Sub-symbol-rate sampling for PDM-QPSK signals in super-Nyquist WDM systems using quadrature poly-binary shaping.

We compare the performance of sub-symbol-rate sampling for polarization-division-multiplexed quadrature-phase-shift-keying (PDM-QPSK) signals in super-Nyquist wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system by using quadrature duo-binary (QDB) and quadrature four-level poly-binary (4PB) shaping together with maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE). PDM-16QAM is adopted in the simulation to be compared with PDM-QPSK. The numerical simulations show that, for a software defined communication system, the level number of quadrature poly-binary modulation should be adjusted to achieve the optimal performance according to channel spacing, required OSNR and sampling rate restrictions of optics. In the experiment, we demonstrate 3-channel 12-Gbaud PDM-QPSK transmission with 10-GHz channel spacing and only 8.4-GSa/s ADC sampling rate at lowest. By using QDB or 4PB shaping with 3tap-MLSE, the sampling rate can be reduced to the signal baud rate (1 samples per symbol) without penalty. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America