Colorless components for WDM-based optical access networks

ABSTRACT This paper presents our work carried out in the col orless-component technologies for high bit-rate optical access networks, which are based on WDM-PON (wavelength division multiplexed passive optical networks). The colorless concept consists i n using identical and wavelength-independent components that will act as the generic transmitter in WDM-PON systems. The transmitted wavelength is imposed, for each colorless component , by an external optical signal. Our studies include two types of colorless components: The Inje ction-Locked Fabry-Perot laser (IL-FP) and the Reflective Electro-Absorption Modulator integrated with a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (REAM-SOA). For the IL-FP, the properties of the componen t strongly depend on the injected optical signal. We demonstrate the improvement by injection-locking of the laser’s performances in terms of intensity noise, chirp and bandwidth. For the REAM- SOA, the static properties such as reflection gain and noise characteristic are examined. We demonstra te the feasibility of the REAM-SOA in a transmission experiment in a PON configuration at 1 0 Gbps with up to 25 km of SMF, using remote modulation technique. Keywords: Injection-Locked Fabry-Perot Laser, Amplified Refl ective Electro-Absorption Modulator, Remote Modulation, WDM-PON, Colorless Optical Acces s Networks