Exact evaluation of laser linewidth requirements for optical PSK homodyne communication systems with balanced PLL receivers

The power penalty induced by imperfect phase recovery in PSK homodyne communication systems with balanced phase-locked loop receivers are exactly evaluated. Optimum phase deviations between the mark-state and the space-state bits are used in this study. This study for the first time shows the imperfect-phase-recovery-induced power penalty as a function of laser linewidth with optimum phase deviations considered. It can be estimated from the theoretical result that an optimal balanced PLL receiver requires the laser linewidth as Δν⩽1.15×10^-6× (bit rate) in contrast to the previous reported one Δν⩽5.88×10^-6× (bit rate). We also point out here that the previously reported laser linewidth requirement was wrongly estimated