A WDM PAM4 FSO–UWOC Integrated System With a Channel Capacity of 100 Gb/s

Abstract

A wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) free-space optical (FSO)-underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) integrated system with a channel capacity of 100 Gb/s is proposed and attainably demonstrated. Analytic results reveal that 1.8-GHz 405-nm blue-violet-light and 1.7-GHz 450-nm blue-light laser diodes (LDs) with two-stage light injection and optoelectronic feedback techniques are competently adopted for 100 Gb/s PAM4 signal transmission through a 500-m free-space transmission with 5-m clear ocean underwater link. Combining dual-wavelength WDM scenario with PAM4 modulation, the channel capacity of FSO-UWOC integrated systems is significantly enhanced with an aggregate transmission rate of 100 Gb/s (25 Gbaud PAM4/wavelength × 2 wavelengths). With doublet lenses in FSO, laser beam reducer and transmissive spatial light modulator in UWOC, a sufficiently low bit error rate of 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-9</sup> and acceptable PAM4 eye diagrams are acquired. This demonstrated 100 Gb/s PAM4 FSO-UWOC integrated system with a WDM scenario is advantageous for the enhancement of a high-speed optical wireless link with long-reach transmission.