Intra-transceiver optical superchannel switching via RF sub-band multiplexing technique
Systems and methods are disclosed for data communication by performing RF sub-band multiplexing and demultiplexing by cascading a radio-frequency (RF) mixing module and optical dual-polarized (DP) QPSK modulator forhybrid RF/optical IQ modulation; and performing intra-transceiver optical superchannel switching through the RF sub-band multiplexing.
1. A method for data communication, comprising
performing RF sub-band multiplexing by cascading a radio-frequency (RF) mixing module and optical dual-polarized (DP) modulator for hybrid RF/optical IQ modulation;
combining analog RF mixing components and coherent optical transceivers to provide multi sub-band transmission for an optical wavelength using coherent transmission with different base-bands IQ signal, each with separate I/Q real value lanes;
changing RF sub-bands within a superchannel and exchanging leading and lagging LO phases for RF IQ mixing to achieve positive or negative sub-band swapping; and
performing intra-transceiver optical sub-band switching through the RF sub-band multiplexing.
2. The method of claim 1 , comprising using four or more sets of RF mixing module as multiple parallel RF up-conversions/down-conversions with different local oscillator (LO) frequencies to add RF sub-bands to be multiplexed/demultiplexed.
3. The method of claim 1 , comprising detecting an optical superchannel using a plurality of RF sub-bands.
4. The method of claim 3 , comprising multiplexing a plurality of electrical baseband signals by RF sub-banding in a single transceiver.
5. The method of claim 3 , comprising performing RF sub-banding using a hybrid RF-photonic IQ modulation with a combination of RF mixing and optical IQ modulating, where I is an in-phase component of the waveform, and Q represents a quadrature component.
6. The method of claim 1 , comprising tuning an RF local oscillator (LO).
7. The method of claim 6 , comprising shifting the RF sub-band frequencies by tuning LO input frequencies to a corresponding RF mixing.
8. The method of claim 6 , comprising swapping an RF sub-band frequency relative to an optical carrier by adjusting an LO phase setting in RF mixing.
9. The method of claim 1 , comprising performing OEO operation for intra-transceiver superchannel for data recovery.
10. The method of claim 1 , comprising dropping or adding RF sub-bands after IQ down conversion to baseband by an RF mixer.
11. The method of claim 1 , comprising applying different RF LO frequencies or phases to rearrange frequency locations for bypassed and added sub-bands.
12. The method of claim 1 , comprising electrically low-pass filtering (LPF) to remove signal cross-talks from neighboring sub-bands during OEO switching.
13. The method of claim 1 , comprising applying LPF to baseband signals after IQ down converting RF sub-bands.
14. The method of claim 1 , comprising tuning and swapping an optical frequency of each sub-band relative to an optical carrier by controlling frequencies and phases of RF LOs during mixing.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein up-converted I′ and Q′ RF signal outputs comprise a relationship with baseband inputs (I n , Q n , I p , Q p ):
I ′=( I p +I n )·cos(2π f LO t )+(− Q p +Q n )·sin(2π f LO t ) and
Q ′=( I p −I n )·sin(2π f LO t )+( Q p +Q n )·cos(2π f LO t ).