Optimum optical power splitting ratio of decision driven phase-locked loop in BPSK optical homodyne receiver

In a BPSK optical homodyne receiver that utilizes a decision-driven phase-locked loop, the splitting ratio of the received power and that of the local oscillator power are very important parameters in achieving high receiver sensitivity. This paper determines the optimum setting of these parameters considering the influence of the relative intensity noise of the local oscillator and the thermal noise of the preamplifier. The optimum splitting ratio of the local oscillator power to the Q-arm is found to be 0.5. The splitting ratio of the received power to Q-arm is obtained as a function of laser linewidth. The optimum setting of the received power and the local oscillator power Is independent of the relative intensity noise of the local oscillator, the thermal noise of the preamplifier and the bit rate, At the optimum splitting ratios, required beat linewidth is obtained as 1.3×10 ^-3/T_b(τ/T_b≪1) and 2.99×10 ^-3/τ(τ/T_b≫1), where T_b is the bit duration and τ is the loop propagation delay time. We show that the total power penalty of 0.8 dB from the shot noise limit can be realized with the relative intensity noise of -170 dB/Hz and equivalent input noise current of 10 pA/√(Hz), even if an imperfect balanced receiver is utilized; quantum efficiency ratio of the twin-photodetector is 0.96, propagation time difference T/T_b is 0.01. To confirm the theoretical model, a BPSK homodyne detection experiment is performed and good agreement is found between theoretical and experimental results