Frequency-Domain Channel Estimation for Polarization-Division-Multiplexed CO-OFDM/OQAM Systems

Intrinsic imaginary interference (IMI) induced by a multiple-path fading channel is an important impairment for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing/offset-quadrature amplitude modulation (OFDM/OQAM) systems. Therefore, the accurate channel estimation is highly desired for such a system. Recently both the simulation studies and the experimental demonstrations for coherent optical OFDM/OQAM (CO-OFDM/OQAM) have been reported. However, there are no theoretical discussions on the IMI effect and the channel estimation method for polarization-division-multiplexed (PDM) CO-OFDM/OQAM systems so far. In this paper, we systematically analyze the frequency-domain optical fiber channel transmission model for PDM CO-OFDM/OQAM systems with the IMI effect induced by chromatic dispersion (CD) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD). The full loaded (FL) and the half loaded (HL) frequency-domain channel estimation methods are discussed to mitigate the IMI effect. The computational complexities and robustness against CD and PMD are also compared for both of the FL and the HL methods. The theoretical analysis is validated by numerical Monte Carlo simulations of PDM CO-OFDM/OQAM systems.