Coding of optical on-off keying signals impaired by phase noise

The benefits of coding for an optical communication system that employs binary on-off keying and heterodyne detection are quantified. The system is impaired by laser phase noise as well as by additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). A receiver structure especially designed to mitigate the effects of phase noise in the presence of AWGN is assumed. This special receiver structure requires a wider-band front-end IF filter than would be required for a phase-noise-free signal. The results, computed for several different coding schemes, indicate that the benefits of coding are large and the costs are small. For a linewidth-to-bit-rate ratio (βT) of 0.64 (for example, 45 Mb/s and 29 MHz linewidth), a half-rate binary code that can correct 3 bit errors provides a 50% reduction in the required IF filter bandwidth (and, therefore, the required IF) and about 5 dB of reduction in required laser power. The benefits of coding are greatest under high-βT conditions, corresponding to low bit rates where coders and decoders are most practical to implement