Appendix A

Direct Intensity / Direct Detection System

Intensity modulation.
The major current implementation of current optical communication systems employ some form of intensity modulation (IM) of the optical source, together with simple direct detection (DD) of the modulated optical signal at the receiver. Such IM DD optical fi!er systems are in widespread use within many application areas. The simplest form of modulation for optical fi!er communication system is direct IM (D"IM) of the optical source. In this techni#ue the optical output from the source is simply modulated !y varying the current flowing in the device around suita!le !ias or mean level in proportion to the message $%&'. (ence the information signal is transmitted directly in the !ase!and. )lternatively, the !ase!and signal can !e translated on to an electrical su!carrier !y means of amplitude, phase, and fre#uency modulation using standard techni#ues prior to intensity modulation of the optical source. ) !loc* schematic for an optical fi!er system, which uses direct modulation of the optical source intensity with the !ase!and signal, is shown in the figure (+"%). ,!viously, no electrical modulation or demodulation is re#uired with this te#ni#ue, ma*ing it !oth ine-pensive and easy to implement. The transmitted optical power waveform as a function of time . opt(t) may !e written as $++'/ .opt (t) 0 .i (+1 m (t))222222222222222 ()"+) 3here .i is the average transmitted optical power (i.e. the unmodulated carrier power) and m (t) is the intensity"modulating signal, which is proportional to the source message $+4', assumes only the values of 4 and +$+'.

Appendix A

Direct Intensity / Direct Detection System

Intensity Modulation is employed universally for fi!er optic data lin*s !ecause it is well matched to the operation of 5D. The carrier that this source produces is easy to modulate with this techni#ue. .assing current through it operates the device. The amount of power that it radiates (sometimes referred to as the radiance) is proportional to this current. In this way the optical power ta*es the shape of the input current. 3hen m (t) represents a + and the a!sence of optical signal when m (t) represents a 4 The situation is illustrated in figure ()"+) and figure ()"%). The first of these figures shows the essential Transmitter circuitry for modulating a 5D with intensity modulation $+'. The second of these figures illustrates the input current representing the information and the resulting optical signal generated and provided to the fi!er optic ca!le

Figure (A-1): Two methods for modulating LDs

Appendix A

Direct Intensity / Direct Detection System

Figure (A-2) . Input urrent representing modulation !a"eform# m (t)$ %. &utput opti al signal opti al arrier The receiver in intensity modulated direct detection (IM DD) optical fi!er communication system essentially consists of the photodetector plus an amplifier with possi!ly additional circuits. Therefore the receiver initially converts the optical signal incident on the detector into an electrical signal, which is then amplified !efor further processing to e-tract the information originally carried !y the optical signal. In order to consider receiver design it is useful to regard the limit on the performance of the system set !y the !it error rate (678) at the receiver. The input optical power re#uired at the receiver is a function of the detector com!ined with the electronic components within the receiver structure $+4'. It is strongly depends on the noise associated with the optical fi!er receiver. 9or digital optical fi!er system, it is possi!le to calculate the lower limit of the energy that a pulse of light must contains (i.e. #uantun limit) in order to !e detected with a given pro!a!ility of error. The noise in these systems has different origins from that of copper" !ased systems. 6oth types of systems have thermal noise (which is caused representing m (t). 'erti al ross hat hes indi ate

Appendix A

Direct Intensity / Direct Detection System

!y the random thermal motion of charged carriers $+:') generated in the receiver. (owever, although optical systems e-hi!it little crosstal* the noise generated within the detector must !e considered, as well as the noise properties associated with the electromagnetic carrier.the noise sources associated with the detector include the dar* current which is the current that flows through the diode !iasing circuit when no light is incident on the photodiode $+&', and the #uantum or shot noise which arises from the statistical nature of the production and collection of photodetectors when an optical signal is incident on a photdetector $&;'. 9or digital optical fi!er system, it is possi!le to calculate the lower limit of the energy that a pulse of light must contains (i.e. #uantun limit) in order to !e detected with a given pro!a!ility of error. In the a!sence of light, and neglecting dar* current, no current will flow. Therefore, the only way an error can occur is if a light pulse present and no electron"hole pairs are generated. The pro!a!ility of no pairs !eing generated when a light pulse is present is given !y $+4'. . (4 +) 0 e-p ("<m)222222222222222... ( )"%) 3here <m is e#ual to the variance of the pro!a!ility distri!ution. Thus in the receiver descri!ed p (4 +) represents the system error pro!a!ility .e and therefore $+4' .e 0 e-p ("<m)222222222222222222 ()"=)

The num!er of electrons generated in time < is e#ual to the average num!er of photons detected over this time periode <m. Therefore $+4'/

Appendix A

Direct Intensity / Direct Detection System

<m 0 >.s< hf 22222222222222222()"&) 3here .s is incident optical power, > is the #uantum efficiency of the photodiode, hf is the photon energy 0 %?+4"@ A. So, the pro!a!ility of error for #uantum"limited detector is $+4'/ .e 0 e-p (" >.s hf6)2222222.222222. ()"B) 3here 6 is the !it rate (!it per second). (ence the minimum pulse energy 7min or #uantum limit is $+4'/ 7min 0 .s?< 0 hf <m >22222..2222222.()";) So the average received optical power re#uired to provide the minimum pulse energy .s is$+4'/ .s 0 hf <m >< 0 hf 6<m >22222..22222()"C) 9or a pro!a!ility of error D +4"@, the num!er of photons re#uired per !it is >.s E %4.CF %+ photon per !it $+&'. So the average optical power re#uired providing the minimum pulse energy is $+4' .s 0 %+?hf6 >22222222222222222..()":) The resultant current Is may !e calculated !y $+4'/ Is 0 >.se hf E%+? e 6222222222222..22()"@) where/ e is the electron charge.

Appendix A

Direct Intensity / Direct Detection System

Gonsidering the 8eceiver performance is generally characteriHed !y a parameter called the sensitivity, this is usually a curve indicating the minimum optical power that the 8eceiver can detect versus the data rate, in order to achieve a particular 678 $&C'. The sensitivity curve varies from 8eceiver to 8eceiver. It su!sumes within it the signal"to"noise ratio parameter that generally drives all communications lin* performance. The sensitivity depends upon the type of photodiode employed and the wavelength of operation. Typical e-amples of sensitivity curves are illustrated in figure ()"=) $+'. In e-amining the specification of any 8eceiver you need to loo* at the sensitivity parameter. The curve designated Iuantum 5imit in figure ()"=)is a reference. In a sense it represent optimum performance on the part of the photodiode in the 8eceiver. That is, performance where there is +44J efficiency in converting light from the fi!er optic ca!le into an electric current for demodulation.

Figure (A-(): )e ei"er sensiti"ities for *+) , 1- -.# with different de"i es.

Appendix A

Direct Intensity / Direct Detection System