First 100 km uplink transmission at 2.5 Gbit/s for hybrid WDM/TDM PON based on optimized bi-electrode RSOA

We demonstrate that the use of an optimized (high gain) bi-electrode reflective semiconductor optical amplifier as remote modulator enables 100 kkm transmission on single mode fiber below the FEC limit at 2.5 Gbit/s for colourless operation. A comparison is done between mono- and bi-electrode devices over different distances. The chirp reduction inside the bi-electrode RSOA reduces penalties due to longer transmission distances. Introduction One potential solution for next generation of optical access networks is to use Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) in order to increase data bit rate. However, cost and compatibility with existing TDMPON networks are still important issues to be considered. As a consequence, Hybrid (TDM+WDM) architecture is being investigated for next generation 1, 2 access network ., as a transition from TDM to WDM PONs ONU transmitters using RSOA are potential candidates for low cost deployment and colourless devices. In fact, High gain RSOA enables high optical budget. For instance, up to 36 dB and 45km 3 transmission at 2.5 Gbps has been demonstrated . The interest on these devices grows fast and recently, the first commercial service with R-SOA based hybrid 5 PON has been announced , for 1024 subscribers at 1.25 Gbps over 20 km. In this paper, we demonstrate an extended reach hybrid PON, taking advantages of a very high gain Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (RSOA) and the bi-electrode configuration operating at 2.5 Gbps. A transmission on SMF over 100km is demonstrated below the FEC limit.