Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2009

6:00pm: Networking/Pizza Social
7:00pm: Presentation
8:00pm: Adjourn

Cost: Free

Title

Recent Advances in Coherent Receiver Design for High Speed Long Haul Optical Communications

Speaker

Dr. Christian Malouin, Opnext Subsystem

Abstract

Recent advances in coherent receiver design applied to high speed (40Gbps and 100Gbps) core optical communications networks will be presented, along with a brief historical overview. Specific modulation formats, combined with coherent detection and digital signal processing, will be shown to meet the requirements of modern optical communications networks. One such format receiving considerable attention is coherent polarization-multiplexed quaternary phase-shift keying (PM-QPSK). The theory of operation of PM-QPSK employing a polarization-diversity coherent receiver with digital finite-impulse-response equalizer and carrier phase estimation will be explained and the performance of state of the art R&D efforts will be discussed. Finally, we will review the importance of photonics integration in making mass production coherent products a reality.

Biography

Christian Malouin (SM'09) received the Ph.D. degree in physics and optics from the Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada, in 1996 and the Postdoctoral degree from the Université Paris XI, Orsay, France, where he focused on the characterization of magneto-optical recording media using ultra-fast second order nonlinear effects.

During his Ph.D. dissertation, he developed a novel geometry of four-wave mixing to characterize fast optical nonlinear media. In 1998, he joined Nortel Networks, where he worked on high capacity transmission systems from 40 to 100 Gb/s. In September 2000, he joined Innovance Networks, where he helped in the design and development of an ultralong-haul all-transparent optical network. Since August 2005, he has been with Opnext Subsystem (formely StrataLight Communications), Los Gatos, CA, where he is currently responsible for the modeling, verification, and prototyping of the optical architecture of existing products and forward-looking products. In particular, his research focuses on transmitter and receiver design/modeling and on the study of advanced modulation formats at high speed using direct detection and coherent schemes.