Abstract

Most currently deployed optical fiber communication systems utilize intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) for information transmission. This technique is simple to implement, but places limits on information capacity. More advanced modulation formats encode information in the amplitude, phase and polarization of the signal, offering higher spectral efficiencies and information capacity. These formats require more complex coherent receivers to obtain the signal phase and polarization information.

© 2008 Optical Society of America