The impact of Rayleigh backscatter induced noise on QPSK transmission with Fabry-Perot lasers

Author

LaViolette, K.D.

Author_Institution

Philips Broadband Networks Inc., Manlius, NY, USA

Volume

8

Issue

5

fYear

1996

fDate

5/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

706

Lastpage

708

Abstract

The use of uncooled Fabry-Perot (FP) lasers for upstream data in cable television (CATV) networks has recently been proposed. The merits of this choice, from use in telecommunications networks, include low cost and proven reliability. Indeed, it has been shown that these devices can transmit multiple quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signals in an error-free manner. However, there is a bit-error-rate (BER) penalty associated with these lasers, that impacts the useable error free range. We show this degradation is caused by laser sporadic noise generated by Rayleigh backscatter into the laser from the fiber plant. In addition, we show the noise to be impulsive and that a 14 dB CNR penalty, at 1/spl times/10/sup -8/ BER, versus theoretical performance is possible.

Keywords

Fabry-Perot resonators; Rayleigh scattering; backscatter; cable television; laser noise; light scattering; optical fibre networks; optical modulation; optical transmitters; quadrature phase shift keying; television networks; CATV network; Fabry-Perot lasers; QPSK transmission; Rayleigh backscatter; bit-error-rate; cable television; fiber plant; impulsive noise; sporadic noise; telecommunications network; upstream data; Backscatter; Bit error rate; Cable TV; Costs; Fabry-Perot; Fiber lasers; Laser noise; Laser theory; Quadrature phase shift keying; Telecommunication network reliability;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.491602

Filename

491602