Effect of laser phase noise on multi-channel photonic networks.

Abstract

This thesis presents an investigation of the issues related to the phenomenon of laser phase noise in multi-channel coherent photonic networks. A theoretical analysis is carried out to predict the performance of two kinds of photonic networks, the distribution network and the multiple-access network, in the presence of laser phase noise. Two optical modulation schemes have been compared and the limitations set on laser linewidths are derived. The potential number of network users in each case has been discussed. It has been shown that on the average optical intensity modulation performs better than optical phase modulation. It has also been shown that the SCM/CD networks, using semiconductor lasers, are competitive with other multi-channel approaches above a certain range of the bit-rate per channel. Finally, a discussion on the diverse techniques to reduce the impact of phase noise on coherent photonic networks is provided.