200-Gb/s Baudrate-Pilot-Aided QPSK/Direct Detection With Single-Section Quantum-Well Mode-Locked Laser

Abstract

We demonstrate transmission of a 200-Gb/s superchannel over 3-km single-mode optical fiber (SMF) targeting intra-data center interconnect applications using a novel single-section quantum-well passive-mode-locked laser that generates an optical frequency comb. The transmitted optical signal consists of 16 subcarriers filtered from the optical frequency comb of the laser and modulated with an advanced modulation format of Baudrate-pilot-aided quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation that enables direct detection. Bit error rates below the forward error correction limit have been confirmed for all subcarriers, and the detailed noise characteristics of the passive-mode-locked laser have been investigated to support the understanding of the system performance.

Keywords

• Mode-locked laser
• optical interconnects
• advanced modulation formats