Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection
Complex-valued double-sideband direct detection (DD) can reconstruct the optical field and achieve a high electrical spectral efficiency (ESE) comparable to that of a coherent homodyne receiver, and DD does not require a costly local oscillator laser. However, a fundamental question remains if there...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Editorial Office of Opto-Electronic Journals, Institute of Optics and Electronics, CAS, China
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Opto-Electronic Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.oejournal.org/article/doi/10.29026/oes.2025.240020 |
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| author | Xingfeng Li Jingchi Li Xiong Ni Hudi Liu Qunbi Zhuge Haoshuo Chen William Shieh Yikai Su |
| author_facet | Xingfeng Li Jingchi Li Xiong Ni Hudi Liu Qunbi Zhuge Haoshuo Chen William Shieh Yikai Su |
| author_sort | Xingfeng Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Complex-valued double-sideband direct detection (DD) can reconstruct the optical field and achieve a high electrical spectral efficiency (ESE) comparable to that of a coherent homodyne receiver, and DD does not require a costly local oscillator laser. However, a fundamental question remains if there is an optimal DD receiver structure with the simplest design to approach the performance of the coherent homodyne detection. This study derives the optimal DD receiver structure with an optimal transfer function to recover a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal with a near-zero guard band at the central frequency of the signal. We derive the theoretical ESE limit for various detection schemes by invoking Shannon’s formula. Our proposed scheme is closest to coherent homodyne detection in terms of the theoretical ESE limit. By leveraging a WaveShaper to construct the optimal transfer function, we conduct a proof-of-concept experiment to transmit a net 228.85-Gb/s 64-QAM signal over an 80-km single-mode fiber with a net ESE of 8.76 b/s/Hz. To the best of our knowledge, this study reports the highest net ESE per polarization per wavelength for DD transmission beyond 40-km single-mode fiber. For a comprehensive metric, denoted as 2ESE×Reach, we achieve the highest 2ESE×Reach per polarization per wavelength for DD transmission. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bc5cf65c5dde4ac78e861644da89c9f0 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2097-0382 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Editorial Office of Opto-Electronic Journals, Institute of Optics and Electronics, CAS, China |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Opto-Electronic Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-bc5cf65c5dde4ac78e861644da89c9f02025-08-20T03:06:31ZengEditorial Office of Opto-Electronic Journals, Institute of Optics and Electronics, CAS, ChinaOpto-Electronic Science2097-03822025-02-014211510.29026/oes.2025.240020oes-2024-0020Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detectionXingfeng Li0Jingchi Li1Xiong Ni2Hudi Liu3Qunbi Zhuge4Haoshuo Chen5William Shieh6Yikai Su7State Key Lab of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaState Key Lab of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaState Key Lab of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaState Key Lab of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaState Key Lab of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaNokia Bell Labs, 600 Mountain Ave, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USASchool of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, ChinaState Key Lab of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaComplex-valued double-sideband direct detection (DD) can reconstruct the optical field and achieve a high electrical spectral efficiency (ESE) comparable to that of a coherent homodyne receiver, and DD does not require a costly local oscillator laser. However, a fundamental question remains if there is an optimal DD receiver structure with the simplest design to approach the performance of the coherent homodyne detection. This study derives the optimal DD receiver structure with an optimal transfer function to recover a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal with a near-zero guard band at the central frequency of the signal. We derive the theoretical ESE limit for various detection schemes by invoking Shannon’s formula. Our proposed scheme is closest to coherent homodyne detection in terms of the theoretical ESE limit. By leveraging a WaveShaper to construct the optimal transfer function, we conduct a proof-of-concept experiment to transmit a net 228.85-Gb/s 64-QAM signal over an 80-km single-mode fiber with a net ESE of 8.76 b/s/Hz. To the best of our knowledge, this study reports the highest net ESE per polarization per wavelength for DD transmission beyond 40-km single-mode fiber. For a comprehensive metric, denoted as 2ESE×Reach, we achieve the highest 2ESE×Reach per polarization per wavelength for DD transmission.https://www.oejournal.org/article/doi/10.29026/oes.2025.240020optical communicationdirect detectionoptical field recoveryelectrical spectral efficiency |
| spellingShingle | Xingfeng Li Jingchi Li Xiong Ni Hudi Liu Qunbi Zhuge Haoshuo Chen William Shieh Yikai Su Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection Opto-Electronic Science optical communication direct detection optical field recovery electrical spectral efficiency |
| title | Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection |
| title_full | Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection |
| title_fullStr | Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection |
| title_full_unstemmed | Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection |
| title_short | Direct detection with an optimal transfer function: toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection |
| title_sort | direct detection with an optimal transfer function toward the electrical spectral efficiency of coherent homodyne detection |
| topic | optical communication direct detection optical field recovery electrical spectral efficiency |
| url | https://www.oejournal.org/article/doi/10.29026/oes.2025.240020 |
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