Performance of homodyne detection of binary PSK optical signals

This study evaluates the performance of an optical receiver for binary phase shift keyed (BPSK) signals in the presence of noise originating from the photodetectors and the phase fluctuations of the optical sources. Analysis of the homodyne detection process shows that the performance is degraded by two effects: One due to the phase error fluctuations of the recovered carrier and the other due to reduction of the energy per bit available for data recovery. The resulting power penalty can be minimized by dividing in an optimal way the received optical signal between the carrier recovery and the data recovery circuits of the receiver. The minimum penalty thus obtained depends on the 3-dB linewidth and on the transmission rate. For example, a penalty of 0.5 dB, relative to the quantum limit of 9 photon bit needed to achieve a BER of 10^-9, imposes a minimum transmission rate of about 180 Gbit/s when the optical source has a 3-dB linewidth of 20 MHz.