PMD Interaction in Optical Communications
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Presentation Transcript
PMD 101 Frank Effenberger Huawei Technologies
Introduction • Two issues involve the interaction of PMD speed and sensitivity • FEC link rate increase • Dual rate OLT receivers • This presentation is meant to describe, in a simple way, the basic design of PMDs • This should allow the membership to make educated judgments when choosing alternatives that impact speed/sensitivity
Photodetectors • PIN diode • Responsivity (A/W) • Dark current (nA) • Intrinsic capacitance (pF) • Transit time (ps) • APD • All the above, plus… • Gain () • Excess Noise Factor ()
Noise, and the first amplifier • There are several noise sources • RIN noise (from the transmitter) • Shot noise (from signal and dark current) • Excess noise (from avalanche gain process) • Thermal noise (from the circuit itself) • In PIN receivers, thermal noise dominates • In APDs, shot and excess noise play a role • The SNR out of the first amplifier tells the story in any (properly designed) circuit
Trans-Impedance Amplifier • All modern optical PMDs use this topology • The key idea is that the amplifier’s gain reduces the effective impedance as regards the speed of response • Thus, a higher impedance value can be used (better SNR) while maintaining a high response speed (faster)
_ + Circuit Vb R C Ip B2 = final LPF A Vout
Signal to Noise Ratio • When thermal noise limited, • SNR ~ Ps2R/B2 ~ (Ps/B1) (Ps/B2) • For a fixed SNR: Ps~(B1B2)1/2 • When shot noise limited, • SNR ~ Ps/B2 • For a fixed SNR: Ps~B2
The dual-rate problem • Signals come in at different rates • OLT must either • Parallel process signal at both speeds (and decide later which was right), or • Serially process signals at one speed • This decision has to do with choice of detector technology, and whether we are thermal noise limited or shot noise limited
_ + Parallel PMD Circuit Vb R C 1Gb/s Signal 10 Gb/s signal Ip B21 = 1 GHz LPF A B22 = 8 GHz LPF Thermal-limited: Shot-limited:
_ + Serial PMD Circuit Vb Control signal R2 R1 C 1Gb/s Signal 10 Gb/s signal Ip B21 = 1 GHz LPF A B22 = 8 GHz LPF Thermal-limited: Shot-limited:
Comparison of Serial and Parallel • In shot-limited case, there is no difference • Pre-amp circuit does not impact SNR • In thermal-limited case, the Parallel circuit 1G SNR is degraded by factor B1/B12 = 8 • Constant SNR power penalty = 4.5 dB • Practical APD receivers fall midway between these two extremes • Avalanche multiplication factor optimized around M=10
Serial and Parallelwith optimized APDs • For an optimized APD: • SNR~ Ps4/3 / (B11/3B2) • For a fixed SNR: Ps~ (B1B23)1/4 • The Parallel circuit 1G SNR is degraded by (B1/B12)1/3= 2 • Constant SNR power penalty = 2.25 dB
Overall Conclusions • Dual rate optics present us with a choice: • Implement the ‘serial’ circuit approach • No sensitivity penalty • Complexity of transimpedance control • Implement the ‘parallel’ circuit approach • Simpler transimpedance amplifier • Approximately 2~3 dB sensitivity penalty (APD) or 4.5dB penalty (pin)
Sensitivity versus Speed (FEC) • For a normal receiver, B1=B2=B • We can see that SNR=f(P/B) for a receiver with an optimized pre-amp • So, a 0.28 dB increase in speed will require a 0.28 dB increase in received power for a constant SNR