Timing Jitter Due to Carrier Linewidth of Laser-Diode Pulse Sources in Ultra-High Speed Soliton Transmission

We theoretically analyze the timing jitter due to both the carrier phase noise of laser-diode (LD) pulse sources and the Gordon-Haus effect in soliton transmission. A formula is derived for the timing jitter in terms of the carrier linewidth, one of the measurable parameters common to all types of LD pulse sources. The transmission distance restricted by the timing jitter is analyzed, and the carrier linewidths required for ultra-long distance and ultra-high speed soliton transmission are estimated as well. Recirculating loop experiments at 10 Gb/s are demonstrated using two pulse sources; a gain-switched DFB-LD and a sinusoidally driven monolithically integrated MQW-DFB-LD/MQW-EA modulator, which have different carrier linewidths due to their different pulse formation processes. The difference in the carrier linewidths of the two pulse sources is measured by the proposed technique which is based on the optical heterodyne method. The observed difference between the two pulse sources in terms of timing jitter accumulation and timing jitter reduction with optical bandpass filters for the two pulse sources well support the theoretical predictions.