Superchannel Transponders for the Big Data Era

CREATE targets the capacity and energy efficiency challenges in optical communication networks by developing pioneering solutions to improve optical transponders' operational bandwidth and spectral efficiency. We propose pioneering solutions that combine photonic analogue signal processing and time-bandwidth engineering to enhance the performance of analogue-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analogue (DAC) converters by fundamental limitations in their bandwidth versus resolution (i.e. ENOB) trade-offs. Our radical approach is based on the anamorphic stretch transform (AST), which has recently been introduced in optical spectroscopy. In our case, we hope to serve as the primary building block of a new generation of coherent optical transponders and high capacity fibre transmission links. The AST does only enable the spectral manipulation of the optical signals for meeting the bandwidth requirements of the DACs/ADCs, but it can also exploit signal sparsity to compress the digital signal size, which can consequently bring a drastic reduction of the associated DSP complexity and power consumption.

To incorporate the AST functionality in the telecommunication infrastructure CREATE will need to re-invent the transceiver architecture and develop new designs that surpass current commercial standards. We will introduce a novel coherent version of the AST to deal with dual quadrature signals, and we will need to re-establish the transponder's digital signal processing (DSP) chain. This also includes the development of advanced adaptive non-linear equalisation schemes to deal with potential fibre transmission impairments. Finally, we will analyse the impact of transmission impairments on AST-warped signals and identify new fibre link design rules that maximise transmission reach.

If successful, CREATE will have a significant impact. It will provide a focus for international research by establishing a new thread in the research of optical transceivers to address the major capacity needs on a broader network application range.