Optical differential phase-shift keyed signal generation, transmission and detection

When encoding information on an electromagnetic wave such as infrared light, to be transmitted through an optical fibre in telecommunication networks, any of the physical properties of light can be modulated. Light has a frequency, intensity, polarization and a phase. Until recently, optical communication systems strictly employed conventional intensity (IM) modulation signals in either non return-to-zero (NRZ) or return-to-zero (RZ) format. But a number of advanced optical modulation formats have attracted increasing attention in the last few years. One prime example is the phase-shift-keyed (PSK) family of formats which carry the information on the optical phase. Since absolute phase is not easily detected through coherent demodulation, differential encoding in which the phase of the preceding bit is used as a relative phase reference for demodulation has become a method of choice for phase modulated signals. The result in the differential-phase-shift-keyed (DPSK) formats, which carry the information in the difference in optical phase between successive bits.;In this thesis by article, composed of six papers, we investigate the generation, transmission and demodulation of DPSK in optical fibre transmission systems. We propose a novel way to encode optical packets using DPSK in our investigation of the generation. We also investigate transmission effects monitoring using a novel partial-bit delay interferometer-assisted clock tone monitoring method for sensitive optical-signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR), chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion monitoring. Then we look at the demodulation of DPSK, first investigating the reduced tolerances and power penalties of DPSK demodulation when more than one bit delay is used in the interferometer. We also propose an optical error correction method combining DPSK optical logic gates with electronic logic gates to improve receiver sensitivity and transmission impairment tolerances. Finally we redefine the previously assumed chromatic dispersion tolerances of Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ)-DPSK, Return-to-Zero (RZ)-DPSK and Carrier-Suppressed-Return-to-Zero (CSRZ)-DPSK with optimized demodulation parameters of optical filtering and free-spectral range optimization.