Phase Noise Influence in Optical OFDM Systems employing RF Pilot Tone for Phase Noise Cancellation

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the impact of laser phase noise on RF pilot tone-based phase noise cancellation in optical OFDM systems, providing new analytical models and numerical results for system performance over fiber.

Contribution

It introduces novel analytical expressions for phase error and inter carrier interference considering laser phase noise filtering in OFDM systems.

Findings

225 km transmission feasible for 4PSK-OFDM over standard fiber

Analytical models accurately predict phase noise effects

Performance varies with modulation and system parameters

Abstract

For coherent and direct-detection Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) systems employing radio frequency (RF) pilot tone phase noise cancellation the influence of laser phase noise is evaluated. Novel analytical results for the common phase error and for the (modulation dependent) inter carrier interference are evaluated based upon Gaussian statistics for the laser phase noise. In the evaluation it is accounted for that the laser phase noise is filtered in the correlation signal detection. Numerical results are presented for OFDM systems with 4 and 16 PSK modulation, 200 OFDM bins and baud rate of 1 GS/s. It is found that about 225 km transmission is feasible for the coherent 4PSK-OFDM system over normal (G.652) fiber.