Alcatel-Lucent demonstrated several new advances in optical transmission, paving the way for the future introduction of 100 Gbps Ethernet optical networks. The advancements include:
- The transmission of 12.8 Terabit/s of data through a single optical fiber over a record distance of 2,550 km — a precursor for long-haul transmission at 100 Gbps per wavelength. This experiment, which was conducted by Alcatel-Lucent’s researchers in Villarceaux, France, involved the transmission of 160 WDM channels modulated at 80 Gbps each. The company said this represents an improvement by a factor of more than 8 over previous records. The system involved several innovations, namely polarization division multiplexing, multi-level optical modulation, coherent detection and powerful electrical signal processing.
- A pioneering 8 Terabit/s data transmission using a simple and cost effective 100 Gbps channel modulation. This experiment, which conducted by Alcatel-Lucent’s researchers from Stuttgart and Villarceaux, achieved an 8 Tbps Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) transmission with 80 channels, each modulated at 100 Gbps, transmitted over 520 km. Such a density represents a breakthrough, as the channels were very densely packed, separated by no more than 100 GHz from each other. Alcatel-Lucent said this modulation is a simple, robust and cost-effective way to generate and transmit a 100 Gbps bandwidth by channel.
- The first hybrid DWDM transmission of 100 Gbps and 40 Gbps channels in the same system — demonstrating migration and coexistence capabilities of both. This experiment, which was conducted at Bell Labs, achieved a record overall spectral efficiency of 1.4 bits/s/Hz. This experiment is significant in that it demonstrates a feasible upgrade path for DWDM transport equipment to support 100 Gbps Ethernet channels using existing 50-GHz channel plans. These results are an extension of Alcatel-Lucent’s recent successful demonstration of a similar capacity upgrade – where researchers replaced 10 Gbps OOK channels with 40 Gbps DQPSK channels, co-existing with 40 Gbps DBPSK channels, in the same system (post-deadline paper at OFC/NFOEC 2007).
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