1 Tb/s converged optical metro-access transmission based on wavelength division multiplexed orthogonal frequency division multiple access passive optical network (WDM-OFDMA-PON)

1. A Wavelength Division Multiplexed Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access Passive Optical Network (WDM-OFDMA-PON), comprising:

a central office optical line terminal (CO-OLT) comprising downstream OFDMA transmitters and continuous wave (CW) lasers and upstream coherent OFDMA receivers;

a downstream path from the CO-OLT to optical network units (ONUs);

an upstream path from said ONUs to the CO-OLT

wherein the CO-OLT comprises one or more wavelength division multiplexing arrayed waveguide gratings (WDM AWGs) coupled to a diplexer and wherein the diplexer aggregates OFDMA and CW signals and transmitted over the downstream SSMF to a local exchange (LE), where downstream signals are optically amplified and routed with a second diplexer or second optical coupler, AWGs, and third diplexer or third optical coupler into downstream/upstream (DS/US) wavelength pairs for distribution to the OFDMA-PONS.

2. The network of claim 1 , wherein the CO-OLT comprises burst-mode-free operation, optical inline dispersion compensation free operation, and WDM-enabled operation.

3. The network of claim 1 , wherein the downstream path from the CO-OLT to the ONUs comprises a downstream SSMF and a bidirectional SSMF, wherein the bidirectional SSMF is terminated by a 1:N passive splitter.

4. The network of claim 3 , wherein a first diplexer is coupled to the first end of the downstream SSMF and the second end of the downstream SSMF is terminated by a second diplexer.

5. The network of claim 4 , comprising a third diplexer terminated by the first end of the bidirectional SSMF.

6. The network of claim 5 , comprising an optical circulator coupled to a downstream AWG, the third diplexer, and an upstream AWG.

7. The network of claim 6 , comprising a fourth diplexer or optical coupler positioned between an ONU and the 1:N passive optical splitter.

8. The network of claim 5 , comprising

a fourth diplexer or optical coupler positioned between an ONU and the bidirectional SSMF;

the third diplexer or optical coupler coupled to the bidirectional SSMF;

a circulator coupled to the third diplexer;

a first upstream WDM AWG coupled to the circulator and to the first end of an upstream SSMF;

an optical interleaver coupled to the second end of the upstream SSMF;

a second upstream AWG coupled to the optical interleaver; and

coherent OFDMA receivers coupled to the second upstream AWG.

9. The network of claim 3 , comprising a CO-OLT coupled to the downstream SSMF, including:

a. One or more WDM AWGs coupled to a first diplexer coupled to the first end of the first downstream SSMF;

b. One or more WDM AWGs coupled to a second diplexer where the second diplexer is coupled to the second end of the downstream SSMF.

10. The network of claim 1 , wherein the ONUs comprise OFDMA transmitters and OFDMA receivers.

11. The network of claim 1 , wherein the upstream path from the ONUs to the OLT comprises a bidirectional SSMF and an upstream SSMF.

12. The network of claim 11 , wherein the first end of the upstream SSMF is coupled to a first upstream AWG and the second end of the upstream SSMF is terminated by an optical interleaver.

13. The network of claim 12 , wherein the optical interleaver is coupled to a second upstream AWG.

14. The network of claim 13 , comprising an array of coherent OFDMA receivers coupled to the second upstream AWG.

15. A Wavelength Division Multiplexed Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access Passive Optical Network (WDM-OFDMA-PON), comprising:

a CO optical line terminal (CO-OLT), including

OFDMA transmitters coupled to an AWG and aligned onto a wavelength grid;

an array of continuous wave (CW) signals from lasers with upstream wavelengths combined by a channel-spaced AWG; and

a first diplexer or first optical coupler aggregating OFDMA and CW signals transmitted over a downstream SSMF to a local exchange (LE), where downstream signals are optically amplified and routed with a second diplexer or second optical coupler, AWGs, and third diplexer or third optical coupler into downstream/upstream (DS/US) wavelength pairs for distribution to the OFDMA-PONS.

16. The network of claim 15 , comprising a bidirectional SSMF coupled to the third diplexer/optical coupler and a 1:N passive optical splitter.

17. The network of claim 16 , wherein downstream (DS) and upstream (US) wavelengths are separated by a fourth diplexer/optical coupler in each ONU and wherein DS OFDMA signals are demodulated and processed by ONU OFDMA receivers.

18. The network of claim 16 , wherein upstream data mapped on pre-assigned OFDMA subcarriers is used to intensity-modulate distributed upstream carriers in each ONU upstream OFDMA transmitter.

19. The network of claim 16 , wherein upstream OFDMA signals from each ONU are passed back to a fourth diplexer/optical coupler and passively combined and transmitted over the bidirectional SSMF, passed through the third diplexer/optical coupler and a circulator to a first upstream AWG.

20. The network of claim 19 , wherein the upstream wavelengths are combined using the first upstream AWG, optically amplified, and transmitted back to the CO-OLT over an upstream SSMF.

21. The network of claim 20 , comprising an optical interleaver (IL) at the CO-OLT coupled to the second end of the upstream SSMF to remove the optical carriers and one optical sideband of the upstream WDM-OFDMA signal to prevent post-photodetection broadband beating noise and enable optical inline dispersion compensation free operation.