UCL DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC & ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Masters Programmes in Communications

Optical Transmission and Networks
5th May 2009 Closed Book Exam 10.00am - 1.00pm
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Guidelines:
This paper comprises 5 questions: Answer three questions only Please answer each question in a separate answer book The distribution of marks among parts of questions is indicated for guidance _____________________________________________________________________
IGDP Communications for Industry MSc in Communications Research MSc in Telecommunications MSc in Internet Engineering MSc in Technologies for Broadband Communications EngD in Telecommunications

Physical constants: velocity of propagation of an electromagnetic wave in vacuo c = 3 108 ms-1 electron mass me = 9.109 10-31 kg Boltzmanns constant k = 1.38 10-23 WK-1Hz-1 Plancks constant h = 6.626 10-34 Js

Question 1 1. (a) The optical transitions of the Er3+ ion that are responsible for amplification at 1.535 m are referred to as intra-4f transitions. Explain what is meant by this, and why the luminescence lifetime of this ion is generally both rather long and insensitive to the host material into which it is placed. [4 marks] (b) Describe, with the aid of diagrams, what is meant by Stark Splitting. What are the consequences of this effect for rare-earth luminescence? [4 marks] (c) How, and why, is the luminescence spectrum of erbium in a silica optical fibre different from its gain spectrum? [4 marks]
(d) The radiative lifetime of the erbium ion in a silica fibre is 12ms. The internal quantum efficiency is quoted as 40%. For erbium in this host, calculate: i. The non-radiative recombination lifetime

ii. The decay time of the erbium luminescence [8 marks] (e) Explain what is meant by the terms internal quantum efficiency, external quantum efficiency, and power efficiency. [3 marks]

(f) Population inversion is a necessary prerequisite to achieve optical gain. Why is it not possible in a 2level system? [2 marks]

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Question 2
2. (a) Explain clearly the design and operation of power self-regulation in a cascade of optical amplifiers. [4 marks]

(b) In a transmission system, N Erbium doped fibre amplifiers are cascaded between the transmitter and the receiver with equal length fibre spans between each amplifier. The gain of each EDFA is the same, G and exactly offsets the loss incurred in the preceding fibre span, L. The power spectral density of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise added by each EDFA is given by

S ASE = n sp (G 1)h
where is the optical frequency of the signal and nsp is the spontaneous emission factor. Assuming negligible noise in the input signal to the transmission system, derive expressions for

(i) (ii)

the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) at the output of the first EDFA. the OSNR at the output of the Nth EDFA.

In each case, assume that the signal launch power into each fibre span is P, and that an optical bandpass filter with bandwidth of f is placed at the output of the EDFA being measured. [8 marks]

(c) Assuming the loss of each fibre span is 20 dB, nsp = 1.5, the signal launch power into each span P = 3 dBm and the signal wavelength is 1.55 m, calculate the number of spans over which the signal can be transmitted before the OSNR falls to less than 20 dB .
[7 marks]

(d) The output signal from the Nth EDFA is detected using a PIN photodiode. It is found that the resulting noise power is signal dependent. List three of the sources of noise in the detected signal, explaining whether each is dependent or independent of the signal power. [6 marks]

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Question 3 3. (a) A 10 Gbit/s point to point optical fibre link is to be designed. The 1.55 m DFB laser when modulated has a linewidth of 0.1 nm, a power of +4 dBm. A receiver sensitivity of -40 dBm and a system operating margin of 5 dB is required. The fibre to be used is non-Dispersion Shifted Fibre having D = +17 ps/(km.nm), loss of 0.3 dB/km and total splice and connection losses of 0.5 dB.

(b) Calculate, defining all of the symbols that you use, (i) (ii) (iii) The loss limited transmission distance The dispersion limited transmission distance The maximum distance [5 marks]

(c) Describe the following types of dispersion, taking care to define group and phase velocities (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Chromatic dispersion Material dispersion Waveguide dispersion Polarisation Mode Dispersion (PMD) [12 marks]

(d) The point to point optical link is to be upgraded to operate at 40 Gbit/s. Compare direct modulation at 40 GBit/s with the use of 4 combined wavelengths at 10 Gbit/s [8 marks]

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Question 4 4. (a) List the advantages and disadvantages of transparent wavelength routing compared to electronic routing. [10 marks] (b) Describe the concepts of wavelength routing and wavelength blocking in optical networks. Explain the need for routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithms in the design of wavelength routed optical networks [4 marks] (c) Describe the max-used-2 routing and wavelength assignment algorithm for selecting optimum routes and wavelengths for lightpaths in wavelength-routed networks. [4 marks] (d) Carry out routing and wavelength assignment for a 3-node ring network to interconnect all node pairs, with a single wavelength per node pair. Assume that all signals travel in the clockwise direction around the ring, and that each physical link uses a single optical fibre. No wavelength conversion is used in the network. [7 marks]

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Question 5 5. (a) Describe the phenomenon of four wave mixing (FWM) in optical fibres. Discuss how the value of the chromatic dispersion of the fibre and the channel spacing affect the FWM efficiency in a dense WDM system. [8 marks] (b) The nonlinear coefficient of an optical fibre is given by

n 2 0 cAeff

Explain the meaning of the terms n2, 0, and Aeff on the right hand side of this equation. Write down the equation giving the optical phase shift, NL, resulting from self-phase modulation (SPM) in terms of the nonlinear coefficient, the optical power and the propagation distance (assume the optical fibre is lossless). [6 marks] (c) A numerical simulation of an optical communication link is to be carried out using the split step Fourier method. The bit-rate is 10 Gbit/s, the maximum optical power of the signal in the optical fibre is 4 dBm, the optical frequency of the transmitter laser is 193.0 THz, n2 = 3 10-20 m2/W and Aeff = 80 m2. The optical fibre is assumed to be lossless. Calculate the step size is chosen so that the maximum nonlinear phase shift over each step, NL, is 0.1 radians. [6 marks]

(d) The optical signal pulses in the system described in section (c) are found to reduce in width as they propagate through the optical fibre, which has anomalous dispersion at 193.0 THz (D > 0 ps/nm/km). This pulse compression increases as the optical power is increased. Give a qualitative explanation of the cause of this effect. [5 marks]

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