title: Impact of interferometer optical path difference speed profile on the Fourier-transform-spectrometry-derived spectrum of a telecommunications signal.
abstract: The impact of the interferometer optical path difference (OPD) speed profile on the spectrum, derived through the use of Fourier-transform spectrometry (FTS), of a synchronous optical network (SONET) signal is found. The SONET signal carries high-speed data traffic. It also may be modulated by low-frequency intensity or frequency modulation. It is found that the SONET header, high-speed data traffic and low-frequency modulation all manifest themselves as artifacts in the FTS-derived spectrum of the SONET signal. It is shown that a nonconstant OPD speed profile can smooth out these artifacts, making it unlikely that they will be mistaken for carrier signal peaks. However, it is found that smoothing out these artifacts lessens the achievable dynamic range of the FTS instrument in the frequency range of interest, the International Telecommunications Union common (C) and long (L) bands.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Laser (COPL), Département de Génie Electrique et de Génie Informatique, Université Laval, Québec, Canada. katie_krause@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Katie M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Genest