4-Gb/s PSK homodyne transmission system using phase-locked semiconductor lasers

Abstract
Homodyne detection of 4-Gb/s pilot-carrier binary-phase-shift-keyed (BPSK) optical signals using external-cavity semiconductor lasers synchronized by a linear phase-locked loop is discussed. A 2/sup 15/-1 pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) has been transmitted through a short fiber with a receiver sensitivity of -44.2 dBm or 72 photons/bit. After transmission through 167 km of standard single-mode fiber, the sensitivity is -43.6 dBm or 83 photons/bit. A balanced PIN/HEMT transimpedance receiver which has a 3-dB bandwidth from 100 kHz to 10.1 GHz and an average equivalent input noise current of 10.8 pA/ square root Hz is used.