title: Scrambled coherent superposition for enhanced optical fiber communication in the nonlinear transmission regime.
abstract: Coherent superposition of light waves has long been used in various fields of science, and recent advances in digital coherent detection and space-division multiplexing have enabled the coherent superposition of information-carrying optical signals to achieve better communication fidelity on amplified-spontaneous-noise limited communication links. However, fiber nonlinearity introduces highly correlated distortions on identical signals and diminishes the benefit of coherent superposition in nonlinear transmission regime. Here we experimentally demonstrate that through coordinated scrambling of signal constellations at the transmitter, together with appropriate unscrambling at the receiver, the full benefit of coherent superposition is retained in the nonlinear transmission regime of a space-diversity fiber link based on an innovatively engineered multi-core fiber. This scrambled coherent superposition may provide the flexibility of trading communication capacity for performance in future optical fiber networks, and may open new possibilities in high-performance and secure optical communications.
authors.affiliation: Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, Holmdel, New Jersey 07733, USA. xiang.liu@alcatel-lucent.com
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandrasekhar
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Winzer
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Chraplyvy
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Tkach
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Taunay
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fishteyn
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: DiGiovanni
mesh_terms: D016494:Computer Security / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation*