary
Thank You!
lwade@infinera.com
2011 Infinera Corporation Confidential & Proprietary 76