Coherent optical receiver testing

1. An apparatus for measuring a group delay variation (GDV) of a coherent optical receiver (COR) comprising a local oscillator (LO) port and an optical signal port, the apparatus comprising:

one or more coherent light sources configured to provide first and second lights with an optical frequency shift f therebetween, wherein the first light is modulated in a phase-locked manner at a first modulation frequency F 1 and a second modulation frequency F 2 , wherein F 1 is greater than f and F 2 is greater than F 1 ; and,

first and second output optical ports for coupling one of the first and second lights into the LO port of the COR and the other of the first and second lights into the optical signal port of the COR.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an electrical signal recorder configured to receive a first output COR signal from an output port of the COR and to record a duration thereof.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising a controller coupled to the electrical signal recorder and configured to determine the GDV based on the first output COR signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the controller is configured to:

obtain two time-domain traces corresponding to two different frequency components of the first output COR signal;

determine a phase shift between the two time-domain trances; and

compute the GDV based on the phase shift.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the two different frequency components relate to frequency components of the first output COR signal at a first shifted modulation frequency (F 1 +f) or (F 1 −f) and a second shifted modulation frequency (F 2 +f) or (F 2 −f).

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the two time-domain traces comprise:

a first time-domain trace corresponding to a frequency component of the first output COR signal at the first shifted modulation frequency (F 1 +f) or (F 1 −f), and

a second time-domain trace corresponding to a frequency component of the first output COR signal at the second shifted modulation frequency (F 2 +f) or (F 2 −f).

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the one or more coherent light sources comprise a first coherent light source, and an optical beam splitter disposed for splitting light from the first coherent light source into the first and second lights.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising one or more optical modulators disposed in an optical path of the first light and operable to modulate the first light in amplitude at the first modulation frequency F 1 and the second modulation frequency F 2 .

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising an optical frequency shifter disposed in an optical path of one of the first and second lights and operable to shift an optical frequency of light passing therethrough by the optical frequency shift f.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the optical frequency shifter comprises an acousto-optic modulator.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the one or more optical modulators comprises an optical modulator that is characterized by a transmission characteristic that is a non-linear function of an applied electrical signal and is configured to modulate the first light at the first modulation frequency F 1 and the second modulation frequency F 2 that is a harmonic of the first modulation frequency F 1 in response to a modulation signal at the first modulation frequency F 1 .

12. The apparatus of claim 11 comprising an electrical signal generator that is coupled to the optical modulator and is configured to generate the modulation signal at the first modulation frequency F 1 .

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the modulation signal has a substantially sinusoidal waveform.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the electrical signal generator is configured to generate the electrical modulating signal that is characterized by a substantially sinusoidal waveform of an amplitude sufficient to modulate an optical power of the first light at the first modulation frequency F 1 and the second modulation frequency F 2 =2F 1 .

15. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising an electrical signal recorder configured to receive a first output COR signal from an output port of the COR and to record a duration thereof, and a controller coupled to the electrical signal recorder and configured to determine the GDV based on the first output COR signal,

wherein the controller is coupled to the electrical signal generator and is configured to vary the first modulation frequency F 1 , to obtain a phase response of the COR as a function of frequency, and to compute the GDV for a plurality of frequencies based on the phase response.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the optical modulator comprises a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM).

17. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a polarization rotator disposed in the optical path of one of the first and second lights to the optical signal port of the COR, wherein the optical beam splitter comprises a polarization maintaining beam splitter.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the COR comprises four output ports configured to output in-phase (Ix) and quadrature (Qx) signals of a first polarization, and in-phase (Iy) and quadrature (Qy) signals of a second polarization, the apparatus further comprising:

an electrical signal recorder configured to connect to each of the four output ports of the COR and to record a duration of each of the Ix, Qx, Iy, Qy signals from the four output ports of the COR; and,

a controller configured to determine the GDV for each of the in-phase and quadrature signals of the first and second polarizations based on phase shifts between time-domain traces corresponding to frequency components of the respective in-phase an quadrature signals at a first shifted modulation frequency (F 1 +f) or (F 1 −f) and a second shifted modulation frequency (F 2 +f) or (F 2 −f).