Pilot-aided feedforward data recovery in optical coherent communications

1. A method for pilot-aided feedforward data recovery comprising:

transmitting, from a signal light source, an optical signal including a signal pulse and a reference pulse, the signal pulse carrying information encoded therein;

detecting the optical signal at an optical coherent receiver, the signal light source and the optical coherent receiver being coupled through an optical channel;

measuring the quadrature values of the signal pulse and the reference pulse using a first local oscillator and a second local oscillator, respectively, generated from a common local oscillator source, wherein measuring the quadrature values includes mixing the signal pulse with the first local oscillator and mixing the reference pulse with the second local oscillator and is performed with a 90-degree optical hybrid that provides an output to balanced photodetectors;

determining the phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source based on the measured quadrature values of the reference pulse; and

recovering the information (I 0 , Q 0 ) from the measured quadrature values (I S , Q S ) of the signal pulse using the determined phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source and the following equations, in which φ S,i is a phase correction term that is a function of the phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source:

I 0 =I S cos φ S,i −Q S sin φ S,i

Q 0 =I S sin φ S,i +Q s cos φ S,i .

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein determining the phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source includes determining the phase of the reference pulse.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein determining the phase of the reference pulse includes performing an inverse tangent of the quotient of the in-phase quadrature of the reference pulse over the out-of-phase quadrature of the reference pulse.

4. The method according to claim 1 further including operating the signal light source and the local oscillator source in a free-running mode.

5. The method according to claim 1 further including distributing at least a portion of the encoded information as a cryptographic key.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the optical signal includes a plurality of signal pulses and a corresponding plurality of reference pulses.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the optical signal includes a plurality of signal pulses and a single reference pulse.

8. An optical receiver for coherent light detection comprising:

an input to receive an optical signal from a signal light source, the optical signal including a signal pulse and a reference pulse, the signal pulse and the reference pulse including dissimilar temporal modes, dissimilar spatial modes, or dissimilar polarization modes, each of the signal pulse and the reference pulse having quadrature values;

a local oscillator source including a light source for providing first and second local oscillators in dissimilar modes corresponding to that of the signal pulse and the reference pulse;

an optical quadrature hybrid that is adapted to:

measure the quadrature values of the signal pulse using the first local oscillator by mixing the signal pulse with the first local oscillator and providing a first output to first and second balanced photodetectors, and

measure the quadrature values of the reference pulse using the second local oscillator by mixing the reference pulse with the second local oscillator and providing a second output to the first and second balanced photodetectors; and

a signal processor electrically coupled to the first and second balanced photodetectors, the signal processor being programmed with a series of instructions stored to non-transient memory that, when executed, cause the signal processor to:

determine a phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator light source, the phase difference being based on the measured quadrature values of the reference pulse,

recover information (I 0 , Q 0 ) in the signal pulse based on the determined phase difference and based on the measured quadrature values (I S , Q S ) of the signal pulse using the following equations, in which φ S,i is a phase correction term that is a function of the determined phase difference:

I 0 =I S cos φ S,i −Q S sin φ S,i

Q 0 =I S sin φ S,i +Q s cos φ S,i , and

output the information for a communication system different from the optical receiver.

9. The optical receiver of claim 8 wherein the optical quadrature hybrid performs heterodyne detection on the signal pulse and the reference pulse.

10. The optical receiver of claim 8 wherein the optical quadrature hybrid performs homodyne detection on the signal pulse and the reference pulse.

11. The optical receiver of claim 8 wherein determining the phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source includes performing an inverse tangent of an in-phase quadrature of the reference pulse over an out-of-phase quadrature of the reference pulse.

12. The optical receiver of claim 8 wherein the local oscillator source operates in a free-running mode.

13. The optical receiver of claim 8 further including first and second balanced photodetectors coupled between the optical quadrature hybrid and the signal processor.

14. The optical receiver of claim 8 wherein the optical quadrature hybrid is a 90-degree optical hybrid.

15. A method for optical coherent detection comprising:

generating, using a signal light source, a signal including first and second pulses having a phase relationship and in different modes, wherein the first pulse carries information for quantum or classical communication and the second pulse provides a phase reference;

generating, using a local oscillator light source, first and second local oscillators in the different modes associated with the first and second pulses of the signal;

measuring the in-phase quadrature and the out-of-phase quadrature of the first pulse of the signal using the first local oscillator, wherein measuring the in-phase quadrature value and the out-of-phase quadrature value of the first pulse includes mixing the first pulse with the first local oscillator and is performed with a 90-degree optical hybrid that provides a first output to first and second balanced photodetectors;

measuring the in-phase quadrature and the out-of-phase quadrature of the second pulse of the signal using the second local oscillator, wherein measuring the in-phase quadrature value and the out-of-phase quadrature value of the second pulse includes mixing the second pulse with the second local oscillator and is performed with the 90-degree optical hybrid;

determining the phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source based on the in-phase quadrature and the out-of-phase quadrature of the second pulse of the signal; and

recovering the carried information (I 0 , Q 0 ) based on the determined phase difference, the measured in-phase quadrature and the out-of-phase quadrature of the first phase of the signal (I S , Q S ), and the following equations, in which φ S,i is a phase correction term that is a function of the phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source:

I 0 =I S cos φ S,i −Q S sin φ S,i

Q 0 =I S sin φ S,i +Q s cos φ S,i .

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein determining the phase difference between the signal light source and the local oscillator source includes determining the phase of the reference pulse.

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein determining the phase of the reference pulse includes performing an inverse tangent of the quotient of the in-phase quadrature of the reference pulse over the out-of-phase quadrature of the reference pulse.

18. The method according to claim 15 further including operating the signal light source and the local oscillator source in a free-running mode.

19. The method according to claim 15 further including distributing at least a portion of the carried information as a cryptographic key.

20. The method according to claim 15 wherein the optical signal includes a plurality of signal pulses and a corresponding plurality of reference pulses.