Optical Transmitter Using Nyquist Pulse Shaping

1 . An optical data transmitter comprising:

a) a symbol generator that generates a stream of symbols having a symbol rate at an output;

b) a Nyquist filter having an input that is electrically connected to the output of the symbol generator, the Nyquist filter generating a Nyquist filtered stream of symbols; and

c) an optical modulator having an electrical input that is coupled to the output of the Nyquist filter, the optical modulator modulating an optical beam with the Nyquist filtered stream of symbols to generate a modulated optical beam, wherein the symbol rate is greater than a bandwidth of the modulated optical beam.

2 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the stream of symbols generated by the symbol generator comprises impulses.

3 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the stream of symbols generated by the symbol generator comprises NRZ pulses.

4 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the stream of symbols generated by the symbol generator comprises RZ pulses.

5 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the stream of symbols generated by the symbol generator comprises quadrature amplitude modulated pulses.

6 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the stream of symbols generated by the symbol generator comprises polarization multiplexed pulses.

7 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the symbol generator comprises a memory containing look-up table data and a digital-to-analog converter, the digital-to-analog converter converting the look-up table data to the stream of symbols.

8 . The optical data transmitter of claim 7 wherein the look-up table data comprises data selected to generate a stream of symbols that at least partially compensates for non-linear effects introduced during modulation.

9 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the Nyquist filter comprises a raised cosine filter that approximates a brick wall Nyquist filter.

10 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the Nyquist filter comprises a passive filter comprising at least one of a coaxial transmission line, a microstrip transmission line, and a tapped delay line.

11 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the optical modulator comprises a directly modulated laser.

12 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the optical modulator comprises an external optical modulator having an optical input that is coupled to an output of an optical source.

13 . The optical data transmitter of claim 12 wherein the external modulator comprises a Mach-Zehnder interferometric modulator.

14 . The optical data transmitter of claim 12 wherein the optical source generates a CW optical beam.

15 . The optical data transmitter of claim 12 wherein the optical source generates a pulsed optical beam.

16 . The optical data transmitter of claim 1 wherein the symbol rate approaches twice the bandwidth of the modulated optical beam.

17 . An N-bit quadrature amplitude modulation optical data transmitter comprising:

a) a symbol generator that generates a plurality of N-bit streams of symbols having a symbol rate at an output;

b) a splitter having an input that is coupled to the output of the symbol generator, the splitter directing a first N/2-bit stream of symbols to a first output and a second N/2-bit stream of symbols to a second output;

c) an I-channel comprising:

i. a first digital-to-analog converter having an input that is electrically connected to the first output of the splitter, the first digital-to-analog converter generating an analog signal representing the first N/2-bit stream of symbols at an output;

ii. a first Nyquist filter having an input that is coupled to the output of the first digital-to-analog converter, the first Nyquist filter generating an I-channel Nyquist filtered N/2-bit stream of symbols; and

iii. a multiplier that multiplies the first Nyquist filtered N/2-bit stream of symbols by a cosine function optical waveform to generate a first N/2 bit Nyquist filtered stream of symbols at an output;

d) a Q-channel comprising:

i. a second digital-to-analog converter having an input that is electrically connected to the second output of the splitter, the second digital-to-analog converter generating an analog signal representing the second N/2-bit stream of symbols at an output;

ii. a second Nyquist filter having an input that is coupled to the output of the second digital-to-analog converter, the second Nyquist filter generating a Q-channel Nyquist filtered N/2-bit stream of symbols; and

iii. a multiplier that multiplies the second Nyquist filtered N/2-bit stream of symbols by a sine function optical waveform to generate a first N/2 bit Nyquist filtered stream of symbols at an output; and

e) an optical combiner having a first optical input that is coupled to the I-channel and a second optical input that is coupled to the Q-channel, the optical combiner producing a combined optical beam with the first and second N/2-bit Nyquist filtered stream of symbols to generate a modulated optical beam, wherein the symbol rate is greater than N times a bandwidth of the modulated optical beam.

18 . The optical data transmitter of claim 17 wherein the symbol generator comprises a memory containing look-up table data and a digital-to-analog converter, the digital-to-analog converter converting the look-up table data to the plurality of N-bit streams of symbols.

19 . The optical data transmitter of claim 18 wherein the look-up table data comprises data selected to generate a plurality of N-bit streams of symbols that at least partially compensates for non-linear effects introduced during modulation.

20 . The optical data transmitter of claim 17 wherein at least one of the first and the second Nyquist filter comprise a raised cosine filter that approximates a brick wall Nyquist filter.

21 . The optical data transmitter of claim 17 wherein the optical modulator comprises a directly modulated laser.

22 . The optical data transmitter of claim 17 wherein the optical modulator comprises an external optical modulator having an optical input that is coupled to an output of an optical source.

23 . The optical data transmitter of claim 17 wherein the symbol rate approaches twice the bandwidth of the modulated optical beam.

24 . A method of optically modulating a stream of symbols, the method comprising:

a) generating a stream of symbols having a symbol rate;

b) filtering the stream of symbols with a Nyquist filter; and

c) modulating an optical beam with the filtered stream of symbols thereby generating a modulated optical beam, wherein the symbol rate is greater than a modulation bandwidth of the modulated optical beam.

25 . The method of claim 24 wherein the generating the stream of symbols comprises generating at least one of an impulse, a NRZ pulse, and a RZ pulse.

26 . The method of claim 24 wherein the generating the stream of symbols comprises generating quadrature amplitude modulated pulses.

27 . The method of claim 24 wherein the generating the stream of symbols comprises generating polarization multiplexed pulses.

28 . The method of claim 24 wherein the symbol rate approaches twice the modulation bandwidth.

29 . The method of claim 24 further comprising modifying at least some of the stream of symbols to at least partially compensate for non-linear effects introduced when modulating the optical beam.

30 . The method of claim 24 wherein the modulating the optical beam comprises directly modulating the optical beam.

31 . The method of claim 24 wherein the modulating the optical beam comprises externally modulating a CW optical beam.

32 . The method of claim 24 wherein the modulating an optical beam comprises externally modulating a pulsed optical beam.

33 . The method of claim 24 wherein the symbol rate approaches twice the modulation bandwidth.