1208

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-20, NO. 10, OCTOBER 1984

Chromatic Dispersion Induced Distortion of Modulated Monochromatic Light Employing Direct Detection
GEORGE J. MESLENER

lasers employing external cavities, spectral line widthsless than 0.1 MHz [8] have been achieved. For light sources whose line widths are less than the modulating frequency, the spectrum of the modulated signal depends solely on thelasers response tothe modulating signal and notontheintrinsicspectral width of the unmodulated source. Current high datarate digital systems employ single-mode fibers. Long repeater spacings at high data rates canbe realized by operating at the low loss wavelength of 1.55 pm [9] , [IO] although chromatic dispersion is very high (17.5 ps/nm . km) for commercially available fiber optimized for 1.3 pm operation. High frequency analog systems [ 1I ] operating over a high dispersion single-mode fiber have also been demonstrated. I.INTRODUCTION For these reasons, this paper will focus on the affects of high S in any communication system, the baseband response chromatic dispersion on baseband response. of a fiber optic system depends on the spectrum of the It is common practice to approximate an intensity modumodulated signal and the transmission properties of the me- lated (IM) monochromatic source by an AM signal [ 121 , [ 131 . dium. Early high data rate fiber optic systems [ l ] used inten- Although this approximation is reasonable for small modulasity modulated LED sources with typical spectral widths of tion indexes and when predicting approximate baseband band45 nm at 850 nm which,whencombined with material dis- width, it is not valid from determining harmonic distortion or persion, dominated baseband bandwidth. Optical filters were differential gain distortion induced by chromatic dispersion. successfully used to increase baseband bandwidth by narrow- An accurate description of a direct intensity modulated laser ing the sources opticalspectrum [2]. Theintroductionof requires inclusion of FM effects. The effects of chromatic disshort wavelength, multimode semiconductor lasers reduced persion and direct detection may then be assessed. spectral width to approximately 2 or 3 nm [3], reducing the In this paper, the method used to determine the baseband effects of material dispersion to the point where modal disper- response of an IM-FM monochromatic source in the presence siondeterminedsystem bandwidth. Advances in single-mode of chromatic dispersion is to determine the spectrum of the fiber development eliminated modal dispersion and again, modulated source (Section II), alter it according to the transchromatic dispersion controlled system bandwidth. The base- mission properties of the fiber (Section III), then square-law band bandwidth of these early systems depended mainly on detect the signal (Section 1V). The amplitude of the recovered the intrinsic spectral width of the optical sources and less on modulation as well as second andthird harmonic termsare the modulatingsignal. computed. Examples showing the effects of intensity and More recently, a variety of lasers have been reported which frequency modulation indexes, modulating frequency, and oscillate in a single transverse andlongitudinalmode.These modulating current amplitude are presented in Section V. include transverse-mode stabilized lasers [4], lasers with exWith this information, it is possible to establish the limits of ternal cavities [ 5 ] , injection locked [ 6 ] ,and short cavity lasers analog and digital transmission over single-mode fibers in the with high front and rear facet reflectivities [7]. Two types of presence of chromatic dispersion. lasers, transverse-mode stabilized and short cavity lasers with high facet reflectivities, have beenshown to maintain single11. SPECTRUM mode operation, even when modulated at high speeds. Good In a recent study of direct frequency modulation of a laser linearity over wide optical power rangesis reported and, for [ 141 , it was shown that both the amplitude and the frequency of the source vary with applied current. At modulating rates Manuscript received February 17, 1984; revised June 11,1984. well above the thermal response time of the diode, and at very The author is with Transmission Systems, GTE Laboratories Incorsmall modulating levels, the amplitude and frequency of the porated, Waltham, MA 02254.
Abstract-The spectrum of an intensity modulated (IM) and a combined intensity-frequency modulated (IM-FM) monochromatic light source has been generated. The amplitudes of the modulated carrier and the first three pairs of sidebands are plotted showing the influence of IM on an FM signal. The effects of first order chromatic dispersion on the baseband amplitude response and harmonic distortion are determined. The manner in which modulation type and depth, modulating frequency, wavelength, and fiber length alter harmonic distortion is presented. Numerical examples giving the amplitude response of a single-mode fiber system as well as the magnitude of the second- and third-harmonic distortion caused by chromatic dispersion are presented. Based on this material, the limits placed on analog transmission due to chromatic dispersion may be assessed.

0018-9197/84/1000-1208$01.00 0 1984 IEEE

HROMATIC MESLENER:

1209

light generated by the laser vary linearly with modulation and are in phase.Undertheseconditions, the normalizedamplitude of the optical electric field may be expressed in the form of

1.0 7

e = (1 + ma cos w m t )exp [j(wot+ mf sin wmt)]

where

(1)
0.01

m, = amplitude modulation index

= peak amplitudechange/average amplitude w, = modulating angular frequency w, = carrier angular frequency mf = frequency modulation index = peak frequency change/modulating frequency.
0.001

0.0001

The AM-FM spectrum is generated by expanding the FM portion of the optical electric field in terms of Bessel functions of the first kind, multiplying them by the amplitude function, and after applying the necessary trigonometric identities, collecting terms having the same frequency. The AM approximation of an intensity modulated (IM) sig0.01 0.02 0.04 0.1 0.2 0.4 1.o nal is not valid at higher modulating levels. For the linear IM INTENSITY MODULATION INDEX - mi case, the amplitude of the optical field variesas the square Fig. 1. Fourier series expansion coefficients of (1 + mi cos ~ , t ) ' / ~ as root of the modulating signal [ 1 5 ] . Replacing the amplitude a function ofmi. function in ( 1 ) by the amplitude of an intensity modulated signal yields Equation (6) describes a series of half cosine waves or a fulle = (I + mi cos omt)'I2 exp [i(w, t + mf sin omt ) ] (2) wave rectified sinewave. Its Fourier series expansion coefficients are [ 161 where

m i= intensity modulation index

= peak intensity change/average intensity.

KO = 2 f i / r r
and

(7)

TO obtain the spectrum of (2), the amplitude function is.exK , = (- l)n*' 4V/Zlr(4n2 - 1). (8 panded in a Fourier series, multiplied by the expansion of the FM term, and like terms collected. The IM-FM spectrum (2) The values ofthesecoefficientscanbedeterminedveryacnumerical will be used to determine the effects of chromatic dispersion curately and are used to test the accuracy of the integration,. on a modulated signal. Fig. 1 is a log plot of several Fourier series coefficients as a function of mi. For smallvalues of mi, the KO (dc) term is A. Amplitude Function approximately unity, coefficient K, is approximatelyequal The Fourier series expansion of the amplitude term is to m J 2 , and the higherordercoefficients(harmonics)are (1 + mi cos a , t)'l2 very small. Under these conditions, the AM approximation of = K o +cK o ,~ w , t + K 2 COS~U,~+..* (31 an IM signal is reasonable. As mi increases, the K , term decreases slightly, the K , termbecomes larger than mJ2, and where the higher order harmonics increase rapidly. The second harmonic increases as the square of mi, the third harmonic as the l T cube of mi, and so forth. For large values of mi, the AM apKO = ( 1 + mi cos wrnt)ll2 dt (4) proximation of an IM signal is no longer valid.
and

B. FM Term

K, =

(1 + mi cos w, t)1/2 cos n u , t d t .

(5)

The expansion of theFM term is [ 171 exp [j(wot+ mf sin omt)]

= J o ( m f )exp (imot)+ J I ( m f ){exp [i(wo + u r n ) tl
- exp [j(w,
+ Jn(mf)
-

For the general case, m i< 1, (4) and (5) cannot be expressed in closed form and are evaluated using numerical integration, For the special case of 100 percent modulation (mi = l), the following substitutionmaybemadefortheamplitudefunction: (1 + cos w,t)"2
=

w,)

t ] }+ . . .
+ n o m ) tl + (- 1)"

ex^

Ili(w,
1 1 0 , )

Ifl

cos (w,t/2)1.

(6)

. exp

[i(wo -

til.

JOURNAL IEEE 1210

O F QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-20, NO. 10, OCTOBER 1984

whereJ,(mf) is the Bessel functionofthe first kind,nth order,with argument mp (To simplify notation,the argument (mf) will be omitted.)

equal the average signal power, which is independent of modulation. That is L;

( L i +tL:-)1. (16 ) C. Combined IM-FM Spectrum n=1 The spectrum of the IM-FM signal (2) is obtained by multi- This property is always true for IM, FM, and combined IM-FM plying the Fourier series expansion of the amplitude function modulation. (3) by the expansion of the FM term (9) and collecting like Fig. 2(a)-(d) shows the amplitudes of the carrier, first upper frequency terms. The product of (3) and (9) is and lower, second upper and lower, and third upper and lower sidebands, respectively, as a function of frequency modulation e = (KO + K1 cos w, t t . . .) {J, exp (jw,t) index with and without intensity modulation. Fig. 2(a) shows + J1 exp [i(w, + w,) tl that the amplitude of the FM carrier is relatively uneffected by IM. Fig. 2(b)-(d), however, shows that the FM sidebands are - J1 exp [ j ( w , - w,) t ] + . . .}. (10) significantly altered by the addition of IM. This figure shows Afterperforming the indicated multiplication and collecting that at very low levels of FM (mf << l), the spectrum of the like frequency terms, the opticalelectric field is expressed as modulated signal is dominated by mi. At higher levels of m f , the sidebandamplitudesbegin to resemble those of an FM e = Lo exp (jw, t ) signal, but the symmetryassociated with it is lost. + L 1 + e x p Li(o,+w,)tl In the absence of FM, J, = 1 and J, = 0. Equations (12), (14), and (15) reduce to KO for the amplitude of the optical t L z +exp [ j ( o , + 2u,) t ] + . . . carrier and the amplitudes of the sidebands are equal to Kn/2. + L l - exp [i(o, tl T h s shows that the spectrum of an IM signal exhibits even symmetry about the optical carrier. Equation (9) shows that the + L,exp [j(w, - 2w,) t ] + . . . . (11) spectrum of anFM signal exhibits odd symmetry aboutthe opConstant Lo is the sum of all cross-product terms whose fretical carrier for the odd sidebands [(w, k a , ) (w, + 3w,), quency sum or difference is at the center optical frequency etc.] and even symmetry for the even sidebands. Fig. 2 shows (0,) and is equal to that all symmetry is lost for the combined IM-FM spectrum. Symmetry, or its absence, has a significant effect on dispersion L,=K,J, +K2J2 + . * . induced harmonic distortion as will be shown in the following m sections. = K2aJ2a. (12) a=o III. CHROMATIC DISPERSION When a pulse of light is launched into a single-mode fiber, The amplitude of the first upper sideband is the sum of all eachopticalfrequencycomponent travels through the fiber terms containing (ao +a , ) or at a different velocity. As a result, the pulse broadens and becomes distorted. In uniform fibers, two causes of this effect L 1 + = + (KJ1 + K , J o ) + + Ja[Ka-I + ( - 1 ) " K a + , I . are the wavelengthdependentpropagation characteristics of a=l glass, materialdispersion, and the fiber's guidingproperties, (13) waveguide dispersion. The combined effect is chromatic dispersion. The amplitude of the nth upper sideband (u, + nw,) is Total chromatic dispersion [ 181 and pulse spreading [ 191 m are obtained from the derivative of group delay with respect ~ n + = + WoJn + ~ u J o ) + $ JatKln-ai + ( - 1 ) " K n + , I to wavelength. The direct relationship between chromatic a=l dispersion and pulse spreading simplifies the analysis of digital (1 4) systems, particularly when the source bandwidth is very large compared to the modulating frequency. For sine wave moduThe amplitude ofthe nthlower sideband (ao - nu,) is lation of a monochromatic source, it is more convenient to express the effects of chromatic dispersion in terms of phase L n - = $ [(-I)" K,J, +K,J,] of the optical carrier and sidebands rather than their arrival m times. The relationship between phase and arrival timeof (1 5) eachfrequencycomponent is used to determine the effects + Ja[Kn+a +(-1)"Kln+alI. a=l of chromatic dispersionon themodulated signal. Thephase of single opticalfrequencycomponentpropaThe form of (12), (14), and (1 5) was chosen t o simplify progating through a fiber is gramming. They are easily evaluated once the Bessel functions and Fourier series coefficients are determined and stored. e =pz (1 7) To verify the accuracyof theamplitudecalculations,the where p is the propagation constant and z is the distance travtotal power contributed by the carrier andsidebandsmust

%-z>

01

ROMATIC MESLENER:
1 .o

1211

t
1.0

c
t
-

w P
3

I r 1
n

I
U w
FM INDEX

rnf

5
W

FM INDEX (c)

rnf

---____-

(C)

(dl Fig. 2. Relative amplitude of the (a) optical carrier, (b) Fist, (c) second, and (d) third upper and lower sidebands of a combined intensityfrequency modulated, monochromatic source as a function of mffor mi = 0 and 0.9.

eled. Expanding 0 in a Taylor series and substituting in (17) or very near the zero dispersion point, but arevery small. Their effects yields this In applications. system are present negligible in paper, it is assumed that the operating wavelength is not near

e = zP(Cdo)
z

-t zj(0,)

(0 - 0,)

B ( 0 , ) (0 - 0,)2

the zerodispersionpointand group delay or (18)

that the second termdominates (20) respect to

6 /3(0,)(0 -

...

w0)3

T = z$(w,)

(W

0,).

where thedottedterms are derivatives withrespect tothe optical radian frequency, w , and 0, is the central component of the optical spectrum or the optical carrier. The time required for the signal to travel a distance z (group delay) [20] is T = z dP/dw
= ZB(0,)
t

Chromaticdispersion Since
= 2.rrc/h

is the derivative ofTwith

(21 1

where c is the velocity of light in free space, differentiating (20) yields dT/dX = (- 2ncz/h2)f l ( ~ 3 , )=

+ Zfl(0,)

(0 - 0,)

; P(0,)

(0 - 0,)2

.. ..

(-7 )

f l ( 0 , ) .

(22)

(19)

Since chromatic dispersion is normalized t o kilometer lengths The first term in (19) is a constant delay which does not alter of fiber, it is or distort the opticalsignal and although verylarge, is ignored. Third and higher order terms dominate system performance at D = (112) d T / d h = (- o/X) fl(w,). (23 1

JOURNAL IEEE 1212

OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-20, NO. 10, OCTOBER 1984

Rearranging terms

i = / L , exp (jwOt)+ L,+ exp { j [ ( w ,

+ w,)

t +e,]} +. ..

where D is expressed in pslnm. k m ,X in nm, and w in radiansls. Neglecting theconstant phase, constantdelay,and higher order terms, and substituting (24) into (18), phase angle 0 is

f3 = (zhO/2o,) D(w - a,)* = (- z h 2 / 4 ~ c ) D ( w - w,)~.

Evaluating 19 at the opticalcarrier and sidebands

The sum of the individual squared terms in (29) is the dc detectedcurrent,the sumofcross-producttermsseparated by om is the recovered modulation, and the sum of crossproduct terms separated by multiples of w, are the harmonic distortion components. After squaring, gathering the individual squared terms, and applying the appropriate trigonometric identities, the normalized average detected current is

Idc=L2+L;-+L;++L;-+(- zX0/2w0) Dn2 a&. Equation (26) states that in the region where first order chromatic distortion dominates, the phase difference between any frequencycomponentand theoptical carrier varies as the square of the frequency separation (fnw,). If 8 is the phase of the first upper sideband (0 evaluted at w = w, + a , ) ,then the phase of any sideband, either upper or lower, is

This sum is independent of dispersion and must equal unity. The sum of cross-product terms separated by w, in (29) reduces to
I F 0

en = n 2 e 1 .
e = L o exp (jwot)
+L,+exp{j[(w,+o,)t+e,I}

(27)

If the optical signal launched into the fiber is described by ( 1 l ) , then the opticalsignal leaving the fiber is

. sin (an + 1) 8, sin wmt

where L o + = L o =Lo. Equation (31) is the recovered modulating signal or fundamental. It is separated into an in-phase (cos w,t) and quad+L,-e~p{j[(w,-2w,)t+48~]}+.... (28) rature (sin w, t ) component. The presence of the quadrature Equation (28) shows that first order chromatic dispersion incomponent is a necessary although not sufficient condition for troduces nonlinear phase distortion in the optical signal which, baseband phase distortion. If the modulated optical spectrum when detected,introducesfrequency,phase,andharmonic exhibits even symmetry about the optical carrier, as is the case of IM (no FM), or if there is no chromatic dispersion(8 = 0), distortion into the baseband signal. the quadrature term is zero and there can be no phase distorIV. DETECTED OPTICALSIGNAL tion. If 6 ' = 0 , (31) reduces to Light absorbed by a photodetector generates a current proportional to the square of the optical electric field. Squaring 2 [Ln+L(n+l)+ +L,-L(,+,)-] cos w,t=mi cos wmt the optical signal produces a dc current proportional to the n=o average optical power, independent of modulation and chromaticdispersion. In the absence ofdispersion,squaring the optical signal reconstructsthe original intensitymodulating Equation (32) simply states that in the absence of chromatic signal without distortion, even in the presence of source FM. dispersion, the amplitude of the normalized recovered modulaWith dispersion, theamplitude andphaseof the recovered tion must be equalto mi. Fig. 3 is a plot of the amplitude of the recovered modulating modulation will vary with modulating frequency and the type and depth of modulation. Harmonics of the modulating signal signal (3 1) normalized to m, as a function ofphase 8 for mi = will also be present. 0.1 and mf = O , O . l , 0.2,0.4, and 0.8. When mf = 0, the qdad1) is zero. Fig. 3 shows that the amplitude of All detected signals are normalized to the detected, unmodu- rature term in (3 the fundamental. is relatively constant except as 0 approaches latedopticalcarrier, eliminating the need t o includeinitial relatively sourceamplitude, fiber attenuation,and coupling losses in 90, where its amplitude drops off sharply. With a low level of FM (mf = O.l), the spectrum of the opticalsignal deriving baseband response. If light reaching the photodetector is given by (28), the de- loses all symmetry, the quadrature term in (31) is no longer tected current, which is the square of the optical wave, nor- zero, and the amplitude fundamental in Fig. 3 increases as 8 approaches90". Increasing mf emphasizes thiseffect.Both malized to the detected unmodulatedcarrier is +L,-ex~{j[(w,-wm)t+e11}

+L,+exp{j[(oo+2wm)t+481'J)+--~

MESLENER: CHROMATIC DISPERSION INDUCED DISTORTION

+40

1213

mf

0% m
W

0 2

5 n
W

-40

mi

= 0.1

z U
0

2 I

-80

-.

4 -120 - 160
I

1
I

9 . 9

,
10

lJ
100

- 200 1

I
1 .o
10 45

0.1

0.1

100

PHASE ANGLE 01 - DEGREES Fig. 3. Baseband amplitude response versus phase angle e with mi = 0.1 and mf= 0.1,0.2,0.4, and 0.8.

PHASE ANGLE

o1 - DEGREES

(a)
0
I
I

mi

the sharproll-offof thefundamentalwith no FM and the peaking with FM indicate the presence of frequency distortion in thebaseband signal causedby dispersion. The second and third harmonics of the recovered signal are obtained from the sum of cross products in (29) separated by 20, and 3 0 , respectively. These sums are
I
m

0.8 0.4 0.2 0 . 1

t L + - q n + 2+ )+ Ln-L(n.2)-1

n=o

. cos 4(n
- 2

-t

1) O 1 cos 2 w , t
- 200

(2

-160

t
1 .o
I

I
I

1
10

i
30

i
100

n =o

[Ln+L(n+2)+- &-L(n+2)-1

0.1

sin 4(n t 1) e l sin 20,t

and
2(

PHASE ANGLE 81

- DEGREES

(b)

Fig. 4. Second (a) and third (b) harmonic distortion normalized to mi versus e 1 for m i= 0.1,0.2,0.4, and 0.8.
m

n=o

F ( n - 1 ) + L ( n + 2 ) +- t L ( n - 1 ) - L ( n + 2 ) - 1

[ L ( n - l ) + L ( n + 2 )+ +L ( n - 1 ) - L ( n + 2 ) - ]

. COS 3(2n + 1) B1
I m

n=o

COS

30,t.

(36)

Equations (35) and (36) must be zero in the absence of dispersion. [L(n-1)+L(n+2)+ - L(n-1)-L(n+2)-1 Figs. 4 and 5 are plots of (33 j and (34), which show how the - 2 n=o secondand third harmonics vary with B 1 withandwithout . sin 3 ( 2 n + 1j e l (34) FM. Fig. 4(a) and (b) are plots of the amplitudes of the second and thud harmonics normalized to m ifor m i= 0.1, 0.2, where L(-n)+= Ln- and L(-n)- = Ln+. 0.4, and 0.8 with no FM. The figures show that the amplitude Again, even symmetry in the optical spectrum eliminates the of the second and third harmonics increase as the square of B 1 . quadratureterms,which in this case reducesharmonicdisThe second harmonic increases linearly with m ibut the third tortion. With no dispersion, B1 is zero,and (33) and (34) harmonic increases as the square of mi. At low values of e l , become the third harmonic is much less thanthe second but increases rapidly with m iand it is greater than the second when I m m i> 0.8. Fig. 5(a) and (b) shows the plots of the amplitudes of the second and third harmonics normalized to m i(solid line) and normalized to the fundamental (dotted line) for m i= 0.1 and mf = 0 , 0.1,0.2, 0.4, and 0.8. Fig. 5(a) shows that the addi-

1214

IEEE JOURNAL O F QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-20, NO. 10, OCTOBER

1984

01

/-.

z
W

! I

-80

n
W

'

0
NORMALIZED TO mi

2 a -120
N

0 . 1
NORMALIZED TO mi

"
- 160

-____
NORMALIZED TO FUNDAMENTAL

I a -160
0

_-_-_
NORMALIZED TO FUNDAMENTAL

I 1 I

- 200

- 200
45
100
1

I
I I

0.1

1 .o

100.1
~

10
DEGREES

30

100

PHASE ANGLE

PHASE ANGLE 8 18 1 DEGREES (a) co) Fig. 5. Second (a) and third (b) harmonic distortion normalized to m i (solid line) and the fundamenal (dotted line) versus e with m i= 0.1, and m f = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8.

tion of a small level of FM (mf = 0.1) to an IM signal (mf = 0) causes a large increase in the second harmonic. The increase is due to the appearance of the quadrature term in (33) caused by FM induced spectral asymmetry. The second harmonic increases linearly with mf and, unlike the IM case, increases linearly with O 1 . As a result, increases in mf and 8 cause proportional increases in second harmonicdistortion. Fig. 5(b) shows that a small level of FM added to an IM signal results in a small increase in the third harmonic. However, this harmonic increases as the square of both mfand O1. As a result,thethirdharmonic increasesrapidlywithincreasing values of mf and 8 and soon approaches the second harmonic in amplitude. For large values of mf and O 1 , third harmonic distortion becomes an important consideration. Higher order harmonic distortion terms exist and may be a factor in certain applications. In general, higher order terms increase with mi, mf, and O1. When these parameters become large, hgher order harmonics should be evaluated. in this paper, only the secondand third harmonics are considered. V. DISCUSSION The relationships between modulation and optical spectrum, chromaticdispersionandnonlinearphasedistortion of the optical signal, and their eventual effects on the detected baseband signal have beenestablished.Applyingtheserelationships to specific examples will show how various single-mode fiber systemparameters,such as modulationdepth,modulating frequency, wavelength, and fiber length, determine baseband bandwidth and distortion. Baseband response is totally controlled by phase angle 0 1, intensity modulation index mi, and frequency modulation index mf. All systemparameters,includingchromaticdispersion, fiber length, modulating frequency, optical frequency stability, and wavelength, affect at least one of these three variables. Practical considerations limit the range ofparameter values w h c h in turn restrict 6 , mi, and mf Phase angle O 1 has the greatestinfluenceonbasebandresponse. Equation (25) shows that 8 (6 evaluated at o = o,+

a , ) is proportional to dispersion, fiber length, and the square

of wavelength and modulating frequency. Since most singlemode fiber systems will operate in the low loss region, all of the following examples will assume a wavelength of 1550 nm andadispersion of 20 ps/nm. km unlessotherwisenoted. [Other wavelengths and dispersions may be evaluatedwith the aid of (25).] In practice, the maximum unrepeated length of fiber should never exceed 100 km in analogsystems due to their high signal-to-noise ratio requirements. For most analog single-mode fiber applications, modulating frequencies will probably fall in the range of G.l to 1 GHz, although some microwave applications may extend this range to 10 GHz. The only values of to be considered are thosedeterminedby these parameter restrictions. Fig. 6 is a plot of O 1 as a function of modulating frequency for single mode fiber lengths of 1, 10, and 100 km. This figure shows thatmaytakeon values rangingfromaverysmall fractionofadegree to values exceeding100degrees. Large values of will occurinlongdistance,highmodulatingfrequency applications. In the vast majority of systems, O 1 will lie between 0.001 and 1 degree. The influence of mf on baseband response is substantial, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 5. Frequency modulation index depends on thelaser's frequency sensitivity, the amplitude of the modulating current, and the modulating frequency. Since little information is available concerning the frequency sensitivity of long wavelength lasers, the characteristics of short wavelength devices (800-900 nm) will be assumed. At short wavelengths, laser optical frequency deviations range from 0.05 to 1 GHz for each milliamp of applied current [21] depending on the properties of the laser and biasing conditions. Peak signal currents range from 1 to 10 mA resulting in peak optical frequency deviations of 0.05 to 10 GHz. For modulatingfrequencies of 0.1 to 10 GHz, mf will takeon values ranging from 0.005 to 100. However, wide optical frequencydeviation lasers are notexpected to maintain single longitudinal mode operation and will not be considered. For this reason,mfwill be restricted to values less than unity. Intensity modulation index m ihas the least impact on base-

MESLENER: CHROMATIC DISPERSION INDUCED DISTORTION

121s

10 -

( r

MODULATING FREQUENCY

GHZ

i
0.0001
0.1

Fig. 7. Baseband frequency response of 100 krn ofsingle-mode fiber with dispersion of 20 ps/nm . km at 1550 nm with mi = 0.1 and 0.9.

mine the values of e l , mi, and mf from Figs. 4 and 5 at whch harmonicdistortion is significant. Then, the corresponding system parameter values are determined with the aid of Fig. 6. MODULATING FREQUENCY GHz Harmonic distortion specifications for analog systems vary Fig. 6. Phase angle e 1 as a function of modulating frequency for 1, 10, and 100 km lengths ofsingle-mode fiber having dispersion values of 80 over a wide range, depending on the application. Often, secand 20 ps/nm . km a t wavelengths of 800 and 1550 nm, respectively. ond and third harmonic requirements are quite different. In general, harmonic distortion levels less than 80 dB below the band response. In practice, m iseldom exceeds 0.8 in analog fundamental are negligiblewhile distortion levels exceeding systems in order to limit nonlinear distortion in the laser. In 40 dBbelow thefundamental are objectionable.Inthefolthispaper, m i will berestrictedto values ranging from 0.1 lowing example, harmonic distortion levels larger than - 80 dB are considered significant. to 0.9. In the absence of source FM, Fig. 4(a) and (b) shows the In the first example, the effects of chromatic dispersion on baseband bandwidth is examined. This example assumes a relationshipbetween 0 1 , mi, andharmonicdistortion.The 100 km lengthofsingle-mode fiber, a monochromatic light figure shows that for m i= 0.8, both the second and third harsource, and an external, linear intensity modulator (no FM) monics are at the 80 dB level when 8, is approximately 0.75". with m i= 0.1 and 0.9. With the aid of (25) or Fig. 6, the For the fiber represented by Fig. 6, this value of 6 , occurs at value of O 1 is determined at each modulating frequency and approximately 400 MHz andafiberlengthof100km. At fiber lengths,harused to evaluate the recovered modulationin (31). Fig. 7 loyer modulatingfrequenciesorshorter shows the baseband amplitude response of the system for both monic distortion is negligible. At higher modulating frequencies, such as 4 GHz, the 80 dB level is reached with approxivalues of mi. Itshowsa3dB bandwidthatapproximately 4 GHz, which corresponds to 6 , = 45" in Fig. 6, and passes mately 1 km of fiber. Most wide bandwidth analogsystemsusedtoday,mainly through zero at approximately 5.6 MHz (0 = 90"). Theamcable T V , operatp at frequenciesbelow 400 MHz. Forunplituderesponse varies slightly with m i causingdifferential repeateredoptical links of less than 100 dispersion ingain distortion whch changes with modulating frequency. Thoughsmallatlowermodulatingfrequencies, it can be a duced harmonic distortion will not be a consideration when consideration where differential gain distortion is critical. single-mode fibers are employed and source FM is zero. To determinetheaffects ofsource FM on harmonic dis(Note: there can be no differential phase distortion since the tortion, consider a laser having a frequency sensitivity of 100 quadrature term in (3 1) is zero whenmf = 0 .) If the laser is modulated by varying its current instead of MHz/mAandmodulated by a 1.6 mA peak, 400 MHz sine wave (mf = 0.4 and m i= 0.1). Extrapolating the curves shown using anexternalmodulator, mf will notbezero. Inthis case, Fig. 3 shows that the system'sbasebandamplitude re- in Fig. 5(a), the value of O 1 at which the second harmonic is sponse rises and peaks at 5.6 GHz (e, = 90") instead of pass- 80 dB below the fundamental for mf = 0.4 is approximately ing through zero. The magnitude of the peaking increases with 0.0075". From Fig. 6, thlscorresponds to afiberlengthof mf and its effect begins at lower modulating frequencies (lower approximately 1 km when the modulating frequency is 400 values of O ). These variations in the amplitude response rep- MHz. The value of O 1 at which the third harmonic is a conresent frequency distortion (nonuniform amplitude response), sideration is obtained from Fig. 5(b) which is approximately Since there is a quadrature term in (31) when mf = 0, phase 0.75". This corresponds to a 100 km length of fiber for the distortion is also likely to be present. same modulating frequency. Under these conditions, second In the next example, dispersion induced harmonic distortion hamonic distortion is significant while the third harmonic is is considered. The approach used in the example is to deter- negligible.
0.2
0.4
1.0

2.0

4.0

10.0

km;

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JOURNAL IEEE

O F QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, QE-20, VOL.

NO. 10, OCTOBER 1984

network, in Proc. 4th Euro. Con$ Opt. Commun., Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 1978. [ 4 ] M. Nakamura, K. Aiki, N. Chinone, R. Ito, and J. Umeda, Longitudinal-mode behaviors of mode-stabilized AlxGal -,As injection lasers, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 49, pp. 4644-4648, Sept. 1978. [5] K. H. Cameron, P. J. Chidgey, and K. R. Preston, 102 km optical fibre transmission experiments at 1.52 pm using an external cavity controlled laser transmitter module, Electron. Lett., vol. 18, pp. 650-651, July 22, 1983. S. Machida, and T. Kimura,Single[6] S. Kobayashi,J.Yamada, mode operation of 500 Mbit/s modulated AlGaAs semiconductor laser by injection locking, Electron. Lett., voi. 16, pp. 476-478, Sept. 11, 1980. [ 7 ] U. Koren, 2. Rav-Noy, A. Hasson,T. R. Chen, K. L. Yu, L. C. CONCLUSIONS Chiu, S. Margalit, and A. Yariv, Short cavity InGaAsP/InP lasers The spectrum ofa combined IM-FM signal and the effects of with dielectric mirrors, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 42, pp. 848-850, May 15,1983. chromatic dispersion on that signal have been determined. It [ 8 ] T. Okoshi and K. Kikuchi, Heterodyne-type optical fiber comhas been shown that in the absence of source FM, chromatic munications, J. Opt. Commun., vol. 2, p. 85, Sept. 1981. dispersion inducesnegligible harmonic distortion at modulating [ 9 ] R. Linke, B. Kasper, J.-S. KO, I. Kaminow, and R. Vodhanel, An 84 km transmission experiment at 1 Gb/s using a 1.55 p m mode frequencies below approximately 400 MHz with fiber lengths stabilizedlaser,in Proc. 4th Int. Con$ Integrat. Opt., Optic. up to 100 km (A = 1550 nm and dispersion = 20 ps/nm . km). Fiber Commun., Tokyo, Japan, June 1983. The addition of relatively low levels of source FM greatly in- [ l o ] Y.Yasutaka, H. Nagai, T. Miya, and Y. Miyajima, Transmission experiment over 134 km ofsingle-modefiber at 445.8 Mb/s, creases second harmonic distortion whle having a small effect in Proc. 4thInt. Con$ Integrat. Opt., Optic. Fiber Commun., onthethirdharmonic. Highlevelsof FM will inducehigh Tokyo, Japan, June 1983. levels of harmonic distortion and will restrict the use of fibers 111 J. J. Pan, Fiber optics marches into microwave systems,Microwave J., vol. 25, pp. 93-98, Aug. 1982. inanalogapplications,such as cableTV.Operatingsystems 121 T. Kimura, M. Sarnwatari,J.Yamada, S. Uehara,and T. Miyawith fibers having lowchromaticdispersion will solve this shita, Optical fiber (800 Mbit/s) transmission experiment at problem. 1.05 pm,Appl. Opt., vol. 17,pp. 2420-2426, Aug. 1, 1978. 131 S. Kobayashi, Y. Yamamoto, M. Ito,and T. Kimura, Direct The assumptions made in this paper limit its use to optical frequencymodulationin AlGaAs semiconductor lasers, IEEE sourceswhosebasiclinewidthsaremuchnarrower than the J. Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, p. 584, Apr. 1982. modulatingfrequencies.It is also assumed that both the in141 -, Direct frequency modulation in AlGaAs semiconductor lasers, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol.QE-18,p.584, Apr. tensity and optical frequency of the source vary linearly with modulation and there is no self heating. The method of anal- [15] 1982. R. M. Gagliardi and S. Karp, Optical Communications. New ysisis bestsuited for single sine wave modulationandnot York: Wiley, 1976, p, 13. easily altered to include multitone, intermodulation distortion [ 161 F. E. Terman, Radio EngineeringHandbook. New York: McGrawHill, 1943, p. 23. predictions. Radio Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1947, pp. [17] -, Material covered in this paper is applicable to fiber optic sys483-490. 181 L. Jeunhomme, Single-modefiberdesign forlonghaultranstems transmitting several video channels over long lengths of mission, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, p. 7295, Apr. single-mode fibers and fiber optic, microwave transmission sys1982. tems. Further work will includedetermining the limitations 191 S. E. Miller and A. G. Chynoweth, Optical FiberCommunications. New York: Academic, 1979, pp. 101-105. of analog transmission near the zero dispersion point and ap201 -, Optical Fiber Communications. New York: Academic, plying the technique tomultitone analogtransmissionand 1979, pp. 101-105. digital systems. 211 S. Kobayashi, Y. Yamamoto, M. Ito, and T. Kimura, Direct frequency modulation in AlGaAs semiconductor lasers, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. QE-18, p. 585, Apr. 1982. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Increasing the amplitude of the modulating current to the laser increases mp Thisincreases both the secondand third harmonics. As shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b), the third harmonic increases at a much hgher rate than the second harmonic and cannot be neglected at higher levels of mf. This example shows that dispersfon induced harmonic distortion is negligible in most analog system applications, such as cableTV,when the frequency of the optical source is held constant, but is a restriction when thesources frequencyvaries with modulation.

vr.

~~

The author wishes to thank L. Ulbricht for the critical reading of the manuscript and valuable comments, P. Hill for his considerableeffort in generating the numerical data,andin particular, Dr. P. Melman for his support and valued advice.
REFERENCES
[ 11 S. M. Stone and G. J. Meslener, An experimental 100 Mb/s opticalguidedwavecommunicationsystem,in Proc. Electro 77, New York, Apr. 1977. [ 21 E. E. Basch, R.A. Beaudette, and H.A. Carnes, The GTE opticalsystemfieldtrial in Belgium, i n Proc. Nat. Telecommun. Con$, Birmingham, AL, Dec. 1978. [3] G. Bonaventura, C. Colavito,and D. Gagliardi, Economyand pIanning of opticalfibersystemsinpublictelecommunication