CN116235430A

CN116235430A - Polarization diversity light energy supply

Info

Publication number: CN116235430A
Application number: CN202180058374.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: P·J·文策尔
Original assignee: Nubis Communications Inc
Current assignee: Nubis Communications Inc
Priority date: 2020-06-01
Filing date: 2021-06-01
Publication date: 2023-06-06
Also published as: EP4158801A1; CA3185479A1; KR20230074066A; AU2021284259A1; WO2021247521A1

Abstract

An optical communication system is provided that includes polarization diversity optical energization capable of providing light to a polarization-sensitive modulation device through a non-polarization maintaining optical fiber. In an example embodiment, the polarization diversity light is operable to accommodate random polarization fluctuations within the non-polarization maintaining optical fiber and to achieve equal power distribution at a passive polarization splitter prior to the polarization sensitive modulation device.

Description

Polarization diversity light energy supply

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application 16/888,890 filed on month 6 and 1 of 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, and claims priority thereto. The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application 63/145,368 filed 2/3 at 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

Various example embodiments relate to optical communication devices and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to optical powering.

Background

The various aspects presented in this section can facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art or nothing in the prior art.

With the increase in input/output (I/O) capacity of electronic processing chips, electrical signals may not provide adequate I/O capacity over the limited size of a practical electronic chip package. A viable alternative may be to interconnect electronic chip packages using optical signals, which may typically be delivered at a much higher I/O capacity per unit area than electrical I/O.

Disclosure of Invention

Various embodiments of an optical communication system including polarization diversity optical energization capable of providing light to a polarization-sensitive modulation device through a non-polarization maintaining optical fiber are disclosed herein. In an example embodiment, the polarization diversity light is operable to accommodate random polarization fluctuations within the non-polarization maintaining optical fiber and to achieve equal power distribution at a passive polarization splitter prior to the polarization sensitive modulation device.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the apparatus comprising an optical power supply comprising: a light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate; and a polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate a light output at an output port of the polarization combiner, wherein mutually orthogonal first and second polarization components carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively.

In some embodiments of the above apparatus, the electronic controller is configured to cause the first light output and the second light output to be mutually orthogonal in time/frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the first light output and the second light output are orthogonal in time/frequency to a degree greater than 0.8.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the degree is greater than 0.9.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the degree is greater than 0.99.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the first light output comprises a first continuous wave light field at the first optical frequency and the second light output comprises a second continuous wave light field at the second optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is greater than five times the symbol rate.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is about an integer multiple of the symbol rate.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the first light output comprises a first light pulse train of a first period, and the second light output comprises a second light pulse train of the first period.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the pulses of the first and second light pulse trains have the same intensity waveform.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the pulses of the first and second light pulse trains have respective different intensity waveforms.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the first optical pulse train and the second optical pulse train are phase locked with respect to each other.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the center of the pulse of the first optical pulse train is aligned in time with the center of the corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the center of the pulse of the first optical pulse train is shifted in time from the center of the corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift.

In some embodiments of any of the above, the non-zero time shift is less than half of the first period.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the non-zero time shift is less than one-fourth of the first period.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is twice the pulse repetition rate.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is three times the pulse repetition rate.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the spectrum of the first pulse train has two first optical frequency tones; and the spectrum of the second pulse train has two second optical frequency tones, the two second optical frequency tones being different from the two first optical frequency tones.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the first optical frequency tones and the second optical frequency tones are equally spaced apart by an integer multiple of the symbol rate.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the integer multiple is two.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the electronic controller is further configured to print first control information on the first light output of the light source and second control information on the second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the first control information is the same as the second control information.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the electronic controller prints the first control information and the second control information using one or more of: the intensity, phase, frequency and polarization of the first and second light outputs.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source comprises a first CW laser oscillating at a first optical frequency and a second CW laser oscillating at the second optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the electronic controller is configured to control the first CW laser and the second CW laser to controllably set a frequency difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the polarization synthesizer comprises one or more of: polarization beam combiner, polarization maintaining power combiner and polarization maintaining wavelength multiplexer.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a CW laser and an optical modulator optically connected to the CW laser, the optical modulator configured to generate a first modulated tone at the first optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the electronic controller is configured to control an optical frequency of the first modulated tone.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the optical modulator is further configured to generate a second modulated tone at the second optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises an optical amplitude modulator configured to generate the optical pulse train.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a pulsed laser configured to generate a train of light pulses.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a light delay element configured to delay the first light output relative to the second light output.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical power supply comprises an optical dispersion compensating element.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses: the polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator is configured to generate two tones at a first polarization and two tones at a second polarization, the second polarization being orthogonal to the first polarization; wherein a frequency interval between the two tones at the first polarization and a frequency interval between the two tones at the second polarization are equal to each other; and wherein the frequency spacing between the tone at the first polarization and the tone at the second polarization is an integer multiple of the equal frequency spacing.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the phase difference between the two tones at the first polarization is equal to the phase difference between the two tones at the second polarization.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the apparatus further comprises a light emitting module optically end-connected to the output port of the polarization combiner via one or more lengths of optical fiber, the emitting module comprising: a polarization splitter having an input port optically connected to an end of one of the one or more lengths of optical fiber to receive light of the optical output; a first optical data modulator connected to a first output of the polarization splitter; and a second optical data modulator connected to a second output of the polarization splitter.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, at least one of the first optical data modulator and the second optical data modulator is configured to modulate the received light at the symbol rate.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, at least one of the one or more lengths of optical fiber is non-polarization maintaining.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical fiber is at least one meter long.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical fiber is at least ten meters long.

According to another embodiment, there is provided an apparatus comprising a light emitter comprising: a passive polarization splitter having an optical input port and first and second optical output ports, the optical input port being optically connected to receive an optical input signal having first and second polarization components, the first polarization component carrying light of a first optical frequency and the second polarization component carrying light of a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, the first and second polarization components being mutually orthogonal and commonly undergoing a change in polarization state during a time interval, the passive polarization splitter directing light of a first fixed polarization from the optical input port to the first optical output port and also directing light of a second fixed polarization from the optical input port to the second optical output port, the first and second fixed polarizations being mutually orthogonal, the change in polarization state causing the respective spectral components of the light directed to the first optical port and the light directed to the second optical port to change during the time interval; and a first optical modulator connected to the first optical output port and configured to modulate the first fixed polarized light received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal.

In some embodiments of the above apparatus, the optical transmitter further comprises a second optical modulator connected to the second optical output port and configured to modulate the second fixedly polarized light received from the second optical output port in response to a second data signal.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the first light modulator and the second light modulator are connected to transmit respective modulated light through respective different optical fibers.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses: at some of the time intervals, the first optical modulator receives the first optical frequency from the first output port and does not receive the second optical frequency; and at some other time of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency from the first output port, but not the first optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, at still other times of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives a mixture of the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency from the first output port.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical input port is optically connected to receive the optical input signal from a proximal end of a length of optical fiber, the optical fiber comprising at least one segment that is not polarization maintaining.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the change in polarization state is due to time-varying polarization rotation in the at least one segment.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the time-varying polarization rotation is random.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the optical transmitter further comprises an optical power supply optically connected to apply the optical input signal to the passive polarization splitter through the optical fiber.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light energizing comprises: a light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output having the first optical frequency and a second light output having the second optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable during the time interval; and a polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second optical outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate an optical output at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output being coupled into the optical fiber such that the optical input port of the polarization splitter receives the optical input signal.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the first optical modulator is a polarization-sensitive device designed to modulate an optical signal having the first fixed polarization.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the first optical modulator is not adapted to modulate an optical signal having the second fixed polarization.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the second optical modulator is a polarization-sensitive device designed to modulate an optical signal having the second fixed polarization.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the second optical modulator is not adapted to modulate an optical signal having the first fixed polarization.

One of any of the above devicesIn some embodiments, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency may be Δf, the symbol rate may be Rs, and Δf may be at R _S Within + -10% of the total weight of the composition.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the apparatus may comprise: an emission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal of the output port of the polarization combiner; and an optical fiber comprising one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber. The optical fiber may be optically coupled between the output port of the polarization combiner and the emission module, and the optical fiber may be configured to transmit the optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner to the emission module.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the optical fiber between the emission module and the polarization combiner may be at least one meter long.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the optical fiber between the emission module and the polarization combiner may be at least ten meters long.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the transmitting module may include: a passive polarization splitter having an optical input port and first and second optical output ports, the optical input port being optically connected to receive the optical input signal from the optical energy source having first and second polarization components, the first polarization component carrying light of the first optical frequency and the second polarization component carrying light of the second optical frequency. The first and second polarization components may be mutually orthogonal and commonly undergo a change in polarization state during a time interval, and the passive polarization splitter may direct light of a first fixed polarization from the light input port to the first light output port and may also direct light of a second fixed polarization from the light input port to the second light output port. The first fixed polarization and the second fixed polarization may be orthogonal to each other, and the change in polarization state may cause respective spectral components of light directed to the first optical port and light directed to the second optical port to change during the time interval. The transmitting module may include a first optical modulator optically coupled to the first optical output port and configured to modulate the first fixed polarized light received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the optical transmitter may include a second optical modulator optically coupled to the second light output port and configured to modulate the second fixed polarized light received from the second light output port in response to a second data signal.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the first light modulator and the second light modulator may be optically connected to transmit respective modulated light through respective different optical fibers.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses: at some of the time intervals, the first optical modulator may receive the first optical frequency from the first output port, but not the second optical frequency; and at some other time of the time interval, the first optical modulator may receive the second optical frequency from the first output port without receiving the first optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, at still other times of the time interval, the first optical modulator may receive a mixture of the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency from the first output port.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the polarization combiner may comprise at least one of a polarization combiner, a polarization maintaining optical power combiner, or a polarization maintaining wavelength multiplexer.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the apparatus may include a dispersion compensating optical element configured to pre-disperse the optical output signal of the polarization combiner.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source may comprise: a first laser configured to generate first polarized light having the first optical frequency. The first polarized light may form the first light output of the light source. The light source may include a second laser configured to generate second polarized light having the second optical frequency. The second polarized light may form the second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source may comprise: a laser configured to generate first polarized light having the first optical frequency; and an optical splitter configured to receive the first polarized light and output a first portion of the first polarized light and a second portion of the first polarized light. The first portion may form the first light output of the light source. The second portion may be transmitted to a frequency shifter configured to frequency shift the second portion to generate a frequency-shifted second portion having the second optical frequency, and the frequency-shifted second portion may form the second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source may comprise: a laser configured to generate a first light; a modulator configured to divide the first light into a first spectral tone and a second spectral tone, and generate a second light, the second light comprising the first spectral tone and the second spectral tone; and a frequency divider configured to divide the second light into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion may include the first spectral tones and the second portion may include the second spectral tones. The first portion may form the first light output of the light source and the second portion may form the second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source may comprise: a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; a second laser configured to emit light of a second polarization at a second wavelength; a first light modulator configured to modulate the first polarized light to generate first modulated polarized light; and a second light modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to generate second modulated polarized light. The first modulated polarized light may form the first light output of the light source and the second modulated polarized light may form the second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source may include a light delay element configured to delay the second modulated polarized light prior to polarization combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the light source may comprise a signal generator configured to generate electrical signals for driving the first and second light modulators. The first laser, the first modulator, and the signal generator may be configured to generate the first modulated polarized light as a first optical pulse train. The second laser, the second modulator, and the signal generator may be configured to generate the second modulated polarized light as a second optical pulse train.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the light source may comprise a signal generator configured to generate electrical signals for driving the first and second light modulators. The first laser, the first modulator, the second modulator, and the signal generator may be configured to generate the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light as a dispersive predistortion optical signal.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the first modulator and the second modulator may be configured to modulate a time stamp onto the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source may comprise: a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; a second laser configured to emit light of a second polarization at a second wavelength; a second polarization combiner configured to polarization combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to generate a first combined light; an optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to generate modulated combined light; and a splitter that splits the modulated combined light into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion may form the first light output of the light source and the second portion may form the second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source may include an optical delay element configured to delay the second portion before combining the second portion with the first portion polarization by the polarization combiner.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes: light-powered, the light-powered comprising: a laser; an electronic controller electrically coupled to the laser and configured to cause the laser to generate a first polarized light output having a first optical frequency; and an optical splitter configured to receive the first polarized light and output a first portion of the first polarized light and a second portion of the first polarized light. The optical power supply includes a frequency shifter configured to frequency shift the second portion to generate a frequency-shifted second portion having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency. Each of the first portion and the frequency shifted second portion is stable for a time interval that is significantly longer than the time interval at the symbol rate. The light energy includes a polarization combiner configured to receive the first portion and the frequency shifted second portion. The polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output signal comprising first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components carrying the first and second frequency-shifted portions of light, respectively.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes: light-powered, the light-powered comprising: a laser configured to generate a first light; and a modulator configured to divide the first light into a first spectral tone and a second spectral tone, and to generate a second light, the second light including the first spectral tone and the second spectral tone. The optical power supply includes a frequency divider configured to divide the second light into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion includes the first spectral tone and the second portion includes the second spectral tone, and each of the first portion and the second portion is stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate. The light energy includes a polarization combiner configured to receive the first portion and the second portion. The polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output signal comprising first and second polarization components orthogonal to each other, the first and second polarization components carrying the first and second portions of light, respectively.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes: light-powered, the light-powered comprising: a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; a second laser configured to emit light of a second polarization at a second wavelength. The light energy includes a first light modulator configured to modulate the first polarized light to generate first modulated polarized light; and a second light modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to generate second modulated polarized light. Each of the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light is stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate. The light energy includes a polarization combiner configured to receive the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light. The polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output signal comprising first and second polarization components orthogonal to each other, the first and second polarization components carrying light of the first and second modulated polarized light, respectively.

Implementations can include one or more of the following features. The light energization may include a light delay element configured to delay the second modulated polarized light before combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light polarization.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes: light-powered, the light-powered comprising: a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; a second laser configured to emit light of a second polarization at a second wavelength. The light energy includes a first polarization combiner configured to polarization combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to generate a first combined light; and an optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to generate modulated combined light. The optical power supply includes a splitter that splits the modulated combined light into a first portion and a second portion, and each of the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light is stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate. The light energy includes a polarization combiner configured to receive the first portion and the second portion. The polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output signal comprising first and second polarization components orthogonal to each other, the first and second polarization components carrying the first and second portions of light, respectively.

Implementations can include one or more of the following features. The optical power supply may include an optical delay element configured to delay the second portion before combining the second portion with the first portion polarization by the polarization combiner.

In another general aspect, a method of transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes: generating a first light output having a first optical frequency; and generating a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first and second light outputs being stable for a time interval that is significantly longer than the time interval at the symbol rate; and polarization combining the first light output and the second light output and generating a light output signal comprising first and second polarization components orthogonal to each other, the first and second polarization components carrying light of the first and second light outputs, respectively. The method includes propagating the optical output signal through an optical fiber comprising one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber to a transmission module, the transmission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal.

Implementations can include one or more of the following features. The method may comprise configuring the first light output and the second light output to be mutually orthogonal in time/frequency.

Generating the first light output may include generating a first continuous wave light field at the first optical frequency, and generating the second light output may include generating a second continuous wave light field at the second optical frequency.

The difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency may be approximately an integer multiple of the symbol rate.

Generating the first light output may include generating a first light pulse train having a first period, and generating the second light output may include generating a second light pulse train having a second period.

The method may include aligning in time the center of a pulse of the first optical pulse train with the center of a corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train.

The method may include shifting the center of a pulse of the first optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift from the center of a corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train.

Generating the first optical pulse train may include generating the first optical pulse train having a spectrum including two first optical frequency tones. Generating the second optical pulse train may include generating the second optical pulse train having a spectrum including two second optical frequency tones, the two second optical frequency tones being different from the two first optical frequency tones.

The method may include printing first control information on the first light output and second control information on the second light output.

The method may include generating, using a polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator, two tones at a first polarization and two tones at a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization.

The frequency interval between the two tones in the first polarization and the frequency interval between the two tones in the second polarization may be equal to each other.

The frequency interval between a tone of the first polarization and a tone of the second polarization may be an integer multiple of the frequency interval between the two tones of the first polarization.

The method may include dividing the optical output signal into a first portion and a second portion; modulating the first portion using first data to generate a first modulated optical signal; and modulating the second portion using second data to generate a second modulated optical signal.

In another general aspect, a system includes: light-powered, the light-powered comprising: a first light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate. The optical power supply includes a first polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the first polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate a first light output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, wherein mutually orthogonal first and second polarization components carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively.

Implementations can include one or more of the following features. The system may include a first data processing apparatus comprising: a first housing; a first data processor disposed in the first housing; and a first commonly packaged optical module configured to convert an output electrical signal of the first data processor into an output optical signal, the output optical signal provided to a first fiber optic cable optically coupled to the first data processing device. The optical power supply may be configured to provide the first optical output signal to the first commonly packaged optical module over a first optical link.

The light energizing may include: a second light source configured to generate a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first and second light outputs being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate. The light energization may comprise a second polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the second light source at respective different input ports of the second polarization combiner, the second polarization combiner configured to generate a second light output signal at an output port of the second polarization combiner, wherein mutually orthogonal first and second polarization components carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively. The system may include a second data processing apparatus comprising: a second housing; a second data processor disposed in the second housing; and a second co-packaged optical module configured to convert an output electrical signal of the second data processor into an output optical signal, the output optical signal being provided to a second optical fiber cable, the second optical fiber cable being optically coupled to the second data processing device, the first optical fiber cable and the second optical fiber cable being the same cable or different cables. The optical power supply may be configured to provide the second optical output signal to the second co-packaged optical module over a second optical link.

The first commonly packaged optical module may include an emission module including at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the first optical output signal of the output port of the polarization combiner. The first optical link may include one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber. The first optical link may be optically coupled between the output port of the polarization combiner and the emission module, and the first optical link may be configured to transmit the first optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner to the emission module.

The system may comprise a distributed data processing system, the first data processing device may comprise a data server, the data server may comprise a circuit board on which the first data processor is mounted, the circuit board may be positioned relative to the housing such that a first major surface of the circuit board is at an angle relative to a floor of the housing, and the angle may range from 45 ° to 90 °.

The circuit board may be positioned parallel to the front plate.

The first data processor may include: at least one of a network switch, a central processor, a graphics processing unit, a tensor processing unit, a neural network processor, an artificial intelligence accelerator, a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

The first commonly packaged optical module may include: a first photonic integrated circuit; a first optical connector component configured to be removably coupled to a second optical connector component attached to the first optical fiber cable; and an optically powered connector connected to the first optical link to receive the optically powered supply light.

The first optical output signal may be modulated via synchronization information, and the first commonly packaged optical module may include an optical splitter that distributes the supply light and provides a first portion of the supply light to a receiver configured to extract the synchronization information.

The first commonly packaged optical module may include an optical splitter that distributes the supply light and provides a first portion of the supply light to an optoelectronic modulator configured to modulate the output electrical signal from the first data processor onto the first portion of the supply light to generate modulated light, wherein the modulated light is output through the first fiber optic cable.

The first commonly packaged optical module may be electrically coupled to the first circuit board using electrical contacts including at least one of a spring loaded element, a compression interposer, or a land grid array.

The system may include: an emission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal of the output port of the polarization combiner; and an optical fiber comprising one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber. The optical fiber may be optically coupled between the output port of the polarization combiner and the emission module, and the optical fiber may be configured to transmit the optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner to the emission module.

The system may include a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link. The fiber optic cable assembly may include: a first fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port; and a second fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port. The light-powered fiber optic port of the first fiber optic connector may be optically coupled to the light-powered fiber optic port of the second fiber optic connector. The first fiber optic connector may be configured to optically couple to the first commonly packaged optical module. The second fiber optic connector may be configured to optically couple to the optical power supply to receive the first optical output signal from the output port.

The fiber optic cable assembly may include a first optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector and the first light-powered optical fiber port of the second optical fiber connector.

The system may include a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link and the second optical link. The fiber optic cable assembly may include: a first fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port; a second fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port; and a third fiber optic connector comprising a first light-powered fiber optic port and a second light-powered fiber optic port. The light-powered optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector may be optically coupled to the first light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector, and the light-powered optical fiber port of the second optical fiber connector may be optically coupled to the second light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector. The first fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the first commonly packaged optical module, the second fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the second commonly packaged optical module, and the third fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the optical power supply.

The fiber optic cable assembly may include a first optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector and the first light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector.

The fiber optic cable assembly may include a second optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered optical fiber port of the second optical fiber connector and the second light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector.

The fiber optic cable assembly may include a third optical fiber optically coupled to the transmitter fiber port of the first optical fiber connector and the receiver fiber port of the second optical fiber connector.

The fiber optic cable assembly may include a fourth optical fiber optically coupled to the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The fiber optic cable assembly may include a fiber optic guidance module including a first port, a second port, and a third port. The first optical fiber may extend through the first port and the third port, the second optical fiber may extend through the second port and the third port, the third optical fiber may extend through the first port and the second port, and the fourth optical fiber may extend through the first port and the second port.

The first, third, and fourth optical fibers may extend from the first port of the fiber optic guidance module to the first fiber optic connector.

The second optical fiber, the third optical fiber, and the fourth optical fiber may extend from the second port of the fiber optic guidance module to the second optical fiber connector.

The first optical fiber and the second optical fiber may extend from the third port of the fiber optic guidance module to the third fiber optic connector.

The fiber guide module may be configured to limit bending of the optical fibers passing through the fiber guide module such that each optical fiber in the fiber guide module has a bending radius greater than a predetermined value to prevent excessive light loss or damage to the optical fibers caused by bending.

The first commonly packaged optical module may include a first photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the first fiber connector and configured to receive the energy light of the first light source through the light-energized fiber port of the first fiber connector.

The first photonic integrated circuit may be configured to modulate the energy light to generate a first modulated optical signal and transmit the first modulated optical signal to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

The second co-packaged optical module may include a second photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the second fiber optic connector and configured to receive the energy light of the second light source through the light-energized fiber optic port of the second fiber optic connector.

The second photonic integrated circuit may be configured to modulate the energy source light to generate a second modulated optical signal and transmit the second modulated optical signal to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The first photonic integrated circuit may be configured to receive the second modulated optical signal transmitted by the second photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

The second photonic integrated circuit may be configured to receive the first modulated optical signal transmitted from the first photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The light-powered optical fiber may be optically coupled to the third optical fiber connector, and the light-powered optical fiber may be configured to provide a first sequence of light frame templates to the first light-powered optical fiber port and a second sequence of light frame templates to the second light-powered optical fiber port.

The first commonly packaged optical module may include a first photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the first fiber connector and configured to receive the first sequence of the optically powered optical frame templates through the optically powered fiber ports of the first fiber connector.

The first photonic integrated circuit may be configured to modulate the first sequence of optical frame templates to generate a first sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the first sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

The second co-packaged optical module may include a second photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the second fiber connector and configured to receive a second sequence of the light-powered optical frame templates through the light-powered fiber ports of the second fiber connector.

The second photonic integrated circuit may be configured to modulate the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate a second sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the second sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The first photonic integrated circuit may be configured to receive a second sequence of the loaded optical frames transmitted by the second photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

The second photonic integrated circuit may be configured to receive the first sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted from the first photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

In another general aspect, a system includes: a first data processing apparatus, the first data processing apparatus comprising a first optical transmitter, the first optical transmitter comprising: a passive polarization splitter having an optical input port, a first optical output port, and a second optical output port. The optical input port is optically connected to receive an optical input signal having a first polarized component and a second polarized component, the first polarized component carrying light at a first optical frequency and the second polarized component carrying light at a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency. The first polarization component and the second polarization component are mutually orthogonal and commonly undergo a polarization state change during a time interval. The passive polarization splitter directs light of a first fixed polarization from the optical input port to the first optical output port and also directs light of a second fixed polarization from the optical input port to the second optical output port. The first fixed polarization and the second fixed polarization are orthogonal to each other. The polarization state change causes respective spectral components of light directed to the first optical port and light directed to the second optical port to change during the time interval. The first data processing apparatus may include a first optical modulator connected to the first optical output port and configured to modulate the first fixed polarized light received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal. The apparatus includes a first optical link optically connected between the optical input port and an optical supply providing the optical input signal.

Implementations can include one or more of the following features. The first data processing apparatus may include a first housing, and the first light emitter may be disposed in the first housing. The system may include: a second data processing device including a second housing and a second light emitter disposed in the second housing. The system may include a second optical link optically connected between the second optical transmitter and the optical power supply.

The first optical link may include one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber. The first optical link may be optically coupled between the output port of the polarization combiner and the emission module, and the first optical link may be configured to transmit the first optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner to the emission module.

The first data processing apparatus may comprise a circuit board on which a first photonic integrated circuit is mounted, the first light emitter may be part of the first photonic integrated circuit, the circuit board may be positioned relative to the housing such that a first major surface of the circuit board is at an angle relative to a floor of the housing, and the angle may range from 45 ° to 90 °.

The circuit board may be positioned parallel to the front plate of the housing.

The first data processing apparatus may comprise a first data processor configured to provide the first data signal, and the first data processor may comprise: at least one of a network switch, a central processor, a graphics processing unit, a tensor processing unit, a neural network processor, an artificial intelligence accelerator, a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

The system may include a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link. The fiber optic cable assembly may include: a first fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port; and a second fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port. The light-powered fiber optic port of the first fiber optic connector may be optically coupled to the light-powered fiber optic port of the second fiber optic connector. The first fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the first data processing apparatus. The second fiber optic connector may be configured to optically couple to the optical power supply.

The fiber optic cable assembly may include a first optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered fiber port of the first optical fiber connector and the light-powered fiber port of the second optical fiber connector.

The system may include a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link and the second optical link. The fiber optic cable assembly may include: a first fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port; a second fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port; and a third fiber optic connector comprising a first light-powered fiber optic port and a second light-powered fiber optic port. The light-powered optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector may be optically coupled to the first light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector, and the light-powered optical fiber port of the second optical fiber connector may be optically coupled to the second light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector. The first fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the first data processing device, the second fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the second data processing device, and the third fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the optical power supply.

The first optical transmitter may be configured to receive the light-powered energy light through the light-powered fiber port of the first fiber optic connector, modulate the first fixedly polarized light in response to the first data signal to generate a first modulated optical signal, and transmit the first modulated optical signal to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

The second optical transmitter may be configured to receive the light-powered energy light through the light-powered fiber port of the second fiber optic connector, modulate the energy light to generate a second modulated optical signal, and transmit the second modulated optical signal to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The system may include the light energization. The light-powered optical fiber may be optically coupled to the third optical fiber connector, and the light-powered optical fiber may be configured to provide a first sequence of light frame templates to the first light-powered optical fiber port and a second sequence of light frame templates to the second light-powered optical fiber port.

The first optical transmitter may be configured to receive a first sequence of the light-powered optical frame templates through the light-powered optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector.

The first optical transmitter may be configured to modulate the first sequence of optical frame templates in response to the first data signal to generate a first sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the first sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

The second optical transmitter may be configured to receive a second sequence of the light-powered optical frame templates through the light-powered optical fiber port of the second optical fiber connector.

The second optical transmitter may be configured to modulate the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate a second sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the second sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The first data processing apparatus may be configured to receive a second sequence of the loaded optical frames transmitted by the second photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

The second data processing apparatus may be configured to receive the first sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted from the first photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

Drawings

Other aspects, features, and benefits of the various disclosed embodiments will become more fully apparent, by way of example, from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an optical communication system in which at least some embodiments may be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an optical power module that may be used in the optical communication system of FIG. 1, according to an example embodiment;

3A-3E illustrate some features of light generated by light energization in the optical communication system of FIG. 1, in accordance with some embodiments;

FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate optical powers, one or more of which may be used in the optical communication system of FIG. 1, in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example distributed optical transmitter of the optical communication system of FIG. 1, the optical communication system of FIG. 1 employing the optical power module of FIG. 2, in accordance with an embodiment;

fig. 6 shows a block diagram of an optical transmitter that may be used in the optical communication system of fig. 1, according to an embodiment;

7A-7D illustrate some exemplary use cases that demonstrate polarization-rotated independent optical power allocation that may be implemented in the optical communication system of FIG. 1, in accordance with some embodiments; and

fig. 8 illustrates some signals used/generated in the optical transmitter of fig. 5 and corresponding electrical signals recovered by the corresponding optical receivers, according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 9 to 13A are schematic diagrams of examples of an optical communication system.

Fig. 13B is a schematic diagram of an example of a fiber optic cable assembly for use in the optical communication system of fig. 13A.

Fig. 13C is an enlarged schematic view of the cable assembly of fig. 13B.

Fig. 13D is an enlarged schematic view of an upper portion of the fiber optic cable assembly of fig. 13B.

Fig. 13E is an enlarged schematic view of the lower portion of the cable assembly of fig. 13B.

Fig. 14 and 15A are schematic diagrams of examples of an optical communication system.

Fig. 15B is a schematic diagram of an example of a fiber optic cable assembly.

Fig. 15C is an enlarged schematic view of the cable assembly of fig. 15B.

Fig. 15D is an enlarged schematic view of an upper portion of the fiber optic cable assembly of fig. 15B.

Fig. 15E is an enlarged schematic view of a lower portion of the cable assembly of fig. 15B.

Fig. 16 and 17A are schematic diagrams of examples of an optical communication system.

Fig. 17B is a schematic diagram of an example of a fiber optic cable assembly.

Fig. 17C is an enlarged schematic view of the fiber optic cable assembly of fig. 17B.

Fig. 18-20B are schematic diagrams of examples of data processing systems.

Detailed Description

For example, at least some embodiments may benefit from the use of a light source configured to provide pulsed light for local light modulation and/or as a clock reference within a corresponding synchronous island as disclosed in U.S. patent application 16/847,705 filed on 4/14 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Emerging optical interconnects aim to co-package and even co-integrate optical transponders with electronic processing chips, which requires transponder solutions to consume relatively low power and be sufficiently robust to significant temperature variations seen within electronic processing chip packages. There is an interest in large scale spatially parallel optical interconnect solutions that multiplex information onto relatively few wavelengths and use a relatively large number of parallel spatial paths for chip-to-chip (chip-to-chip) interconnection. In such systems, it may be beneficial to place the light source outside of the package housing the corresponding photonic and electronic processing chip and connect the light source to the package through one or more optical fibers. In some such systems, the light source may be placed at a separate location connected to the package, for example, the separate location is optically connected to the package by at least one meter of optical fiber.

In some such systems, at least some of the photonic components within the package may be polarization sensitive, i.e., only accept or only properly process light of a particular polarization state. For example, a one-dimensional vertical grating coupler that can be used as a coupling interface to connect a light source to a packaged optical fiber can only couple light of one particular polarization from the optical fiber to a photon processing chip while rejecting, deflecting, or dissipating other light. In another example, a light modulator integrated within a package may effectively modulate light in only one particular polarization state. Therefore, in such systems, it is beneficial to use Polarization Maintaining Fibers (PMFs) to connect the light sources to the corresponding electronic and photonic processing chips. However, some systems employing PMFs may be more difficult and/or expensive to manufacture than systems employing standard non-polarization maintaining fibers (SFs), for example, because PMFs may be more expensive than SFs and PMFs may require rotationally aligned fiber optic connections. However, the SF may not maintain the polarization state of light as it is transmitted from the light source to the package.

Thus, some systems that use SF to connect a light source to a photonic chip may require active optical polarization control mechanisms or polarization diversity settings. In some such systems, polarization diversity may be achieved by doubling the number of data modulators within the package, for example as disclosed in U.S. patent No. 5,654,818, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In some such systems, polarization diversity may be implemented by using a more complex optical data modulator structure, such as the 4-port optical modulator disclosed in U.S. patent No. 10,222,676, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. patent nos. 6,959,152 and 7,106,970, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, disclose systems configured to use time-interleaved and orthogonally polarized optical bursts at the same optical wavelength. However, such time interleaving may result in significant clock jitter and/or pulse stretching at the modulator due to random polarization rotation within the corresponding SF.

For example, as outlined in the present specification, at least some of the above-described problems in the prior art may be solved by using various embodiments that employ polarization diversity light energization. For example, the need for PMFs may be advantageously circumvented.

Fig. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a communication system 100 in which at least some embodiments may be implemented. As shown, system 100 includes node 101 ₁ -101 ₆ In some embodiments, each node may include one or more of the following: optical communication devices, electronic switching devices and/or optical switching devices, electronic routing devices and/or optical routing devices, network control devices, flow control devices, synchronization devices, computing devices, and data storage devices. Node 101 ₁ -101 ₆ May pass through the fiber optic link 102 ₁ -102 ₁₂ Appropriately interconnected to establish a communication path between communication devices within the node. The system 100 may also include one or more light energizing modules 103 that generate one or more light source outputs.

As used herein, "light source" or "energy light" refers to a light source intended for use as node 101 ₁ -101 ₆ The complex amplitude of the optical field of the modulated carrier light in the one or more optical communication devices is "stable". In this context, if the light comprises one or more Continuous Wave (CW) optical fields, or if the light comprises a period T _I Wherein the pulse repetition rate R _I ＝1/T _I ) The light is said to be "stable" and each pulse train has a substantially constant respective light pulse amplitude and a substantially constant respective light pulse duration over a time intervalThe inter-space is significantly longer (e.g., at least 100 times) than the duration T of the modulation symbols used for optical communications in the system 100 _S . (hereinafter, R _S ＝1/T _S Referred to as the modulation symbol rate. )

As used herein, if the complex amplitude of the light field of light is of duration T _CW Approximately (e.g., within ±20%) constant, the light is referred to as "Continuous Wave (CW)", T _CW Much longer than the minimum feature duration used by the communication signals within system 100. In some embodiments, if the complex amplitude of the optical field of light is at the duration T of the modulation symbol _S At least 100 times (i.e. T _CW ≥100T _S ) Substantially constant, the light may be referred to as CW light. In some embodiments, if the complex amplitude of the light field of light is at least T _CW ≥1000T _S The light may be referred to as CW light if it is substantially constant. In some embodiments, the term "continuous wave" (or CW) may also be applied to a light field affected by random noise, random drift, or small analog dither modulation that uses frequencies much lower than R _S (e.g. frequency less than R _S One or more sine wave dithering tones of/1000), provided that the effects of noise, drift or dithering are not so strong as to cause a change in light intensity, e.g., over a duration T _CW And within + 20% of the average light intensity.

As used herein, the phrase "period T _I Refers to the light intensity waveform I (t) = |e ₀ (t)| ² With a time period T _I With a periodic light field. In some embodiments, the complex amplitude E of the optical field of the optical pulse train ₀ (T) may be T _I Is periodic, i.e. has a period of n T _I Where n=1, 2, 3, ….

As used herein, the term "periodic" refers to a waveform characterized by a parameter or feature (or a change in a parameter, or a change in a feature) that is of duration T _D Each time period T in the frame is repeated, wherein T _D Significantly greater than T, e.g. T _D And more than or equal to 100T. In some cases, the term "period Sex "may also be applied to waveforms affected by random noise, random drift, or small analog dither modulation that uses one or more sine wave dither tones at frequencies well below 1/T, e.g., at frequencies less than 1/(1000T), so long as the noise, drift, or dither is not so strong as to blur the waveform periodically (e.g., render it substantially undetectable).

In some embodiments, the light source may also include control information. The control information may be used by other network elements of the system 100, for example, as described in the above-mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/847,705. As used herein, the term "control information" refers to information printed by the light energy module 103 onto one or more light sources for controlling, managing, and/or monitoring one or more network elements of the system 100, and/or for facilitating various synchronous operations within one or more network elements of the system 100. In some embodiments, the control information may include one or more of the following: clock frequency, clock phase, synchronization time stamp, frame delimiter, frame counter, status information, heartbeat signal, and commands that may be used to control the behavior of other network elements, such as master/slave allocation or reset commands.

For illustration purposes, only one such light energizing module 103 is shown in fig. 1. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that some embodiments may have more than one light-powering module 103 suitably distributed over the system 100, and that such multiple light-powering modules may be synchronized, for example, using some of the techniques disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/847,705.

Some end-to-end communication paths may pass through the optical power module 103 (see, e.g., node 101 ₂ And 101 ₆ A communication path between). For example, node 101 ₂ And 101 ₆ The communication path between may be defined by fiber optic link 102 ₇ And 102 ₈ Together, thereby multiplexing the light provided by the light energizing module 103 to the fiber optic link 102 ₇ And 102 ₈ And (3) upper part.

Some end-to-end communication paths may pass through one or more optical multiplexing units 104 (see, e.g., node 101 ₂ And 101 ₆ A communication path between). For example, node 101 ₂ And 101 ₆ The communication path between may be defined by fiber optic link 102 ₁₀ And 102 ₁₁ And (5) jointly establishing. Multiplexing unit 104 also passes through link 102 ₉ Is connected to receive light provided by the light energizing module 103 and is therefore operable to multiplex the received light supply to the optical fiber link 102 ₁₀ And 102 ₁₁ And (3) upper part.

Some end-to-end communication paths may pass through one or more optical switching units 105 (see, e.g., node 101 ₁ And 101 ₄ A communication path between). For example, node 101 ₁ And 101 ₄ The communication path between may be defined by fiber optic link 102 ₃ And 102 ₁₂ Co-establishment, thereby coming from the fiber optic link 102 ₃ And 102 ₄ Is directed to the fiber optic link 102 either statically or dynamically ₁₂ 。

As used herein, the term "network element" refers to any element that generates, modulates, processes, or receives light for communication within system 100. Example network elements include node 101, optical power module 103, optical multiplexing unit 104, and optical switching unit 105.

Some light supply distribution paths may pass through one or more network elements. For example, the light powering module 103 may be via an optical fiber link 102 ₇ 、102 ₄ And 102 ₁₂ To node 101 ₄ Providing light, passing the provided light through the network element 101 ₂ And 105.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a light energizing 290 according to an example embodiment, the light energizing 290 may be used as part of the light energizing module 103 to create a light source for the system 100. The light energy supply 290 includes: (i) A light source 200, the light source 200 having two

light outputs

212 and 222, each in a single polarization state; (ii) An electronic controller 230, the electronic controller 230 being configured to control the light source 200, for example to establish time/frequency orthogonality between the light output 212 and the light output 222; and a polarization combiner 240, the polarization combiner 240 being configured to multiplex the

light outputs

212 and 222 onto two orthogonal polarization states at its output 242.

Herein, a "polarization combiner" is an optical device having two input ports (e.g., connected to 212 and 222) and at least one output port (e.g., 242), and configured to multiplex light in a first polarization state onto a first polarization state of light on one of its output ports at a first input port thereof, and multiplex light in a second polarization state onto a second polarization state of light on the same output port at a second input port thereof, the second polarization state at output port 242 being substantially orthogonal to the first polarization state at output port 242. In some embodiments, the two orthogonal polarization states at the output port 242 may be horizontally and vertically linearly polarized, respectively. In some other embodiments, the two orthogonal polarization states at the output port 242 may be left-hand and right-hand circular polarization, respectively. In some other embodiments, the two orthogonal polarization states at the output port 242 may be relatively orthogonal elliptical polarization states. In some embodiments, the polarization states at

input ports

212 and 222 may be the same. In some other embodiments, the polarization states at

input ports

212 and 222 may be orthogonal. In some embodiments, polarization combiner 240 may include polarization sensitive optical elements, e.g., implemented as a polarization combiner. In some other embodiments, polarization combiner 240 may not include any polarization sensitive elements, and may be implemented as a polarization preserving power combiner or a polarization preserving wavelength multiplexer, for example.

The concept of "polarization state" is illustrated in fig. 7A. For example, light in a linear polarization state may be represented by a complex electric field vector

Wherein the unit vector

It may be maintained within a certain accuracy, e.g., within a 20 degree accuracy, along a linear cartesian axis (e.g., an x-axis defined with respect to a fixed coordinate system of the light source 200) for a relatively long duration (e.g., about one hour). In some embodiments of the present invention, in some embodiments,unit vector->

It may be maintained within a certain accuracy, e.g., within 20 degrees of accuracy, along the direction of the linear cartesian axis for the duration of typical normal operation of the light powered 290. In the above expression, E ₀ (t) is the constant or time-varying complex amplitude of the complex field vector, f is the optical frequency, t represents the time variable, and +.>

In another example, the circular polarization state may be represented by a complex electric field vector

Wherein the unit vector

And->

Orthogonal and the two unit vectors maintain their orientation along the two orthogonal linear cartesian axes to within a certain accuracy, e.g., within 20 degrees of accuracy, for a relatively long duration (e.g., about one hour). As used herein, the term "polarized light" means light in a certain well-defined polarization state.

As used herein, if the complex amplitudes E of the two light fields ₁ (t) and E ₂ The orthogonality η of (t) is close to 1, e.g. has a value between 0.8 and 1, where the orthogonality η is defined as

The two light fields are said to be "time/frequency orthogonal". Herein, the integration time interval [ T, t+T ]]A time interval representing the time/frequency orthogonality to be determined. If the light fieldE ₁ (t) and E ₂ At least one light field in (T) has an aperiodic complex amplitude, then the integration time interval is selected to be longer than the characteristic duration within system 100, e.g., duration T may be selected to be the duration T of the modulation symbol _S At least 10 times the duration of the information package, or at least 10 times the duration of the optical frame template. If both light fields have a periodic complex amplitude E of period T ₁ (t) or E ₂ (T), the duration T may be selected as the duration over which the above integration is performed. In some embodiments, if η is greater than 0.8, the two fields may be said to be time/frequency orthogonal. In some embodiments, if η is greater than 0.9, the two fields may be said to be time/frequency orthogonal. In some embodiments, if η is greater than 0.99, the two fields may be said to be orthogonal in time/frequency. The orthogonality η may also be expressed in the frequency domain as

From the two definitions above (see equations (3) and (4)), it can be seen, for example, if the two light fields are: (i) Spectrally disjoint (i.e., if the spectral content of the two fields is predominantly at mutually exclusive optical frequencies); and/or (ii) non-intersecting in time (i.e., the complex amplitudes of the two light fields differ from zero primarily at mutually exclusive times), then the two light fields are time-frequency orthogonal. In some embodiments, if two light fields overlap in both time and frequency, they may be time/frequency orthogonal, provided that their orthogonality approaches 1, e.g., as shown by the example values/ranges of η above.

In some embodiments, light source 200 generates light of each different optical center frequency for

light outputs

212 and 222. As used herein, the term "optical center frequency" refers to the centroid (center of mass) of the power spectral density of a light field. In some embodiments, the controller 230 may be operable to control the optical frequency spacing of the

light outputs

212 and 222 generated by the light source 200, such as the difference between the optical center frequencies of the two light sources.

In some embodiments, the light source 200 may be operable to generate two Continuous Wave (CW) light outputs.

In some embodiments, the light source 200 may be configured such that the

light outputs

212 and 222 include about (e.g., within ±1%) the same period T _I Is provided). In some embodiments, the shape of the light pulses of the pulse train on light output 212 may be different from the shape of the light pulses of the pulse train on light output 222. In some embodiments, the shape of the light pulses of the pulse train on light output 212 may be substantially the same as the shape of the light pulses of the pulse train on light output 222. In some embodiments, the controller 230 may be configured to phase lock the light pulse trains relative to each other. In some embodiments, the controller 230 may be configured to synchronize the train of light pulses such that the center of the light pulse on the light output 212 is aligned in time with the center of the pulse on the light output 222. As used herein, the term "center of a pulse" refers to the time corresponding to the centroid of the pulse intensity waveform. In some embodiments, the controller 230 may be configured to synchronize the light pulse train such that the center of the light pulse on the light output 212 is offset in time from the center of the pulse on the light output 222 by a fixed amount Δt. In some embodiments, ΔT<T _I /2. In some embodiments, ΔT<T _I /4。

In some embodiments, the controller 230 may invoke the

light outputs

212 and 222 to carry control information. The control information may be used by other network elements of the system 100, for example, as described in the above-mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/847,705. As used herein, the term "control information" refers to information that is printed (e.g., equally or unequally) by the light supply 290 onto one or both of the

light outputs

212 and 222 for controlling, managing, and/or monitoring one or more network elements of the system 100, and/or for facilitating various synchronous operations within the one or more network elements of the system 100. In some embodiments, the control information may include one or more of the following: clock frequency, clock phase, synchronization time stamp, frame delimiter, frame counter, status information, heartbeat signal, and commands that may be used to control the behavior of other network elements, such as master/slave allocation or reset commands. Different types of control information may be equally or unequally imprinted onto the

light outputs

212 and 222 using different features thereof. For example, any suitable data modulation may be used to print some type of control information, equally or unequally on the

light outputs

212 and 222. In various embodiments, approximately equal changes in intensity, phase, frequency, or polarization of

light

212 and 222 may be used to print the control information.

Fig. 3A-3E illustrate various features of the

light outputs

212 and 222 of the light energy supply 290 according to some embodiments. Fig. 3A shows a plot of intensity versus time for some embodiments of

light outputs

212 and 222. In these particular embodiments, the

light outputs

212 and 222 may each be at a different optical frequency f ₁ ＝c/λ ₁ And f ₂ ＝c/λ ₂ Wherein lambda is ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ Is with optical frequency f ₁ And f ₂ The wavelength of interest, and c is the speed of light in the medium at the measurement wavelength.

Fig. 3B shows the optical Power Spectral Densities (PSDs) of the

optical outputs

212 and 222. In some embodiments, the optical frequency difference Δf= |f between light output 212 and light output 222 ₁ –f ₂ I may be significantly greater than the symbol rate R used for communication by the transmitter of node 101 _S I.e. Δf>>R _S Node 101 receives light for modulation from light source 290. In some embodiments, Δf>2R _S . In some other embodiments, Δf>5R. In some other embodiments, the frequency difference Δf may be selected to be about (e.g., within ±10%) R _S Integer multiples of (a), Δf≡ n R _S Where n=1, 2, 3, …. In some embodiments, Δf≡R _S . In some embodiments, Δf≡2R _S 。

Fig. 3C shows a plot of intensity versus time for

light outputs

212 and 222 for some example embodiments. In these embodiments, the

light outputs

212 and 222 may each be at a different respective optical center frequency f ₁ ≠f ₂ Period T of upper carrying _I And pulse duration T _P Is provided). In some embodiments, T _P May be defined as the full width at half maximum of the light intensity waveform of the pulse. In other embodiments, T _P May be defined as the inverse of the 3dB bandwidth of the optical pulse spectrum. In some embodiments, T _P May be approximately equal to the burst period T _I Half of (T) _P ≈T _I /2. In some embodiments, the bursts of light output 212 may be offset in time by an amount of time Δt relative to the bursts of light output 222. In some embodiments, the time offset Δt may be greater than 1.5 times the full width at half height of the pulses making up the pulse train. In some other embodiments, the time offset Δt may be greater than 2 times the full width at half height of the pulses making up the pulse train. In some embodiments, the time offset may be significantly less than T _I /2. In some embodiments, the two bursts may be aligned in time, i.e., ΔT≡0. In some embodiments, the time alignment may imply ΔT<T _P /10. In some embodiments, the time alignment may imply ΔT<T _P /100. In some embodiments, the time alignment may imply ΔT<T _I /10. In some embodiments, the time alignment may imply ΔT <T _I /100。

Fig. 3D and 3E illustrate spectra of

light outputs

212 and 222 according to some example embodiments. In some embodiments, the frequency interval Δf= |f ₁ –f ₂ I can be significantly greater than the pulse repetition rate R _I ＝1/T _I I.e. Δf>>R _I . In some other embodiments, Δf>5R _I . In some other embodiments, the frequency difference Δf may be selected to be about (e.g., within ±10%) R _I Integer multiples of (a), Δf≡ n R _I Where n=2, 3, 4, …. In some embodiments, Δf≡2R _I . In some embodiments, Δf≡3R _I . In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3E, the complex amplitudes of light output 212 and light output 222 may each have a period R _I Sinusoidal time dependence of/2, i.e. the spectra of light output 222 and light output 212 each comprise an interval R _I Is a tone of the audio signal. Thus, the resulting timeIntensity waveform and sin of corresponding pulse trains at light outputs 212 and 222 ² (πR _I t) is proportional. In various embodiments, the center frequencies of the

light outputs

212 and 222 may be spaced 2R apart _I That is, the four tones together comprising

light outputs

212 and 222 are all spaced R _I . In various embodiments, the optical phase difference between spectrally adjacent tones is constant, e.g., at frequency f ₁ –R _I Tone sum at frequency f/2 ₁ +R _I Phase difference between tones of/2 and at frequency f ₂ –R _I The sum of/2 is at frequency f ₂ +R _I The phase difference between tones of/2 is the same. This constant phase progression may ensure that the time skew between the bursts at

light outputs

212 and 222 is approximately zero, e.g., Δt=0. In some embodiments, at frequency f ₁ +R _I Tone sum at frequency f/2 ₂ –R _I The tones of/2 may also have a frequency f ₁ –R _I Tone sum at frequency f/2 ₁ +R _I The phase difference value between tones of/2 is the same.

Fig. 4A-4F illustrate various embodiments of light energy supply 290. Various embodiments corresponding to fig. 4A-4C implement some of the schemes described above with reference to fig. 3A-3B. In the example embodiment shown in fig. 4A, two

CW laser sources

410 and 420 are operated to emit light each at a different wavelength λ ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ Which may be optically amplified using polarization maintaining

optical amplifiers

413 and 423, i.e., light in respective specific polarization states. The two CW light sources may be polarization synthesized using a light polarization synthesizer 440 configured to combine polarized light on their two

input ports

412 and 422 onto two orthogonal polarization states on their output ports 441. The spectral characteristics of the light polarization combiner 440 are such that the wavelength λ ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ Can pass through with little attenuation. In some embodiments, polarization combiner 440 may be a polarization beam combiner. In some other embodiments, polarization combiner 440 may be a polarization preserving power combiner. In other embodiments, polarization combiner 440 may be a polarization preserving wavelength multiplexer. Polarization synthesizer440 may be followed by a polarization independent optical amplifier 443.

Lasers

410 and 420 may be wavelength controlled by a wavelength controller 430.

In the embodiment of the light-powered 290 shown in FIG. 4B, the wavelength λ ₁ May be free-running or may be wavelength locked by a wavelength controller 431 and configured to emit polarized light. The light generated by the laser source 410 may be amplified by a polarization maintaining optical amplifier 413 before being distributed by an optical splitter 414. In some embodiments, optical splitter 414 may be a polarization maintaining optical power splitter. In some other embodiments, optical splitter 414 may be a polarizing beam splitter configured to split polarized light incident on its input 415 into two orthogonal polarized portions at its two

outputs

416 and 426. In some embodiments, optical splitter 414 may be a linear polarization splitter oriented at 45 degrees relative to the linear polarization state of the incident laser light on its input 415. Wavelength lambda ₁ The portion 416 of the distributed light may be directly transferred to the combiner 440 and the portion 426 of the distributed light may be frequency shifted using the optical frequency shifter 424, the optical frequency shifter 424 being driven by, for example, a sinusoidal electrical reference signal 432. In some embodiments, frequency shifter 424 includes one of: an acousto-optic modulator, a single sideband modulator, and a Mach-Zehnder modulator (Mach-Zehnder modulator). In some embodiments, the frequency shifter 424 may be followed by an optional optical bandpass filter 425, and the optical bandpass filter 425 may pass only one tone of the several tones generated by the upstream frequency shifter 424. Additional optical amplifiers 423 may be used to compensate for light loss. The frequency shifted light at port 422 may be combined in combiner 440 with the unshifted light polarization at port 412.

In the embodiment of the light powered 290 shown in fig. 4C, the CW laser source 410 may be free-running or wavelength controlled by a wavelength controller 431. The output of the laser source 410 may be modulated by an optical modulator 417 driven by an electrical signal generator 433. Modulator 417 may be configured to split the CW light field at its input into two spectral tones at its output. For example, modulator 417 may be a Mach-Zehnder modulator biased at its transmission zero and driven by a sinusoidal electrical signal The amplitude of the electrical signal is significantly smaller than the half-wave voltage of the modulator and the period of the sinusoidal electrical signal is T. This mode of operation is known to be suppressed at optical frequency f ₀ And generating at the modulator output a CW tone at f _1,2 ＝f ₀ Two spectral tones of + -T. The two tones that make up light field 418 may be divided into

portions

416 and 426 by optical divider 419. In some embodiments, optical divider 419 may be implemented using an optical (de) cross-wavelength division multiplexer. The

portions

416 and 426 may then be polarization quadrature synthesized using synthesizer 440. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may also be configured to print control information on light field 418. For example, modulator 417 may be configured to periodically extinguish light of light field 418 for a short period of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to be 1000T per duration _S Light 2T of extinguished light field 418 within a period of _S Duration of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to be 10000T per duration _S Modulates the time stamp onto light 418 by 10T during the period of _S Duration of time.

The various embodiments of fig. 4D-4F implement some of the schemes described with reference to fig. 3C-3E above. In the embodiment of the light-powered 290 shown in FIG. 4D, the two

laser sources

410 and 420 may emit different wavelengths λ ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ Is a polarization of light of (a). In some embodiments, the wavelength λ ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ And/or their difference may be controlled by wavelength controller 430. In some embodiments,

lasers

410 and 420 may emit CW light. In some other embodiments, the light emitted by one or both of

lasers

410 and 420 may comprise a train of light pulses. In some embodiments, the light emitted by

lasers

410 and 420 may be modulated using

light modulators

417 and 427, the

light modulators

417 and 427 being driven by respective electrical signals generated by signal generator 433. In some embodiments, laser 410 and modulator 417 and laser 420 and modulator 427 and signal generator 433 may be configured such that modulated

light fields

456 and 457 each include a period T _I Is provided). In some embodiments,

modulators

417 and 427 may be electro-absorption modulators, ring modulatorsA mach-zehnder modulator, or an in-phase/quadrature (IQ) modulator. In some embodiments,

modulators

417 and 427 and signal generator 433 may be configured to generate

light fields

456 and 457 that are periodically modulated in amplitude and phase, including chirped and optionally predistorted light fields, such as dispersive predistortion light fields. In some embodiments, the functions of light generation and modulation provided by laser 410 and modulator 417, and laser 420 and modulator 427, may each be implemented using a single directly modulated laser or mode-locked laser. In some embodiments, the output of the modulator 427 may be delayed by an optical delay element 419. In some embodiments, delay element 419 may be implemented using a length of optical fiber. In some other embodiments, the delay element 419 may be a lumped free space optical delay element. In some embodiments, the delay ΔT applied to the optical pulse train 457 by the delay element 419 relative to the optical pulse train 456 may be less than half the period of the optical pulse train, i.e., ΔT <T _I /2. In some other embodiments, the delay imposed on the optical pulse train 457 by the delay element 419 relative to the optical pulse train 456 may be less than T _I Is an integer multiple of half the period of the modular optical pulse train, i.e., deltat + k T _I Wherein k= ±1, ±2, ±3, …. In some embodiments, each pulse of the light pulse trains 456 and 457 may have substantially similar intensity waveforms. In some other embodiments, each pulse of the optical pulse trains 456 and 457 may have a different intensity waveform. The optical pulse trains 456 and 457 may be polarization combined using combiner 440, the combiner 440 being configured to combine light on its two input ports onto orthogonal polarizations at its output ports. In some embodiments, the dispersion compensating optical element 470 can pre-disperse the polarization multiplexed optical pulse train. In some embodiments, the dispersion compensating optical element 470 may be a grating-based or etalon-based optical dispersion compensator. In some other embodiments, the dispersion compensating optical element 470 may be implemented using a length of dispersion compensating fiber. In some embodiments,

modulators

417 and 427 may also be configured to print control information on

optical bursts

456 and 457. For example,

modulators

417 and 427 may be configured to be periodic in a short

time period Light

456 and 457 is extinguished. In some embodiments,

modulators

417 and 427 may be configured to be 1000T in each duration _S Is turned off 456 and 457 2T in the period of (2) _S Duration of time. In some embodiments,

modulators

417 and 427 may be configured to be 10000T in each duration _S Modulates the time stamp to light 456 and 457 10T during the period of (a) _S Duration of time.

In the embodiment of the light-powered 290 shown in FIG. 4E, the two

laser sources

410 and 420 may emit respective different wavelengths λ ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ Is a polarization of light of (a). In some embodiments, the wavelength λ ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ And/or their difference may be controlled by wavelength controller 430. The light generated by

lasers

410 and 420 may be combined by polarization maintaining combiner 428. In some embodiments, polarization maintaining combiner 428 may be a polarization maintaining power combiner. In some embodiments, polarization maintaining combiner 428 may be a polarization maintaining wavelength multiplexer. The combined light may be modulated by an optical modulator 417 driven by an electrical signal generator 433 at a wavelength lambda ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ Generates a train of light pulses at the modulator output 418 at each wavelength. The light output by modulator 417 may be split into two

portions

456 and 457 using splitter 414. In some embodiments, portion 456 may be directly passed to synthesizer 440, while portion 457 may be optically delayed by delay element 419. Optionally, the relatively

delayed portions

456 and 457 may be polarization combined using combiner 440, combiner 440 being configured to combine light on its two input ports onto orthogonal polarizations at its output ports. In some embodiments, the dispersion compensating optical element 470 can pre-disperse the polarization multiplexed optical pulse train. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may also be configured to print control information on light output 418. For example, modulator 417 may be configured to periodically extinguish light 418 for a short period of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to be 1000T per duration _S Is turned off 418T 2T in the period of _S Duration of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to be 10000T per duration _S Modulates the time stamp into light 418 10T during the period of (a) _S Duration of time.

In the embodiment of the light powered 290 shown in fig. 4F, the CW laser source 410 may be free-running or wavelength controlled by a wavelength controller 431. The output of the laser source 410 may be modulated by an optical modulator 417 driven by an electrical signal generator 433. Modulator 417 may be a polarization diversity in-phase/quadrature (IQ) modulator (PDM-IQM) comprising a total of four mach-zehnder modulators (labeled Ix-MZM, qx-MZM, iy-MZM, and Qy-MZM, fig. 4F) in a nested configuration, with the "Q" path being placed with an optical phase shift of 90 degrees relative to the "I" path. PDM-IQM 417 and signal generator 433 may be configured to generate the spectrum shown in fig. 3E, for example, as follows: signal 433 _Ix 、433 _Qx 、433 _Iy And 433 (r) _Qy An electrical signal configured to have a voltage swing which is not significantly greater than the half-wave voltage of each Mach-Zehnder modulator and which is time dependent of cos (pi R _I t)+cos(3πR _I t)、–sin(πR _I t)–sin(3πR _I t)、cos(πR _I t)+cos(3πR _I t) and sin (pi R) _I t)+sin(3πR _I t). In some embodiments, electrical signal 433 _Ix 、433 _Qx、 433 _Iy And 433 (r) _Qy May be generated using a digital-to-analog converter (not explicitly shown in fig. 4F). In some embodiments, modulator 417 may also be configured to print control information on

lights

456 and 457. For example, modulator 417 may be configured to periodically extinguish light 456 and 457 for a short period of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to be 1000T per duration _S Is turned off 456 and 457 2T in the period of (2) _S Duration of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to be 10000T per duration _S Time stamp is modulated to

light

456 and 457 10T during the time period of (a) _S Duration of time.

Fig. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a distributed optical transmitter 500 according to an embodiment, the distributed optical transmitter 500 may be used in the optical communication system 100 of fig. 1. The emitter 500 includes a light energy supply 290 and an emitting module 504. As shown in fig. 5, the light energizing 290 may be part of the light energizing module 103. In operation, the light energy supply 290 may be generated on the output 242As a light source, for example, as described with reference to one or more of fig. 3A-3E. The output 242 of the optical energy supply 290 is optically coupled to the emission module 504 by an optical fiber 543, for example, the optical fiber 543 may be an optical fiber link 102 ₆ Is a part of the same. In different embodiments, the transmit module 504 may be part of different network elements of the system 100. For purposes of illustration and without any implied limitation, the transmit module 504 described herein references that the transmit element is node 101 ₁ Is part of an embodiment of the invention.

In some embodiments, optical fiber 543 may include one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber. In such embodiments, node 101 is supplied by optical power module 103 ₁ May undergo random polarization rotation as it propagates through fiber 543. Due to this random polarization rotation, light supplied by fiber 543 can reach node 101 ₁ Such that the two polarization components of the light output 242 are two random components but have relatively orthogonal polarization states when entering the emission module 504 via the optical interface 510 of the emission module 504. The relative orthogonality may be maintained, for example, because the two polarization components of the light output 242 are subject to substantially the same (albeit random) polarization rotation in one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber.

In some embodiments, optical interface 510 may include one or more optical connectors, one or more edge coupling mechanisms to a Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC), one or more vertical coupling mechanisms to the PIC, and so forth. The optical interface 510 is connected to an optical polarization splitter 515. In some embodiments, the polarization splitting function of optical polarization splitter 515 may be integrated into optical interface 510. For example, in some embodiments, the polarization diversity vertical grating coupler may be configured to act as part of both the polarization splitter 515 and the optical interface 510. In some embodiments, an optical connector including a polarization diversity arrangement may act as both an optical interface 510 and a polarization splitter 515.

Due to polarization multiplexing properties and time/frequency orthogonality of the light generated by light energy 290 on output 242, fiber optic link 102 ₆ Any arbitrary polarization rotation within will cause the

output ports

516 and 517 of the optical polarization splitter 515Substantially equal optical power distribution (see, e.g., the detailed description of fig. 7A-7D below). Thus, the light on

ports

516 and 517 may be used as a relatively stable light power for light modulation within the transmit module 504, which is in conjunction with link 102 ₆ The random polarization rotations that may occur in the same are irrelevant.

Optical modulator 530 ₁ And 530 (V) ₂ Receiving the supply light on respective

polarization splitter outputs

516 and 517 and using one or more electrical drive signals 531 ₁ And 531 ₂ Modulating data onto the light to respectively at modulator outputs 532 ₁ And 531 ₂ And generates respective modulated optical signals. In various embodiments, modulation may be in any one or more of intensity, phase, polarization, and frequency. In some embodiments, 1/T may be used _I Is modulated by the modulation symbol rate of (a). In some embodiments, polarization rotator 506 may be used to convert the orthogonal output polarization states at

polarization splitter outputs

516 and 517 to equal polarization states on ports 516 and 517' for subsequent modulation. For example, polarization splitter 515 may split light incident on its input ports into Transverse Magnetic (TM) and Transverse Electric (TE) polarizations at its two

outputs

516 and 517, respectively. If modulators 530 are all designed to modulate TE polarized light, polarization rotator 506 may be used to rotate the TM polarized light on port 517 to the TE polarized light on port 517'. In some embodiments, polarization rotator 506 may be part of polarization splitter 515.

Modulator output port 532 ₁ And 532 ₂ The modulated light on may be transferred to link 102 ₁ To communicate information to another node of system 100, which in the example case shown in fig. 5 is node 101 ₂ . Some example signals that may be used and/or generated in transmitter 500 are described below with reference to fig. 8.

Fig. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a light emitting module 600 that may be used in the system 100 according to an embodiment. The transmit module 600 may be implemented using some of the same elements as the transmit module 504, e.g., as indicated by corresponding matched reference numerals in fig. 5 and 6A kind of electronic device. In different embodiments, the transmitting module 600 may be part of different network elements of the system 100. For purposes of illustration and without any implied limitation, the transmit module 600 described herein refers to the transmit module being node 101 ₁ Is part of an embodiment of the invention.

In operation, the transmit module 600 may be coupled to the optical link 102 via the optical interface 510 ₆ Light is received from the optical port 242 of the light energizing 290 contained within the light energizing module 103 (see also fig. 1 and 5). The optical interface 510 is connected to an optical polarization splitter 515. In some embodiments, the polarization splitting function of optical polarization splitter 515 may be integrated into optical interface 510. In some embodiments, optical polarization splitter 515 may be further connected to one or more (e.g., cascaded) optical splitters 620, only two of which are shown in fig. 6 for illustrative purposes. In various embodiments, for example, as known in the relevant art, the optical splitter 620 may be constructed using one or more of the following: optical power splitters, wavelength splitters, and spatial distribution splitters (e.g., spatial mode splitters or multicore fiber fanouts).

The optical modulators 530 of the transmit module 600 receive light on respective optical splitter outputs 622 and modulate data onto the light using one or more electrical drive signals 531, producing respective modulated optical signals on modulator outputs 532. In various embodiments, modulation may be in any one or more of intensity, phase, polarization, and frequency. In some embodiments, the symbol rate R may be modulated _S ＝R _I ＝1/T _I Modulation is performed.

In some embodiments, one or more modulators 530 may not sometimes modulate information onto the light of output 622. Alternatively or additionally, one or more of the modulators 530 shown may be omitted (i.e., not present) from the structure of the transmit module 600. In this case, for example, light corresponding to output 622 may be delivered to other network elements of system 100 through emission module 600 in accordance with the functional description provided above of some aspects of system 100 (fig. 1). In some embodiments, other network elements of the system 100 may use some of such transmitted light 622 as light energy. In some embodiments, other network elements of system 100 may receive some of such transmitted light 622 to extract control information therefrom.

In some embodiments, some modulators 530 of the transmit module 600 may be configured to modulate light received from the corresponding output 622 using more than one electrical drive signal 531. Examples of such modulators 530 include, but are not limited to, in-phase/quadrature (IQ) modulators and segmented electrode modulators. In various embodiments, optoelectronic modulator 530 may comprise an electro-absorption modulator, a ring modulator, or a Mach-Zehnder modulator. In various embodiments, the optoelectronic modulator 530 may be made of a semiconductor material, a material used in silicon photonics, a polymer material, or lithium niobate. In some embodiments, optoelectronic modulator 530 may be at least partially integrated in one or more PICs (not explicitly shown in fig. 6). In various embodiments, the electrical drive signal 531 may be binary or multilevel. In some embodiments, the electrical drive signal 531 may be of an appropriate pulse shape, or may be predistorted using digital or analog filters, or may be electrically amplified using an electrical driver amplifier.

In some embodiments, one or more optical receivers 680 may be used to detect some of the light on the optical splitter output 622 to extract information contained therein. Such information may include, but is not limited to, one or more frequency components, one or more time skew or clock phase values, and one or more pieces of control information embedded within the supply light generated by the light energizing module 103.

In some embodiments, the information extracted by the optical receiver 680 may be provided on its output port 681 to devices external to the transmit module 600 for further use within the system 100, such as for network traffic synchronization/arbitration/scheduling, database time stamping, local clock synchronization, and the like. In some embodiments, information extracted by the optical receiver 680 may be fed into the electronic signal processor 612. In some embodiments, the electronic signal processor 612 may receive one or more electrical signals 614 and may pre-process the electrical signals to generate an electrical drive signal 531 for the modulator 530. In some embodiments, preprocessing may include any form of analog, digital, or mixed signal manipulation including, but not limited to, retiming, deskewing, buffering, bit stuffing, bit stripping, forward error correction coding, row coding, framing, insertion of pilot and packet headers, time stamping, linear and nonlinear pre-compensation, pre-equalization, pre-emphasis, and pre-distortion.

In some embodiments, one or more multiplexers 624 may be used to multiplex the modulated light on the modulator output 532 in the wavelength, polarization, or spatial distribution of the optical field to generate one or more optical multiplexed signals 652. The multiplexed signal 652 may then be transmitted over one or more output interfaces 650 to one or more optical fibers 102 ₁ . In some embodiments, for example, output interface 650 may be implemented as one or more fiber optic connectors, one or more edge couplers from the PIC to the fiber, or one or more vertical couplers from the PIC to the fiber. In some embodiments, certain multiplexing functions of multiplexer 624 may be integrated into certain output interfaces 650. For example, in some embodiments, the polarization diversity vertical grating coupler may serve as part of both the polarization multiplexer and the output interface 650 of the multiplexer 624. In some other embodiments, an optical connector including a polarization diversity arrangement may serve as both the output interface 650 and the polarization multiplexer 624.

In some embodiments, each modulator output 532 may be directly delivered to a corresponding optical fiber or optical fiber link 102 through a corresponding output interface 650 ₁ I.e. without any multiplexing between them. In other words, in some embodiments, multiplexer 624 or some portion thereof may not be present.

Fig. 7A-7D illustrate some example use cases, for example, showing polarization rotation independent optical power distribution within the

emission modules

504 and 600, which

emission modules

504 and 600 may be implemented based on embodiments of the light supply 290 within the light supply module 103.

Fig. 7A shows Poincare sphere (Poincare sphere) that is commonly used to visualize the polarization state of light. Mutually orthogonal polarizations are found at diametrically opposite locations on the sphere. For example, linear polarization states were found on the equator of the sphere, with one orthogonal pair comprising Horizontal Linear Polarization (HLP) and Vertical Linear Polarization (VLP) and the other orthogonal pair comprising ±45 degree (lp±45 degree) linear polarization, as shown in fig. 7A. Orthogonal pairs of Right Circular Polarization (RCP) and Left Circular Polarization (LCP) are located on both poles of the poincare sphere, as also shown in fig. 7A.

FIG. 7B shows a plot of intensity of light at two

output ports

516 and 517 of polarization splitter 515 versus time for an example case (see also FIGS. 5 and 6) in which light energy 103 transmits CW wavelength λ at HLP ₁ And CW wavelength lambda at VLP ₂ (see also fig. 3A-3B). Time intervals (a), (B) and (C), which do not imply what happens in the time series shown, nor are characterized by sharp transitions between them, correspond to three different example cases of random polarization rotation, in which: during time interval (A), fiber link 102 ₆ Does not rotate the polarization; during time interval (B), fiber link 102 ₆ Rotating the polarization to the LP + -45 degree state; and during time interval (C), fiber optic link 102 ₆ The polarization is rotated to the RCP/LCP state. Since the optical power supply 290 is configured to transmit two time/frequency orthogonal optical fields in two orthogonal polarization states, the optical power at the

output ports

516 and 517 of the polarization splitter 515 will be approximately constant regardless of random polarization rotation at the polarization splitter input.

For time interval (a), polarization splitter 515 operates to: (i) Wavelength lambda ₁ Is directed substantially only to output port 516; (ii) converting the wavelength lambda ₂ Is directed substantially only to output port 517. For time interval (B), polarization splitter 515 operates such that each of

output ports

516 and 517 has a substantially equal amount of wavelength λ ₁ And wavelength lambda ₂ Is a light source of a light. Likewise, for time interval (C), polarization splitter 515 operates such that each of

output ports

516 and 517 has a substantially equal amount of wavelength λ ₁ And wavelength lambda ₂ Is a light source of a light. For time intervals (B) and (C), not shown in FIG. 7B, at wavelength λ ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ The difference frequency Δf= |f between two CW tones of (a) ₁ –f ₂ There may be beat oscillations under i. However, with symbol rate R _S In contrast, as long as Δf is selected to be sufficiently large, these oscillations may be averaged over each modulation symbol of transmitter 500 and, therefore, may not significantly affect performance. Selected to be less than R _S And may result in a slow decay of the light output at each

individual port

516 and 517. More specifically, light incident at polarization splitter 515 may periodically transition between being entirely present at output port 516 (no light is present at output port 517) and being entirely present at output port 517 (no light is present at output port 516). This periodic transition of light between

ports

516 and 517 may occur within a period Δf, and if Δf is significantly less than R _S Some of the modulation slots on each polarization splitter output port may not receive light or may not receive enough light to modulate information onto them. Selecting Δf to be significantly greater than R _S Such that the optical transition between

ports

516 and 517 occurs multiple times per symbol period such that each symbol slot always receives half of the light provided by optical power supply 103. Selecting equal to R _S Can generate constant power during time interval (a) or sin during time intervals (B) and (C) at ports 516 and 517 ² (πR _S t) shaped pulses. This particular configuration is useful for some modes of operation. Also, equal to R is selected _S An integer multiple of Δf (Δf=nrs, n=1, 2, 3, …) may be a beneficial mode of operation.

FIG. 7C shows the optical power at two

output ports

516 and 517 of polarization splitter 515 for an exemplary use case, where optical power supply 103 operates to transmit wavelengths λ that partially overlap in time with HLP and VLP ₁ And lambda (lambda) ₂ Pulse train (i.e. delta T)<T _P ) (see also fig. 3C). The time intervals (a), (B) and (C) correspond to the same three cases as the random polarization fluctuations in fig. 7B. For time interval (a), polarization splitter 515 operates to: (i) Wavelength lambda ₁ Is directed substantially only to output port 516; (ii) converting the wavelength lambda ₂ The bursts are directed substantially only toAn output port 517. For time interval (B), polarization splitter 515 operates such that each of

output ports

516 and 517 has a substantially equal amount of wavelength λ ₁ Pulse train and wavelength lambda ₂ Is a pulse train of a pulse. Likewise, for time interval (C), polarization splitter 515 operates such that each of

output ports

516 and 517 has a substantially equal amount of wavelength λ ₁ Pulse train and wavelength lambda ₂ Is a pulse train of a pulse. For time intervals (B) and (C), not shown in FIG. 7C, at wavelength λ ₁ Pulse and wavelength lambda of (2) ₂ When the pulses of (a) overlap in time, at a difference frequency Δf= |f ₁ –f ₂ There may be beat oscillations under i. However, as long as it is equal to the symbol rate R _S These oscillations may be averaged over each modulation symbol of transmitter 500, as compared to choosing a sufficiently large Δf, and thus, may not significantly impact performance. More precisely, the total light pulse duration T measured at the polarization distribution interface 515 _P The total light energy over a period corresponding to twice that of polarization splitter 515 may remain approximately constant regardless of the polarization state at the input of polarization splitter 515.

Fig. 7D shows the optical power at two

output ports

516 and 517 of polarization splitter 515 for an exemplary use case, where optical function 103 operates to transmit the interval R _I Two at HLP and two at VLP (see also fig. 3E). The time intervals (a), (B) and (C) correspond to the same three cases as the random polarization fluctuations in fig. 7B. For time interval (a), polarization splitter 515 operates to: (i) Frequency f ₁ –R _I 2 and f ₁ +R _I The two lower frequency tones of/2 are directed substantially only to output port 516; (ii) frequency f ₂ –R _I 2 and f ₂ +R _I The two higher frequency tones of/2 are directed substantially only to output port 517. Thus, in the time domain,

output ports

516 and 517 may present a time-aligned sin ² Forming a light intensity pulse. For time interval (B), polarization splitter 515 operates such that each of

output ports

516 and 517 has approximately equal amounts of the four tones shown in fig. 3E. Also for time interval (C), polarization Splitter 515 operates such that each of

output ports

516 and 517 has approximately equal amounts of the four tones shown in fig. 3E. The beat oscillations can be clearly seen in (B) and (C) due to the close spacing of the two lower frequency tones and the two higher frequency tones. However, due to the special nature of the four-tone dual-polarized light field, the pulse energy can remain near the common centroid (e.g., 710) throughout, regardless of polarization rotation. Regardless of the fiber optic link 102 ₆ This limitation of pulse energy at specific time positions within the symbol period is beneficial for modulation within the transmit module 504, as is the polarization rotation thereon.

As illustrated by the results illustrated in fig. 7B-7D, the use of the various embodiments of the optical power module 103 advantageously causes the polarization splitter 515 to passively perform substantially equal power distribution between its

output ports

516 and 517, regardless of polarization rotation within one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fibers disposed between the optical power module 103 and a host device of the polarization splitter 515 (e.g., the transmit module 504 of fig. 5). Such passive equal power distribution in polarization splitter 515 may be achieved, for example, by the above-described example configuration of optical power supply module 103, according to which the light output at its output port 242 has two components that are orthogonal in time/frequency and polarization to each other. The latter characteristic of the received light then causes polarization splitter 515 to passively (i.e., without any tuning or active power control mechanisms) perform a substantially equal power split between its

output ports

516 and 517. The light generated at

output ports

516 and 517 may then be advantageously used, for example, as an optical carrier on which the transmit module 504 may modulate data information.

As a result of the above-described operation of polarization splitter 515, during some time intervals (e.g., time interval (a)), light modulator 530 ₁ May receive the supply light at the first optical center frequency instead of the supply light at the second optical center frequency, and modulator 530 ₂ The supply light at the second optical center frequency may be received instead of the supply light at the first optical center frequency; at some time intervals (atNot explicitly shown in fig. 7), light modulator 530 ₁ May receive the supply light at the second optical center frequency instead of the supply light at the first optical center frequency, and modulator 530 ₂ The supply light at the first optical center frequency may be received instead of the supply light at the second optical center frequency; during some time intervals, such as time intervals (B) and (C), light modulator 530 ₁ May receive the supply light at the first optical center frequency and the supply light at the second optical center frequency, and modulator 530 ₂ The supply light at the first optical center frequency and the supply light at the second optical center frequency may also be received.

Fig. 8 illustrates some signals used/generated in an optical transmitter 500 (fig. 5) and corresponding electrical signals recovered by a corresponding optical data receiver according to an example embodiment. More specifically, the following time-dependent signals are shown in fig. 8:

(i) Corresponding to the light source waveforms at

ports

516 and 517, respectively, of the embodiment of fig. 3E. According to fig. 7D, these waveforms are shown for three different polarization rotations in fiber 543, namely for time intervals (a), (B) and (C);

(ii) The light modulator 530 is driven in fig. 5 ₁ And 530 (V) ₂ Is provided with an electric drive signal 531 ₁ And 531 ₂ . For purposes of illustration, in this example embodiment, the modulation format imprinted on the supply light is binary on/off keying (OOK) (those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any other light modulation format may also be imprinted on the supply light, including multi-and multi-dimensional formats using any physical modulation dimension of the light field of the supply light, such as its amplitude, phase, in-phase/quadrature component, frequency, and polarization. By an electric drive signal 531 ₁ An exemplary binary data sequence represented is [01101010 … 01101010 … 01101010 ]]. By an electric drive signal 531 ₂ An exemplary binary data sequence represented is [01011100 … 01011100 … 01011100 ]]；

(iii) Respectively in response to the illustrated electrical drive signals 531 by the transmit module 504 ₁ And 531 ₂ And a generated modulated optical output signal 532 ₁ And 532 ₂ The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the And

(iv) In response to the modulated optical output signals 532 shown by the direct-detection optical receiver, respectively ₁ And 532 ₂ And electrical signals 801 and 802 are generated. The direct detection optical receiver is modeled as a first order gaussian low pass characteristic with an electrical bandwidth equal to the symbol rate.

The electrical signals 801 and 802 pair the electrical data signal 531 regardless of the polarization rotation applied by the optical fiber 543 ₁ And 532 ₂ An accurate and substantially jitter-free reconstruction of (c) is apparent.

Fig. 9 shows an optical communication system 900, the optical communication system 900 comprising an optically powered (also referred to as an external photon source) 902, a first data processing device 904 and a second data processing device 906. The first data processing means 904 comprises a first chip 905 and the second data processing means 906 comprises a second chip 908. The system 900 enables high speed communication between the first chip 905 and the second chip 908 using a co-packaged optical interconnect module 910, the co-packaged optical interconnect module 910 being similar to those shown in fig. 2-5 and 17 of U.S. patent application 63/145,368. Each of the first chip 905 and the second chip 908 may be a high-capacity chip, such as a high-bandwidth ethernet switch chip.

The first chip 905 and the second chip 908 communicate with each other through an optical fiber interconnect cable 912, the optical fiber interconnect cable 912 comprising a plurality of optical fibers. In some implementations, the optical fiber interconnect cable 912 may include a fiber optic core that transmits data and control signals between the first chip 905 and the second chip 908. The optical fiber interconnect cable 912 also includes one or more optical fiber cores that optically transmit optical energy from the optical energy or photon source 902 to the photonic integrated circuits in the co-packaged optical interconnect module 910, the co-packaged optical interconnect module 910 providing an optical electrical interface for the first chip 905 and the second chip 908.

The optical fiber interconnect cable 912 may include a single core optical fiber or a multi-core optical fiber. Each single core fiber comprises a cladding and a core, typically made of glass having a different refractive index (refractive indices), such that the refractive index of the cladding is lower than that of the core to create a dielectric optical waveguide. Each multi-core fiber includes a cladding and a plurality of cores, typically made of glass of different refractive indices, such that the refractive index of the cladding is lower than the refractive index of the cores. More complex refractive index profiles, such as refractive index grooves (index grooves), multi-index profiles, or gradually changing refractive index profiles, may also be used. More complex geometries such as non-circular cores or cladding, photonic crystal structures, photonic bandgap structures, or nested antiresonance node-free hollow core (nested antiresonant nodeless hollow core) structures may also be used.

The example of fig. 9 illustrates a switch-to-switch use case. The external light-powered or photon source 902 provides a light-powered signal, for example, the light-powered signal may be continuous wave light, one or more periodic light pulse trains, or one or more non-periodic light pulse trains. Energy light is provided from photon source 902 to co-packaged optical interconnect module 910 through

optical fibers

914 and 916, respectively. For example, as described in U.S. patent application 16/847,705, the light energy supply 902 may provide continuous wave light or pulsed light for data modulation and synchronization. This allows the first chip 905 to synchronize with the second chip 908.

For example, photon source 902 may correspond to light energization 103 of fig. 1. Pulsed light from photon source 902 may be provided to link 102 of data processing system 200 of fig. 20 of U.S. application 63/145,368 ₆ . In some implementations, the photon source 902 can provide a sequence of optical frame templates, where each optical frame template includes a respective frame header and a respective frame body, and the frame bodies include respective optical bursts. Modulator 417 of fig. 20 of U.S. application 63/145,368 may load data into individual frame volumes to convert a sequence of optical frame templates into a signal over optical fiber link 102 ₁ And outputting the corresponding sequence of the loaded optical frames.

Fig. 10 shows an example of an optical communication system 1000, the optical communication system 1000 providing high-speed communication between a high-capacity chip 1002 (e.g., an ethernet switch chip) and a plurality of lower-capacity chips 1004a, 1004b, 1004c (e.g., a plurality of network interface chips attached to a computer server using a common-package optical interconnect module 910 similar to those shown in fig. 9). The high-capacity chip 1002 communicates with the low-capacity chips 1004a, 1004b, 1004c via the high-capacity optical fiber interconnection cable 1008, and the high-capacity optical fiber interconnection cable 1008 is then branched into a plurality of low-capacity optical

fiber interconnection cables

1010a, 1010b, 1010c, which are connected to the low-capacity chips 1004a, 1004b, and 1004c, respectively. This example shows a switch to server use case.

The external light-powered or photon source 1012 provides a light-powered signal, which may be continuous wave light, one or more strings of periodic light pulses, or one or more strings of non-periodic light pulses. Energy light is provided from photon source 1012 to optical interconnect module 1006 through

optical fibers

1014, 1016a, 1016b, 1016c, respectively. For example, as described in U.S. patent application 16/847,705, light energy 1012 may provide pulsed light for data modulation and synchronization. This allows the high capacity chip 1002 to synchronize with the low capacity chips 1004a, 1004b, and 1004 c.

Fig. 11 illustrates an optical communication system 1100, the optical communication system 1100 providing high-speed communications between a high-capacity chip 1102 (e.g., an ethernet switch chip) and a plurality of low-

capacity chips

1104a, 1104b (e.g., a plurality of network interface chips) attached to a computer server using a hybrid of a co-packaged optical interconnect module 910 similar to the co-packaged optical interconnect module shown in fig. 9 and a conventional pluggable optical interconnect module 1108.

The external light energizing or photon source 1106 provides a light energizing signal, which may be continuous wave light, one or more strings of periodic light pulses, or one or more strings of non-periodic light pulses. For example, as described in U.S. patent application 16/847,705, the light energization 1106 can provide pulsed light for data modulation and synchronization. This allows the high capacity chip 1102 to synchronize with the

low capacity chips

1104a and 1104 b.

Fig. 9-11 illustrate examples of

optical communication systems

900, 1000, 1100 in each of which an optical energy or photon source provides optical energy light to a photonic integrated circuit located in a plurality of communication devices (e.g., optical transponders) and the optical energy is external to the communication devices. The light power supply may have its own housing, power supply and control circuitry, independent of the housing, power supply and control circuitry of the communication device. This allows maintenance, repair or replacement of the light supply independent of the communication device. Redundant light energization may be provided so that defective external light energization may be repaired or replaced without taking the communication device offline. External light energization may be placed at a convenient centralized location with a dedicated temperature environment (rather than being plugged into the interior of a communication device that may have a high temperature). Building external light energy can be more efficient than building unique energy units because certain common components (such as monitoring circuitry and thermal control units) can be shared among more communication devices. Embodiments of remote light-powered fiber optic cabling are described below.

Fig. 12 is a system functional block diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1200, the optical communication system 1200 including a first communication repeater 1202 and a second communication repeater 1204. Each of the first communication repeater 1202 and the second communication repeater 1204 may include one or more of the commonly packaged optical modules described above (hereinafter also referred to as "commonly packaged optical modules"). For example, each communication repeater may contain one or more data processors, such as network switches, central processing units, graphics processing units, tensor (tensor) processing units, digital signal processors, and/or other Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). In this example, the first communication repeater 1202 sends optical signals to the second optical communication repeater 1204 and receives optical signals from the second optical communication repeater 1204 via the first optical communication link 1206. One or more data processors in each of

communication repeaters

1202 and 1204 process data received from the first optical communication link 1206 and output the processed data to the first optical communication link 1206. The optical communication system 1200 may be expanded to include additional communication transponders. The optical communication system 1200 may also be expanded to include additional communications between two or more external photonic energy sources, such as the wavelength of each emitted, or the relative timing of the pulses of light each emitted.

The first external photon source 1208 provides optically-powered light to the first communication repeater 1202 via a first optically-powered link 1210, and the second external photon source 1212 provides optically-powered light to the second communication repeater 1204 via a second optically-powered link 1214. In one example embodiment, the first external photon source 1208 and the second external photon source 1212 provide continuous wave lasers of the same wavelength. In another example embodiment, the first external photon source 1208 and the second external photon source 1212 provide continuous wave lasers of different wavelengths. In yet another example embodiment, a first external photon source 1208 provides a first sequence of optical frame templates to a first communication repeater 1202 and a second external photon source 1212 provides a second sequence of optical frame templates to a second communication repeater 1204. For example, as described in U.S. patent 16/847,705, each optical frame template may include a respective frame header and a respective frame body, and the frame bodies include respective optical bursts. The first communication repeater 1202 receives a first sequence of optical frame templates from a first external photon source 1208, loads data into respective frame bodies to convert the first sequence of optical frame templates into a first sequence of loaded optical frames, which are transmitted to the second communication repeater 1204 via the first optical communication link 1206. Likewise, the second communication repeater 1204 receives a second sequence of optical frame templates from the second external photon source 1212, loads data into the respective frame bodies to convert the second sequence of optical frame templates into a second sequence of loaded optical frames, which are transmitted to the first communication repeater 1202 via the first optical communication link 1206.

Fig. 13A is a schematic diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1300, the optical communication system 1300 comprising a first switch box 1302 and a second switch box 1304. Each of the first switch box 1302 and the second switch box 1304 may contain one or more data processors, such as network switches. The first switch box 1302 may be separated from the second switch box 1304 by a distance greater than, for example, 1 foot, 3 feet, 10 feet, 100 feet, or 1000 feet. The schematic diagram shows the front plate 1306 of the first switch box 1302, and the front plate 1308 of the second switch box 1304. In this embodiment, the first switch box 1302 includes a vertical ASIC mounting grid structure (vertical ASIC mount grid structure) 1310, the vertical ASIC mounting grid structure 1310 being similar to the grid structure 870 of FIG. 43 of U.S. application 63/145,368. The co-packaged light module 1312 is attached to a receiver of the mesh structure 1310. The second switch box 1304 includes a vertical ASIC mounting grid structure 1314, the vertical ASIC mounting grid structure 1314 being similar to the grid structure 870 of FIG. 43 of U.S. application 63/145,368. The co-packaged light module 1316 is attached to the receiver of the grid structure 1314. The first co-packaged optical module 1312 communicates with the second co-packaged optical module 1316 via a fiber bundle 1318 comprising a plurality of optical fibers. An optional fiber optic connector 1320 may be used along the fiber optic bundle 1318, with a shorter section of the fiber optic bundle being connected by the fiber optic connector 1320.

In certain embodiments, each co-packaged optical module (e.g., 1312, 1316) includes a photonic integrated circuit configured to convert an input optical signal to an input electrical signal provided to a data processor and to convert an output electrical signal from the data processor to an output optical signal. The co-packaged optical module may include an electronic integrated circuit configured to process the input electrical signal from the photonic integrated circuit before the input electrical signal is transmitted to the data processor, and to process the output electrical signal from the data processor before the output electrical signal is transmitted to the photonic integrated circuit. In some embodiments, the electronic integrated circuit may include a plurality of serializers/deserializers configured to process an input electrical signal from the photonic integrated circuit and to process an output electrical signal transmitted to the photonic integrated circuit. The electronic integrated circuit may include a first serializer/deserializer module having a plurality of serializer units and deserializer units, wherein the first serializer/deserializer module is configured to generate a plurality of sets of first parallel electrical signals based on a plurality of first serial electrical signals provided by the photonic integrated circuit, and adjust the electrical signals, wherein each set of first parallel electrical signals is generated based on a corresponding first serial electrical signal. The electronic integrated circuit may include a second serializer/deserializer module having a plurality of serializer units and deserializer units, wherein the second serializer/deserializer module is configured to generate a plurality of second serial electrical signals based on the plurality of arrays of first parallel electrical signals, and each second serial electrical signal is generated based on a corresponding set of first parallel electrical signals. The plurality of second serial electrical signals may be transmitted to a data processor.

The first switch box 1302 includes an external light-powered light 1322 (i.e., external to the co-packaged optical module), the external light-powered light 1322 providing light-powered light via the optical connector array 1324. In this example, the optical energy source 1322 is located inside the enclosure of the switch box 1302. The optical fibers 1326 are optically coupled to optical connectors 1328 (of the optical connector array 1324) and the co-packaged optical module 1312. The optically powered light 1322 is sent to the co-packaged optical module 1312 via an optical connector 1328 and an optical fiber 1326. For example, the co-packaged optical module 1312 includes a photonic integrated circuit that modulates the energy light based on data provided by the data processor to generate a modulated optical signal and transmits the modulated optical signal to the co-packaged optical module 1316 via one of the optical fibers in the optical fiber bundle 1318.

In some examples, the light-powered light 1322 is configured to provide light-powered light to the common package light module 1312 via multiple links with built-in redundancy (build-in redundancy) to prevent some light-powered modules from malfunctioning. For example, the co-packaged optical module 1312 may be designed to receive N channels of optically-powered light (e.g., N1 continuous wave optical signals of the same optical wavelength or different optical wavelengths, or an N1 sequence of optical frame templates) from the optically-powered light 1322, where N1 is a positive integer. The light-powered 1322 provides N1+ M1 channels of light-powered light to the co-packaged light module 1312, wherein M1 channels of light-powered light are for redundancy in case one or more of the N1 channels of light-powered light fail, wherein M1 is a positive integer.

The second switch box 1304 receives light-powered light from co-located (co-located) light-powered 1330, e.g., the light-powered light may be located outside of the second switch box 1304 and in proximity to the second switch box 1304 (e.g., in the same rack as the second switch box 1304 in a data center). The optical power supply 1330 includes an array of a plurality of optical connectors 1332. The optical fiber 1334 is optically coupled to one optical connector 1336 (of the plurality of optical connectors 1332) and the co-packaged optical module 1316. The optical power 1330 sends optical power light to the co-packaged optical module 1316 via the optical connector 1336 and the optical fiber 1334. For example, the co-packaged optical module 1316 comprises a photonic integrated circuit that modulates energy light based on data provided by a data processor to generate a modulated optical signal and transmits the modulated optical signal to the co-packaged optical module 1312 via one of the optical fibers in the optical fiber bundle 1318.

In some embodiments, the optical power supply 1330 is configured to provide optical power supply light to the co-packaged optical module 1316 via multiple links with built-in redundancy to prevent some optical power supply module failure, e.g., the co-packaged optical module 1316 may be designed to receive N2 lanes of optical power supply light (e.g., N2 continuous wave optical signals of the same optical wavelength or N2 continuous wave optical signals of different optical wavelengths, or an N2 sequence of optical frame templates) from the optical power supply 1330, where N2 is a positive integer. The light energizing 1330 provides N2+ M2 channels of light energizing light to the co-packaged light module 1316, where M2 channels of light energizing light are for redundancy in case one or more of the N2 channels of light energizing light fail, where M2 is a positive integer.

Fig. 13B is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a fiber optic cable assembly 1340 that may be used to enable a first commonly packaged optical module 1312 to receive light-powered light from a first light-powered 1322, a second commonly packaged optical module 1316 to receive light-powered light from a second light-powered 1330, and a first commonly packaged optical module 1312 to communicate with the second commonly packaged optical module 1316. Fig. 13C is an enlarged view of cable assembly 1340 with some symbols removed to enhance clarity of the illustration.

The cable assembly 1340 includes a first fiber optic connector 1342, a second fiber optic connector 1344, a third fiber optic connector 1346, and a fourth fiber optic connector 1348. The first fiber optic connector 1342 is designed and configured to optically couple to a first common package optical module 1312. For example, the first fiber optic connector 1342 may be configured to mate with a connector component of the first commonly packaged optical module 1312 or to mate with a connector component optically coupled to the first commonly packaged optical module 1312. The first, second, third, and

fourth fiber connectors

1342, 1344, 1346, 1348 may conform to industry standards that define specifications for fiber optic interconnect cables for transmitting data and control signals and light-powered light.

The first fiber optic connector 1342 includes an optical Power (PS) fiber optic port, a Transmitter (TX) fiber optic port, and a Receiver (RX) fiber optic port. The light-powered fiber port provides light-powered light to the co-packaged light module 1312. The transmitter fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1312 to transmit output optical signals (e.g., data and/or control signals), while the receiver fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1312 to receive input optical signals (e.g., data and/or control signals). An example of the arrangement of the light-powered fiber ports, transmitter ports, and receiver ports in the first fiber optic connector 1342 is shown in fig. 13D.

Fig. 13D shows an enlarged upper portion of the schematic of fig. 13B, incorporating an example of fiber port map 1750 for first fiber connector 1342 and fiber port map 1752 for third fiber connector 1346. The fiber port map 1750 shows the locations of the transmitter fiber port (e.g., 1753), the receiver fiber port (e.g., 1755), and the power fiber port (e.g., 1751) of the first fiber connector 1342 when viewed from a direction 1754 pointing toward the first fiber connector 1342. The fiber port map 1752 shows the location of the energizing fiber ports (e.g., 1757) of the third fiber connector 1346 when viewed from a direction 1756 pointing toward the third fiber connector 1346.

The second fiber optic connector 1344 is designed and configured to optically couple to a second co-packaged optical module 1316. The second fiber optic connector 1344 includes an optically powered fiber optic port, a transmitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port. The light-powered fiber ports provide light-powered light for the co-packaged light module 1316. The transmitter fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1316 to transmit the output optical signal, while the receiver fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1316 to receive the input optical signal. An example of the arrangement of the light-powered fiber ports, transmitter fiber ports, and receiver fiber ports in the second fiber optic connector 1344 is shown in fig. 13E.

Fig. 13E shows an enlarged lower portion of the schematic of fig. 13B, incorporating an example of fiber port mapping 1760 of the second fiber connector 1344 and fiber port mapping 1762 of the fourth fiber connector 1348. The fiber port map 1760 shows the locations of the transmitter fiber port (e.g., 1763), the receiver fiber port (e.g., 1765), and the powered fiber port (e.g., 1761) of the second fiber connector 1344 when viewed in a direction 1764 pointing toward the second fiber connector 1344. The fiber port map 1762 shows the location of the powered fiber ports (e.g., 1767) of the fourth fiber optic connector 1348 when viewed in a direction 1766 pointing toward the fourth fiber optic connector 1348.

The third optical connector 1346 is designed and configured to optically couple to the power supply 1322. The third optical connector 1346 includes a light-powered fiber port (e.g., 1757) via which the powered 1322 can output light-powered light. The fourth optical connector 1348 is designed and configured to optically couple to the power supply 1330. Fourth optical connector 1348 includes a light-powered fiber port (e.g., 1762) via which powered 1330 can output light-powered light.

In some embodiments, the light energizing fiber optic port, the transmitter fiber optic port, and the receiver fiber optic port in the first fiber optic connector 1342 and the second fiber optic connector 1344 are designed to be independent of the communications device. That is, the first fiber optic connector 1342 may be optically coupled to the second switch box 1304 while the second fiber optic connector 1344 may be optically coupled to the first switch box 1302 without any fiber port remapping. Likewise, the light-powered fiber ports in the third fiber optic connector 1346 and the fourth fiber optic connector 1348 are designed to be powered independently of light. That is, if the first fiber connector 1342 is optically coupled to the second switch box 1304, the third fiber connector 1346 may be optically coupled to the second optical power 1330. If the second fiber optic connector 1344 is optically coupled to the first switch box 1302, the fourth fiber optic connector 1348 may be optically coupled to the first optical power supply 1322.

The cable assembly 1340 includes a first fiber guiding module 1350 and a second fiber guiding module 1352. Depending on the context, the fiber guiding module is also referred to as a fiber coupler or splitter (splitter) because the fiber guiding module merges multiple bundles of optical fibers into one bundle of optical fibers or splits one bundle of optical fibers into multiple bundles of optical fibers. The first fiber optic guidance module 1350 includes a first port 1354, a second port 1356, and a third port 1358. The second fiber-optic guidance module 1352 includes a first port 1360, a second port 1362, and a third port 1364. The fiber optic bundle 1318 extends from the first fiber optic connector 1342, through the first port 1354 and the second port 1356 of the first fiber optic guide module 1350, and the second port 1362 and the first port 1360 of the second fiber optic guide module 1352, to the second fiber optic connector 1344. The optical fibers 1326 extend from the third fiber optic connector 1346, through the third port 1358 and the first port 1354 of the first fiber optic guidance module 1350, and to the first fiber optic connector 1342. The optical fibers 1334 extend from the fourth fiber optic connector 1348, through the third port 1364 and the first port 1360 of the second fiber optic guide module 1352, and to the second fiber optic connector 1344.

A portion (or section) of optical fiber 1318 and a portion of optical fiber 1326 extend from first port 1354 of first fiber guide module 1350 to first fiber optic connector 1342. A portion of the optical fiber 1318 extends from the second port 1356 of the first fiber guide module 1350 to the second port 1362 of the second fiber guide module 1352, with optional optical connectors (e.g., 1320) along the path of the optical fiber 1318. A portion of the optical fiber 1326 extends from the third port 1358 of the first optical fiber connector 1350 to the third optical fiber connector 1346. A portion of the optical fiber 1334 extends from the third port 1364 of the second optical fiber connector 1352 to the fourth optical fiber connector 1348.

The first fiber guide module 1350 is designed to limit bending of the optical fibers such that the bending radius of any optical fibers in the first fiber guide module 1350 is greater than the minimum bending radius specified by the fiber manufacturer to avoid excessive light loss (optical light loss), or damage to the optical fibers. For example, the minimum bend radius may be 2cm, 1cm, 5mm, or 2.5mm, although other bend radii are possible. For example,

optical fibers

1318 and 1326 extend outward in a first direction from a first port 1354, optical fibers 1318 extend outward in a second direction from a second port 1356, and optical fibers 1326 extend outward in a third direction from a third port 1358. The included angle between the first direction and the second direction is a first angle, the included angle between the first direction and the third direction is a second angle, and the included angle between the second direction and the third direction is a third angle. The first fiber guiding module 1350 may be designed to limit bending of the optical fibers such that the first angle, the second angle, and the third angle are all within a range, for example, 30 ° to 180 °.

For example, portions of optical fibers 1318 and portions of optical fibers 1326 between first optical fiber connector 1342 and first port 1354 of first optical fiber guide module 1350 may be surrounded and protected by first bus jacket 1366. The optical fibers 1318 between the second port 1356 of the first fiber guide module 1350 and the second port 1362 of the second fiber guide module 1352 may be surrounded and protected by a second overall jacket 1368. The portion of the optical fibers 1318 and the portion of the optical fibers 1334 between the second fiber optic connector 1344 and the first port 1360 of the second fiber optic guidance module 1352 may be surrounded and protected by a third overall jacket 1369. The optical fibers 1326 between the third fiber optic connector 1346 and the third port 1358 of the first fiber optic guidance module 1350 may be surrounded and protected by a fourth overall jacket 1367. The optical fibers 1334 between the fourth fiber optic connector 1348 and the third port 1364 of the second fiber optic guidance module 1352 may be surrounded and protected by a fifth overall jacket 1370. Each overall sheath may be laterally elastic and/or laterally extensible as described in U.S. patent application 16/822,103.

One or more of the cable assemblies 1340 (fig. 13B, 13C) described herein, along with other cable assemblies (e.g., 1400 of fig. 15B and 15C, 1490 of fig. 17B and 17C), can be used to optically connect a switch box configured differently from switch box 1302 and switch box 1304 shown in fig. 13A, wherein the switch box receives light-powered light from one or more external lights. For example, in some embodiments, the cable assembly 1340 may be attached to a fiber array connector that is mounted outside the front panel of the optical switch, while another fiber cable connects the interior of the fiber connector to a commonly packaged optical module that is mounted on a circuit board that is located inside the optical switch housing. The co-packaged optical modules, including, for example, photonic integrated circuits, optoelectronic transducers (e.g., photodetectors), and electro-optic transducers (e.g., laser diodes), may be co-packaged with the switch ASICs and mounted on circuit boards that may be oriented vertically or horizontally. For example, in some embodiments, the front plate is mounted on a hinge and the vertical ASIC chassis is embedded behind the front plate. See examples in fig. 77A, 77B and 78 of U.S. application 63/145,368. The cable assembly 1340 provides an optical path for communication between the switch boxes and an optical path for transmitting energy light from one or more external light sources to the switch boxes. The switch box may have any of a variety of arrangements as to how the data signals and/or control signals of the energy light and fiber optic connectors are transmitted to or received from the photonic integrated circuit and how the signals are transmitted between the photonic integrated circuit and the data processor.

One or more of the cable assemblies 1340 and other cable assemblies described herein (e.g., 1400 of fig. 15B and 15C, 1490 of fig. 17B and 17C) may be used for optically connecting computing devices other than switch boxes. For example, the computing device may be a server computer that provides various services, such as cloud computing, database processing, audio/video hosting and streaming media, email, data storage, web hosting, social networking, supercomputing, scientific research computing, healthcare data processing, financial transactions, logistics management, weather forecast, or simulation, to name just a few examples. One or more external light supplies may be used to provide the light energy light required by the photovoltaic module of the computing device. For example, in some embodiments, the centrally managed one or more external light supplies may be configured to provide light supply light to hundreds or thousands of server computers in a data center, and the one or more light supplies may be optically connected to the server computers with the fiber optic cable assemblies (e.g., 1340, 1400, 1490) described herein, as well as variations of the fiber optic cable assemblies that use the principles described herein.

Fig. 14 is a system functional block diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1380, the optical communication system 1380 including a first communication repeater 1282 and a second communication repeater 1284. The first communication repeater 1282 transmits optical signals to the second communication repeater 1284 and receives optical signals from the second communication repeater 1284 via the first optical communication link 1290. The optical communication system 1380 may be augmented to include additional communication transponders.

The external photon source 1382 provides optically-energized light to the first communication repeater 1282 via a first optically-energized link 1384 and optically-energized light to the second communication repeater 1284 via a second optically-energized link 1386. In one example, external photon source 1282 provides continuous wave light to first communication repeater 1282 and second communication repeater 1284. In one example, the continuous wave light may be continuous wave light of the same wavelength of light. In another example, the continuous wave light may be continuous wave light of a different wavelength of light. In yet another example, the external photon source 1282 provides a first sequence of optical frame templates to the first communication repeater 1282 and a second sequence of optical frame templates to the second communication repeater 1284. Each optical frame template may include a respective frame header and a respective frame body, and the frame bodies include a respective optical burst. The first communication repeater 1282 receives the first sequence of optical frame templates from the external photon source 1382, loads data into the respective frame bodies to convert the first sequence of optical frame templates into a first sequence of loaded optical frames, which are transmitted to the second communication repeater 1284 via the first optical communication link 1290. Similarly, the second communication repeater 1284 receives a second sequence of optical frame templates from the external photon source 1382, loads data into the respective frame bodies to convert the second sequence of optical frame templates into a second sequence of loaded optical frames, which are transmitted to the first communication repeater 1282 via the first optical communication link 1290.

Fig. 15A is a schematic diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1390, the optical communication system 1390 comprising a first switch box 1302 and a second switch box 1304, similar to those in fig. 13A. The first switch box 1302 includes a vertical ASIC mounting grid structure 1310 and a common package light module 1312 is attached to a receptacle of the grid structure 1310. The second switch box 1304 includes a vertical ASIC mounting grid structure 1314 and a common package light module 1316 is attached to the receptacle of the grid structure 1314. The first co-packaged optical module 1312 communicates with the second co-packaged optical module 1316 via a fiber bundle 1318 comprising a plurality of optical fibers.

As discussed above with respect to fig. 13A-13E, the first switch box 1302 and the second switch box 1304 may have other arrangements. For example, a horizontally mounted ASIC may be used. The front-plate-attached fiber array connector may be used to optically connect the cable assembly 1340 to another fiber optic cable that is connected to a commonly packaged optical module that is mounted on a circuit board in a switch box. The front plate may be mounted on a hinge with the vertical ASIC chassis embedded behind the front plate. The switch box may be replaced by other types of server computers.

In an example embodiment, the first switch box 1302 contains external light-powered light 1322, the external light-powered light 1322 providing light-powered light to the co-packaged light module 1312 in the first switch box 1302 and the co-packaged light module 1316 in the second switch box 1304. In another example embodiment, the optical power supply may be located external to switch box 1302 (see 1330 of fig. 13A). The light-energizing 1322 provides light-energizing light via the array of optical connectors 1324. The optical fiber 1392 is optically coupled to an optical connector 1396 and to the co-packaged optical module 1312. The optically powered light 1322 transmits optically powered light to the co-packaged optical module 1312 in the first switch box 1302 via the optical connector 1396 and the optical fiber 1392. The optical fiber 1394 is optically coupled to the optical connector 1396 and the co-packaged optical module 1316. The optical energizer 1322 sends optical energizer light to the co-packaged optical module 1316 in the second switch box 1304 via the optical connector 1396 and optical fibers 1394.

Fig. 15B illustrates an example of a fiber optic cable assembly 1400 that can be used to enable a first commonly packaged optical module 1312 to receive light-powered light from a light-powered light 1322, a second commonly packaged optical module 1316 to receive light-powered light from the light-powered light 1322, and the first commonly packaged optical module 1312 to communicate with the second commonly packaged optical module 1316. Fig. 15C is an enlarged view of cable assembly 1400 with some symbols omitted to enhance clarity of the illustration.

The fiber optic cable assembly 1400 includes a first fiber optic connector 1402, a second fiber optic connector 1404, and a third fiber optic connector 1406. The first fiber optic connector 1402 is similar to the first fiber optic connector 1342 of fig. 13B, 13C, and 13D, and is designed and configured to be optically coupled to a first common packaged optical module 1312. The second fiber optic connector 1404 is similar to the second fiber optic connector 1344 of fig. 13B, 13C, and 13E, and is designed and configured to be optically coupled to a second co-packaged optical module 1316. The third fiber optic connector 1406 is designed and configured to optically couple to an optically powered source 1322. The third fiber optic connector 1406 includes a first light-powered fiber port (e.g., 1770 of fig. 15D) and a second light-powered fiber port (e.g., 1772). The light-energized 1322 outputs light-energized light to the optical fiber 1392 via a first light-energized optical fiber port and light-energized light to the optical fiber 1394 via a second light-energized optical fiber port. The first fiber optic connector 1402, the second fiber optic connector 1404, and the third fiber optic connector 1406 may conform to industry standards that define specifications for fiber optic interconnect cables that transmit data and control signals and light-powered light.

Fig. 15D shows an enlarged upper portion of the schematic of fig. 15B, incorporating an example of the fiber port map 1774 of the first fiber connector 1402 and the fiber port map 1776 of the third fiber connector 1406. The fiber port map 1774 shows the locations of the transmitter fiber port (e.g., 1778), the receiver fiber port (e.g., 1780), and the power fiber port (e.g., 1782) of the first fiber connector 1402 when viewed from a direction 1784 pointing toward the first fiber connector 1402. The fiber port map 1776 shows the location of the powered fiber ports (e.g., 1770, 1772) of the third fiber connector 1406 as seen from the direction 1786 pointing toward the third fiber connector 1406. In this example, the third fiber optic connector 1406 contains 8 optically powered fiber ports.

In some examples, the optical connector array 1324 of the optically powered 1322 can include a first type of optical connector and a second type of optical connector. The first type of optical connector accepts a fiber optic connector having 4 optically powered fiber ports, as in the example of FIG. 13D; the second optical connector accepts a fiber optic connector having 8 optically powered fiber ports, as in the example of fig. 15D. In some embodiments, if the optical connector array 1324 of the optically powered 1322 accepts only fiber connectors having 4 optically powered fiber ports, a converter cable may be used to convert the third fiber connector 1406 of fig. 15D to two fiber connectors, each having 4 optically powered fiber ports, compatible with the optical connector array 1324.

Fig. 15E shows an example of an enlarged lower portion of the schematic of fig. 15B and incorporating fiber port map 1790 of the second fiber optic connector 1404. The fiber port map 1790 shows the locations of the transmitter fiber port (e.g., 1792), the receiver fiber port (e.g., 1794), and the power fiber port (e.g., 1796) of the second fiber connector 1404 when viewed from a direction 1798 pointing toward the second fiber connector 1404.

The port mapping of the fiber optic connectors shown in fig. 13D, 13E, 15D, and 15E is merely an example. Each fiber optic connector may contain a greater or lesser number of transmitter fiber ports, a greater or lesser number of receiver fiber ports, and a greater or lesser number of light-powered fiber ports than those shown in fig. 13D, 13E, 15D, and 15E. The arrangement of the relative positions of the transmitter fiber ports, the receiver fiber ports, and the light-powered fiber ports may also be different from those fiber optic connectors shown in fig. 13D, 13E, 15D, and 15E.

The fiber optic cable assembly 1400 includes a fiber optic guidance module 1408, the fiber optic guidance module 1408 including a first port 1410, a second port 1412, and a third port 1414. Depending on the context, the fiber guide module 1408 is also referred to as a fiber coupler (combining multiple fibers into one fiber) or a splitter (splitting one fiber into multiple fibers). The fiber bundle 1318 extends from the first fiber optic connector 1402, through the first port 1410 and the second port 1412 of the fiber optic guidance module 1408, and to the second fiber optic connector 1404. The optical fibers 1392 extend from the third fiber optic connector 1406, through the third port 1414 and the first port 1410 of the fiber optic guidance module 1408, to the first fiber optic connector 1402. The optical fibers 1394 extend from the third optical fiber connector 1406, through the third port 1414 and the second port 1412 of the fiber optic guidance module 1408, and to the second optical fiber connector 1404.

A portion of the

optical fibers

1318 and 1392 extend from the first port 1410 of the fiber optic boot module 1408 to the first fiber optic connector 1402. A portion of the optical fibers 1318 and a portion of the optical fibers 1394 extend from the second port 1412 of the fiber optic guidance module 1408 to the second fiber optic connector 1404. A portion of the optical fibers 1394 extend from the third port 1414 of the fiber optic guidance module 1408 to the third fiber optic connector 1406.

The fiber guide module 1408 is designed to limit bending of the optical fibers such that the radius of curvature of any optical fibers in the fiber guide module 1408 is greater than the minimum bend radius specified by the fiber manufacturer to avoid excessive light loss, or damage to the optical fibers. For example,

optical fibers

1318 and 1392 extend outward in a first direction from first port 1410,

optical fibers

1318 and 1394 extend outward in a second direction from second port 1412, and

optical fibers

1392 and 1394 extend outward in a third direction from third port 1414. The included angle between the first direction and the second direction is a first angle, the included angle between the first direction and the third direction is a second angle, and the included angle between the second direction and the third direction is a third angle. The fiber guide module 1408 is designed to limit bending of the optical fibers such that the first angle, the second angle, and the third angle are all within a range, such as a range of 30 ° to 180 °.

For example, portions of optical fibers 1318 and portions of optical fibers 1392 between first fiber connector 1402 and first port 1410 of fiber guiding module 1408 may be surrounded and protected by first total jacket 1416. The

optical fibers

1318 and 1394 between the second fiber optic connector 1404 and the second port 1412 of the fiber optic guidance module 1408 may be surrounded and protected by a second overall jacket 1418. The

optical fibers

1392 and 1394 between the third fiber optic connector 1406 and the third port 1414 of the fiber optic guidance module 1408 may be surrounded and protected by a third overall jacket 1420. Each overall sheath may be laterally elastic and/or laterally extensible.

Fig. 16 is a system functional block diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1430, the optical communication system 1430 including a first communication repeater 1432, a second communication repeater 1434, a third communication repeater 1436, and a fourth communication repeater 1438. Each of the first, second, third, and

fourth communication transponders

1432, 1434, 1436, and 1438 may be similar to the

communication transponders

1202 and 1204 of fig. 12. The first communication repeater 1432 communicates with the second communication repeater 1434 via a first optical link 1440. The first communication repeater 1432 communicates with the third communication repeater 1436 via a second optical link 1442. The first communication repeater 1432 communicates with a fourth communication repeater 1438 via a third optical link 1444.

The external photon source 1446 provides optically powered light to the first communication repeater 1432 via a first optically powered link 1448, to the second communication repeater 1434 via a second optically powered link 1450, to the third communication repeater 1436 via a third optically powered link 1452, and to the fourth communication repeater 1438 via a fourth optically powered link 1454.

Fig. 17A is a schematic diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1460, the optical communication system 1460 comprising a first switch box 1462 and a remote server array 1470, the remote server array 1470 comprising a second switch box 1464, a third switch box 1466 and a fourth switch box 1468. The first switch box 1462 contains a vertical ASIC mounting grid structure 1310, and the common package optical module 1312 is attached to the receptacle of the grid structure 1310. The second switch box 1464 contains a commonly packaged optical module 1472, the third switch box 1466 contains a commonly packaged optical module 1474, and the fourth switch box 1468 contains a commonly packaged optical module 1476. The first co-packaged optical module 1312 communicates with the co-packaged optical module 1472, the co-packaged optical module 1474, and the co-packaged optical module 1476 via an optical fiber bundle 1478, and the optical fiber bundle 1478 then branches to the co-packaged optical module 1472, the co-packaged optical module 1474, and the co-packaged optical module 1476.

In one example, the first switch box 1462 contains external light-powered light 1322, the external light-powered light 1322 providing light-powered light via the optical connector array 1324. In another example embodiment, the optical power supply may be external to the switch box 1462 (see 1330 of fig. 13A). The optical fiber 1480 is optically coupled to the optical connector 1482 and the optically powered optical fiber 1322 transmits optically powered light to the co-packaged optical module 1312, the co-packaged optical module 1472, the co-packaged optical module 1474, the co-packaged optical module 1476 via the optical connector 1482 and the optical fiber 1480.

Fig. 17B shows an example of a fiber optic cable assembly 1490 that may be used to enable the light-powered light 1322 to provide light-powered light to the

co-packaged light modules

1312, 1472, 1474, 1476, and to enable the co-packaged light modules 1312 to communicate with the

co-packaged light modules

1472, 1474, 1476. The cable assembly 1490 includes a first optical fiber connector 1492, a second optical fiber connector 1494, a third optical fiber connector 1496, a fourth optical fiber connector 1498, and a fifth optical fiber connector 1500. The first fiber optic connector 1492 is configured to optically couple to the co-packaged optical module 1312. The second fiber optic connector 1494 is configured to optically couple to the co-packaged optical module 1472. The third fiber optic connector 1496 is configured to optically couple to the co-packaged optical module 1474. Fourth fiber connector 1498 is configured to optically couple to a common package optical module 1476. Fifth fiber optic connector 1500 is configured to optically couple to a common package light source 1322. Fig. 17C is an enlarged view of cable assembly 1490.

The optical fibers optically coupled to the

fiber connectors

1500 and 1492 allow the optically energized 1322 to provide optically energized light to the co-packaged optical module 1312. The optical fibers optically coupled to the

fiber connectors

1500 and 1494 allow the optically powered light 1322 to provide optically powered light to the co-packaged optical module 1472. The optical fibers optically coupled to the

fiber connectors

1500 and 1496 allow the optically powered light 1322 to provide optically powered light to the co-packaged optical module 1474. The optical fibers optically coupled to the fiber optic connector 1500 and the fiber optic connector 1498 allow the optically powered light 1322 to provide optically powered light to the co-packaged optical module 1476.

The fiber guide module 1502, the fiber guide module 1504, the fiber guide module 1506, and the overall jacket are provided to organize the optical fibers so that they can be easily used and managed. The fiber guide module 1502 is similar to the fiber guide module 1408 of fig. 15B. The fiber guide module 1504 and the fiber guide module 1506 are similar to the fiber guide module 1350 of fig. 13B. The overall jacket bundles the fibers so that they can be more easily handled, while the fiber guiding module guides the fibers so that they extend in various directions to the devices that need to be optically coupled by the cable assemblies 1490. The fiber guide module limits bending of the optical fiber such that the bending radius is greater than a minimum value established by the optical fiber manufacturer to prevent excessive light loss or damage to the optical fiber.

The optical fibers 1480 comprise optical fibers extending from the optical connectors 1482, with the optical fibers 1480 being surrounded and protected by the overall jacket 1508. At the fiber guiding module 1502, the optical fibers 1480 are divided into a first set of optical fibers 1510 and a second set of optical fibers 1512. The first set of optical fibers 1510 extends to a first optical fiber connector 1492. The second set of optical fibers 1512 extends toward the fiber guide module 1504 and the fiber guide module 1506, and the fiber guide module 1504 and the fiber guide module 1506 together act as a 1:3 splitter to split the optical fibers 1512 into a third set of optical fibers 1514, a fourth set of optical fibers 1516, and a fifth set of optical fibers 1518. The fiber set 1514 extends to a fiber connector 1494, the fiber set 1516 extends to a fiber connector 1496, and the fiber set 1518 extends to a fiber connector 1498. In some examples, a 1:3 split fiber optic guide module with four ports (e.g., a fiber optic guide module with one input port and three output ports) may also be used instead of the 1:2 split fiber optic guide module 1504 and fiber optic guide module 1506. In general, splitting the fiber into 1:N branches (N being an integer greater than 2) may occur in one step or in multiple steps.

Fig. 18 is a schematic diagram of an example of a data processing system (e.g., a data center) 1520, the data processing system 1520 including N servers 1522 distributed among K racks 1524. In this example, there are 6 racks 1524, each rack 1524 containing 15 servers 1522. Each server 1522 communicates directly with a primary switch 1526. The left portion of the schematic shows an enlarged view of portion 1528 of system 1520. The server 1522a communicates directly with the primary switch 1526a via a communication line 1530 a. Similarly, server 1522b and server 1522c communicate directly with primary switch 1526a via communications link 1530b and communications link 1530c, respectively. Server 1522a communicates directly with primary switch 1526b via communication link 1532 a. Similarly, server 1522b and server 1522c communicate directly with primary switch 1526b via communication link 1532b and communication link 1532c, respectively. Each communication line may contain a pair of optical fibers to allow bi-directional communication. The system 1520 bypasses conventional top-of-rack (top-of-rack) switches and may have higher data throughput. The system 1520 includes a point-to-point connection between each server 1522 and each primary switch 1526. In this example, there are 4 primary switches 1526, and each server 1522 uses 4 pairs of fibers for communication with the primary switches 1526. Each primary switch 1526 is connected to N servers, so there are N fiber pairs connected to each primary switch 1526.

With respect to FIG. 19, in some embodiments, a data processing system (e.g., data center) 1540 includes primary switches 1526 co-located in racks 1540, the primary switches 1526 being separate from N servers 1522 distributed across K racks 1524. Each server 1522 has a direct connection to each primary switch 1526. In some embodiments, there is one fiber optic cable 1542 (or much less than N/K fiber optic cables) from the primary switch chassis 1540 to each of the K server chassis 1524.

Fig. 20A is a schematic diagram of an example of a data processing system 1550, where the data processing system 1550 includes n=1024 servers distributed across k=32 racks 1554, where each rack 1554 includes N/k=1024/32=32 servers 1552. There are 4 primary switches 1556 and one optical power supply 1558 co-located in rack 1560.

Optical fibers connect server 1552 to primary switch 1556 and optical power supply 1558. In this example, a bundle of 9 fibers is optically coupled to a co-packaged optical module 1564 of server 1552, where 1 fiber provides optically powered light and 4 pairs (8 total) of fibers provide 4 bi-directional communication channels, each channel having a bandwidth of 100Gbps and each direction having a bandwidth of 4 x 100 Gbps. Since there are 32 servers 1552 in each rack 1554, there are 256+32=288 total fibers extending from the servers 1552 of each rack 1554, where 32 fibers provide optically powered light and 256 fibers provide 128 bi-directional channels, each channel having a bandwidth of 100 Gbps.

For example, at the server rack end, optical fibers 1566 (of servers 1552 connected to racks 1554) terminate with server rack connectors 1568. At the switch chassis end, optical fibers 1578 (connected to switch boxes 1556 and optical supplies 1558) terminate at switch chassis connectors 1576. The fiber extension cable 1572 is optically coupled to the server rack end and the switch rack end. The fiber extension cable 1572 includes 256+32=288 optical fibers. The fiber optic extension cable 1572 includes a first fiber optic connector 1570 and a second fiber optic connector 1574. The first fiber optic connector 1570 connects to a server rack connector 1568 and the second fiber optic connector 1574 connects to a switch rack connector 1576. At the switch chassis end, fiber 1578 comprises 288 fibers, of which 32 fibers 1580 are optically coupled to optical supply 1558. 256 fibers with 128 bi-directional channels (each channel having a bandwidth of 100Gbps in each direction) are grouped into four groups of 64 fibers, with each group of 64 fibers optically coupled to a co-packaged optical module 1582 within one of the switch boxes 1556. The common package optical module 1582 is configured to have a bandwidth of 32×100 gbps=3.2 Tbps in each direction (input and output). Each switch box 1556 is connected to each server 1552 of the rack 1554 via a pair of optical fibers with a bandwidth of 100Gbps in each direction.

The light energizing 1558 provides light energizing light to the co-packaged light modules 1582 located within the switch box 1556. In this example, the light energizing 1558 provides light energizing light to each co-packaged light module 1582 via 4 fibers such that a total of 16 fibers are used to provide light energizing light to the 4 switch boxes 1556. The optical fiber bundles 1584 are optically coupled to the co-packaged optical module 1582 of the switch box 1556. The optical fiber bundle 1584 contains 64+16=80 optical fibers. In some examples, the light-energizing 1558 can use additional optical fibers to provide additional light-energizing light to the co-packaged light module 1582. For example, the light-powered 1558 may use 32 optical fibers with built-in redundancy to provide light-powered light to the co-packaged light module 1582.

Referring to fig. 20B, the data processing system 1550 includes a fiber guide module 1590, the fiber guide module 1590 assisting in organizing the fibers so that the fibers are directed in the proper direction. The fiber guide module 1590 also limits bending of the optical fiber to within specified limits to prevent excessive light loss or damage to the optical fiber. The fiber routing module 1590 includes a first port 1592, a second port 1594, and a third port 1596. The optical fibers extending outwardly from the first port 1592 are optically coupled to the switch housing connector 1576. An optical fiber extending outwardly from the second port 1594 is optically coupled to the switch box. An optical fiber extending outwardly from the third port 1596 is optically coupled to an optical energy supply 1558.

In some embodiments, each of the light-powered or external photon source 902 of fig. 9, the light-powered or external photon source 1012 of fig. 10, the light-powered or external photon source 1106 of fig. 11, the light-powered or

external photon sources

1208, 1212 of fig. 12, the light-powered or

external photon sources

1322, 1330 of fig. 13A, the light-powered or external photon source 1382 of fig. 14, the light-powered or external photon source 1322 of fig. 15A, the light-powered or external photon source 1446 of fig. 16, the light-powered or external photon source 1322 of fig. 17A, and the light-powered or external photon source 1558 of fig. 20A and 20B may have a configuration similar to any of the light-powered configurations shown in fig. 2 and 4A-4F. In some embodiments, each of the

optical fibers

914 and 916 of fig. 9, the

optical fibers

1014, 1016a, 1016b, 1016c of fig. 10, the

optical fibers

1210 and 1214 of fig. 12, the

optical fibers

1384 and 1386 of fig. 14, the optical fiber 1394 of fig. 15A, the

optical fibers

1448, 1450, 1452, 1454 of fig. 16, and the optical fiber 1580 of fig. 20A, which are optically coupled to light energy, may comprise one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fibers. Light provided by the light-powering module may undergo random polarization rotation as it propagates through the optical fiber.

In some implementations, each of the co-packaged optical interconnect module 910 of fig. 9-11, the

communication repeaters

1202 and 1204 of fig. 12, the co-packaged

optical modules

1312 and 1316 of fig. 13A, the

communication repeaters

1282 and 1284 of fig. 14, the co-packaged

optical modules

1312 and 1316 of fig. 15A, the

communication repeaters

1432, 1434, 1436 and 1438 of fig. 16, the co-packaged

optical modules

1312, 1472, 1474 and 1476 of fig. 17A, and the co-packaged

optical modules

1564 and 1582 of fig. 20A may have one or more optical emission modules similar to the optical emission module 504 of fig. 5 or the optical emission module 600 of fig. 6.

Additional details of fiber optic cables that may be used to transmit light from the light source to photonic integrated circuits including modulators that may modulate the light and fiber to photonic integrated circuit connections that may be used to couple light from the optical fiber to the photonic integrated circuits may be found in, for example, U.S. patent application 16/816,171 and published 11 in 3/2020, PCT application 16/816,171 and published 11 in 2021, published 3/021953, published 18 in 2020, published PCT application 16/822,103, published 3/2021/022730, and published 14 in 2021. The entire contents of application 16/816,171, application PCT/US2021/021953, application 16/822,103, application PCT/US2021/022730 and application PCT/US2021/027306 are incorporated herein by reference. Additional details regarding photonic integrated circuits including modulators that can modulate light provided by light can be found in, for example, U.S. provisional patent application 63/080,528, filed on 9/18 2020, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. Additional details of fiber connectors that can assist in connecting fiber optic cables to light-powered and photonic integrated circuits can be found in, for example, U.S. provisional patent application 63/088,914 filed on 7, 10, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

According to the example embodiments disclosed above, e.g., in the summary section and/or with reference to any one or any combination of some or all of fig. 1-8, there is provided a method for transmitting a signal at a symbol rate (e.g., R _S ) A device (e.g., 100, fig. 1) for modulating an optical signal, the device comprising an optical power supply (e.g., 290 of fig. 2), the optical power supply comprising: a light source (e.g., 200 of fig. 2) and an electronic controller (e.g., 230 of fig. 2) connected to the light source such that the light source produces a first light output (e.g., 212 of fig. 2 and 3) having a first optical frequency and a second light output (e.g., 222 of fig. 2 and 3) having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer (e.g., 100 times) than the time interval at the symbol rate; and a polarization combiner (e.g., 240 of fig. 2) connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports thereof, the polarization combiner configured to produce light at output ports thereofAnd an output, wherein the first and second polarization components, orthogonal to each other, carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively.

In some embodiments of the above apparatus, the electronic controller is configured to cause the first light output and the second light output to be mutually orthogonal in time/frequency (e.g., according to equations (3) and (4)).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is greater than five times the symbol rate (e.g., Δf= |f ₁ –f ₂ |>

5R

_I 212, 222 of fig. 3D).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is about an integer multiple of the symbol rate (i.e., Δf≡ n R _I Where n=2, 3, 4, …).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the pulses of the first and second light pulse trains have the same intensity waveform (e.g., 212, 222 of fig. 3C).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the center of the pulse of the first optical pulse train is aligned in time with the center of the corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train (e.g., Δt≡0, 212, 222 of fig. 3C).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the center of the pulse of the first optical pulse train is shifted in time from the center of the corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train by a non-zero time (e.g., Δt, 212, 222 of fig. 3C).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the non-zero time shift is less than half of the first period (e.g., ΔT<

T

_I 2, 212, 222 of fig. 3C).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the non-zero time shift is less than one-fourth of the first period (e.g., ΔT<T _I /4, 212, 222 of fig. 3C).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is twice the pulse repetition rate (i.e., Δf≡2r _I 212, 222 of fig. 3E).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is three times the pulse repetition rate (i.e., Δf≡3r _I )。

In some embodiments of any of the above devices (e.g., 212, 222 of fig. 3E; 516, 517 of fig. 6D), the spectrum of the first burst has two first optical frequency tones; and the spectrum of the second pulse train has two second optical frequency tones, the two second optical frequency tones being different from the two first optical frequency tones.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source comprises a first CW laser (e.g., 410 of fig. 4A) oscillating at a first optical frequency and a second CW laser (e.g., 420 of fig. 4A) oscillating at the second optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the electronic controller is configured to control the first CW laser and the second CW laser (e.g., 430 of fig. 4A) to controllably set a frequency difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a CW laser and an optical modulator optically connected to the CW laser, the optical modulator configured to generate a first modulated tone at the first optical frequency (e.g., 424 of fig. 4B; 417 of fig. 4C).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the electronic controller (e.g., 432 of fig. 4B; 433 of fig. 4C) is configured to control the optical frequency of the first modulated tone.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the optical modulator is further configured to generate a second modulated tone (e.g., 417 of fig. 4B) at the second optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises an optical amplitude modulator (e.g., 417, 427 of fig. 4D; 417 of fig. 4E) configured to generate the optical pulse train.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a pulsed laser (e.g., 410 and 417, 420 and 427 of fig. 4C) configured to generate a train of light pulses.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a light delay element configured to delay the first light output relative to the second light output (e.g., 419 of fig. 4D and 4E).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical power supply includes an optical dispersion compensating element (e.g., 470 of fig. 4D and 4E).

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the light source comprises a polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator (e.g., 417 of fig. 4F).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices (e.g., 212, 222 of fig. 3E): the polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator is configured to generate two tones at a first polarization and two tones at a second polarization, the second polarization being orthogonal to the first polarization; wherein a frequency interval between the two tones at the first polarization and a frequency interval between the two tones at the second polarization are equal to each other; and wherein the frequency spacing between the tone at the first polarization and the tone at the second polarization is an integer multiple of the equal frequency spacing.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the device further comprises a light emitting module (e.g., 504 of FIG. 5; 600 of FIG. 6) that passes through one or more lengths of optical fiber (e.g., 102 of FIG. 5) ₆ 543) are optically connected to an output port (e.g., 242 of fig. 2) of the polarization combiner, the emission module comprising: a polarization splitter (e.g., 515 of fig. 5) having an input port optically connected to an end of one of the one or more lengths of optical fiber to receive light of the optical output; a first optical data modulator (e.g., 530 of fig. 5 ₁ ) The first optical data modulator is connected to a first output of the polarization splitter; and a second optical data modulator (e.g., 530 of fig. 5 ₂ ) The second optical data modulator is connected to a second output of the polarization splitter.

According to another exemplary embodiment disclosed above, for example, in the summary section and/or with reference to any one or any combination of some or all of fig. 1-8, there is provided a method ofAn apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a light emitter (e.g., 500 of fig. 5), the light emitter comprising: a passive polarization splitter (e.g., 515 of fig. 5) having an optical input port and a first optical output port (e.g., 516 of fig. 5) and a second optical output port (e.g., 517 of fig. 5), the optical input port being optically connected to receive an optical input signal (e.g., fig. 3A-3E) having a first polarization component carrying light of a first optical frequency and a second polarization component carrying light of a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, the first and second polarization components being mutually orthogonal and undergoing a change in polarization state in common during a time interval (e.g., intervals (a), (B), (C) of fig. 7B-7D), the passive polarization splitter directing light of a first fixed polarization from the optical input port to the first optical output port and also directing light of a second fixed polarization from the optical input port to the second optical output port, the first and second polarization component carrying light of a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, the first and second polarization components being directed to each other in orthogonal polarization state change during the time interval (e.g., 7B-7); and a first light modulator (e.g., 530 of FIG. 5 ₁ ) The first optical modulator is connected to the first optical output port and configured to modulate the first fixed polarized light received from the first optical output port (e.g., 516 of fig. 5) in response to a first data signal (e.g., data 1 of fig. 5).

In some embodiments of the above apparatus, the light emitter further comprises a second light modulator (e.g., 530 of FIG. 5 ₂ ) The second optical modulator is connected to the second optical output port and configured to modulate the second fixedly polarized light received from the second optical output port (e.g., 517 of fig. 5) in response to a second data signal (e.g., data 2 of fig. 5).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the first light modulator and the second light modulatorThe devices are connected to transmit respective modulated light through respective different optical fibers (e.g., port 532 of fig. 5 ₁ And 532 ₂ Upper).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, at some times of the time interval (e.g., interval (a) of fig. 7B-7D), the first optical modulator receives the first optical frequency from the first output port, but not the second optical frequency; and at some other time of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency from the first output port, but not the first optical frequency.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, at still other times of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives a mixture of the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency from the first output port (e.g., intervals (B), (C) of fig. 7B-7D).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical input port is optically connected to receive the optical input signal from a proximal end of a length of optical fiber (e.g., 543 of fig. 5) that includes at least one segment that is not polarization maintaining.

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatuses, the optical transmitter further comprises an optical power supply (e.g., 290 of fig. 5) optically connected to apply the optical input signal to the passive polarization splitter through the optical fiber.

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light energizing comprises: a light source (e.g., 200 of fig. 2) and an electronic controller (e.g., 230 of fig. 2) connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output (e.g., 212 of fig. 2 and 3) having a first optical frequency and a second light output (e.g., 222 of fig. 2 and 3) having a second optical frequency, each of the first and second light outputs being stable during the time interval; and a polarization combiner (e.g., 240 of fig. 2) connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate a light output at an output port of the polarization combiner, the light output being coupled into the optical fiber such that the light input port of the polarization splitter receives the light input signal.

While this disclosure includes references to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the described embodiments, as well as other embodiments within the scope of the disclosure, which are apparent to persons skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains are deemed to lie within the principle and scope of the disclosure, e.g., as expressed in the following claims.

Some embodiments may be implemented as a circuit-based process, including possible implementation on a single integrated circuit.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, each numerical value and range should be construed as being approximate, as if the numerical value or range were preceded by the word "about" or "approximately.

It will be further understood that various changes in the details, materials, and arrangements of the parts which have been described and illustrated for the purpose of explaining the nature of the present disclosure may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure (e.g., as expressed in the claims which follow).

The use of reference numerals and/or figures in the claims is intended to identify one or more possible embodiments of the claimed subject matter in order to facilitate interpretation of the claims. Such use should not be construed as necessarily limiting the scope of those claims to the embodiments shown in the corresponding figures.

Although elements in the following method claims (if any) are recited in a particular order with corresponding labeling, those elements are not necessarily intended to be limited to practice in the particular order, unless the claim recitations otherwise imply a particular order for implementing some or all of those elements.

Reference herein to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments necessarily mutually exclusive of other embodiments. The above applies to the term "embodiment".

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the use of ordinal adjectives "first," "second," "third," etc., to refer to one object in a plurality of like objects, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the like objects so referred to must be in a corresponding sequence or order, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

Also for purposes of this specification, the terms "couple," "coupled," "connected," or "connected" refer to any manner known in the art or later developed in which energy is allowed to pass between two or more elements, and the insertion of one or more additional elements is contemplated, although not required. In contrast, the terms "directly coupled," "directly connected," and the like, imply that no such additional elements are present.

As used herein with reference to an element and a standard, the term compatible means that the element communicates with other elements in all or part of the manner specified by the standard, and that other elements will consider the element capable of communicating with other elements in a manner sufficient for the standard to specify. The compatible components do not need to operate internally in the manner specified by the standard.

The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. In particular, the scope of the disclosure is indicated by the appended claims rather than the description and drawings herein. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

The description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples cited herein are in principle intended to be explicitly used only for teaching purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventors to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.

The functions of the various elements shown in the figures, including any functional blocks labeled or referred to as "processors" and/or "controllers," may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Furthermore, explicit use of the term "processor" or "controller" should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital Signal Processor (DSP) hardware, network processor, application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), read Only Memory (ROM) for storing software, random Access Memory (RAM), and non volatile storage. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Similarly, any switches shown in the figures are conceptual only. Their function may be carried out through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, the particular technique being selectable by the implementer as more specifically understood from the context.

As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) Circuit implementations that can only be implemented in hardware (e.g., implementations in analog circuitry only and/or digital circuitry); (b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, for example (if applicable): (i) Analog hardware circuitry and/or a combination of digital hardware circuitry and software/firmware, and (ii) any portion of a hardware processor (including a digital signal processor), software, and memory with software working together to cause a device (e.g., a cell phone or server, etc.) to perform various functions; and (c) hardware circuitry and/or a processor (e.g., a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor) that requires software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but may not be present when software is not required to operate. This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses implementations of only hardware circuitry or a processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of hardware circuitry or a portion of a processor and it (or them) accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, and if applicable to the particular claim elements, the term circuitry also encompasses baseband integrated circuits for a mobile device, processor integrated circuits for a mobile device, similar integrated circuits in a server, similar integrated circuits in a cellular network device, or similar integrated circuits in other computing or network devices.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the disclosure.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the apparatus comprising an optical power supply comprising:

a light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate; and

a polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate a light output at an output port of the polarization combiner, wherein mutually orthogonal first and second polarization components carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic controller is configured to cause the first light output and the second light output to be mutually orthogonal in time/frequency.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first light output comprises a first continuous wave light field at the first optical frequency and the second light output comprises a second continuous wave light field at the second optical frequency.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is approximately an integer multiple of the symbol rate.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first light output comprises a first light pulse train of a first period and the second light output comprises a second light pulse train of the first period.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein a center of a pulse of the first optical pulse train is aligned in time with a center of a corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein a center of a pulse of the first optical pulse train is offset in time from a center of a corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift.

8. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the spectrum of the first pulse train has two first optical frequency tones; and

the spectrum of the second pulse train has two second optical frequency tones, the two second optical frequency tones being different from the two first optical frequency tones.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic controller is further configured to print first control information on the first light output of the light source and second control information on the second light output of the light source.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

the polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator is configured to generate two tones at a first polarization and two tones at a second polarization, the second polarization being orthogonal to the first polarization;

wherein a frequency interval between the two tones at the first polarization and a frequency interval between the two tones at the second polarization are equal to each other; and

Wherein a frequency interval between a tone at the first polarization and a tone at the second polarization is an integer multiple of the equal frequency interval.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a light emitting module optically end-connected to the output port of the polarization combiner via one or more lengths of optical fiber, the emitting module comprising:

a polarization splitter having an input port optically connected to one end of one of the one or more lengths of optical fiber to receive light of the optical output;

a first optical data modulator connected to a first output of the polarization splitter; and

a second optical data modulator connected to a second output of the polarization splitter.

13. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising a light emitter, the light emitter comprising:

a passive polarization splitter having an optical input port and first and second optical output ports, the optical input port being optically connected to receive an optical input signal having first and second polarization components, the first polarization component carrying light of a first optical frequency and the second polarization component carrying light of a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, the first and second polarization components being mutually orthogonal and commonly undergoing a change in polarization state during a time interval, the passive polarization splitter directing light of a first fixed polarization from the optical input port to the first optical output port and also directing light of a second fixed polarization from the optical input port to the second optical output port, the first and second fixed polarizations being mutually orthogonal, the change in polarization state causing respective spectral components of light directed to the first optical port and light directed to the second optical port to change during the time interval; and

A first optical modulator is connected to the first optical output port and configured to modulate the first fixed polarization light received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the optical transmitter further comprises a second optical modulator coupled to the second optical output port and configured to modulate the second fixed polarized light received from the second optical output port in response to a second data signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first light modulator and the second light modulator are connected to transmit respective modulated light through respective different optical fibers.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein:

at some of the time intervals, the first optical modulator receives the first optical frequency from the first output port and does not receive the second optical frequency; and

at some other time of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency from the first output port, but not the first optical frequency.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at still other times of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives a mixture of the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency from the first output port.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the optical input port is optically connected to receive the optical input signal from a proximal end of a length of optical fiber, the optical fiber comprising at least one segment that is not polarization maintaining.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the optical transmitter further comprises an optical power supply optically connected to apply the optical input signal to the passive polarization splitter through the optical fiber.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the light energizing comprises:

a light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output having the first optical frequency and a second light output having the second optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable during the time interval; and

A polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate an light output at an output port of the polarization combiner, the light output being coupled into the optical fiber such that the light input port of the polarization splitter receives the light input signal.

21. The apparatus according to claim 4, whereinIn that the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is Δf, the symbol rate is Rs, and Δf is R _S Within + -10% of the total weight of the composition.

22. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the apparatus comprises:

an emission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner; and

an optical fiber comprising one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber, wherein the optical fiber is optically coupled between the output port of the polarization combiner and the emission module, and the optical fiber is configured to transmit the optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner to the emission module.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the optical fiber between the emission module and the polarization combiner is at least one meter long.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the optical fiber between the emission module and the polarization combiner is at least ten meters long.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the transmitting module comprises:

a passive polarization splitter having an optical input port and first and second optical output ports, the optical input port being optically connected to receive the optical input signal from the optical energy having first and second polarization components, the first polarization component carrying light of the first optical frequency and the second polarization component carrying light of the second optical frequency;

wherein the first and second polarization components are mutually orthogonal and commonly experience a change in polarization state during a time interval, the passive polarization splitter directing light of a first fixed polarization from the light input port to the first light output port and also directing light of a second fixed polarization from the light input port to the second light output port, the first and second fixed polarizations being mutually orthogonal, the change in polarization state causing respective spectral components of the light directed to the first light port and the light directed to the second light port to change during the time interval; and

A first optical modulator is optically coupled to the first optical output port and configured to modulate the first fixed polarization light received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the optical transmitter comprises a second optical modulator optically coupled to the second optical output port and configured to modulate the second fixed polarized light received from the second optical output port in response to a second data signal.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first light modulator and the second light modulator are optically connected to transmit respective modulated light through respective different optical fibers.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein at some of the time intervals the first optical modulator receives the first optical frequency from the first output port and does not receive the second optical frequency; and

wherein at some other time of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency from the first output port, but not the first optical frequency.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein at still other times of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives a mixture of the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency from the first output port.

30. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the polarization combiner comprises at least one of a polarization combiner, a polarization maintaining optical power combiner, or a polarization maintaining wavelength multiplexer.

31. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a dispersion compensating optical element configured to pre-disperse the optical output signal of the polarization combiner.

32. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises:

a first laser configured to generate a first polarized light having the first optical frequency, wherein the first polarized light forms the first light output of the light source; and

a second laser configured to generate a second polarized light having the second optical frequency, wherein the second polarized light forms the second light output of the light source.

33. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises:

a laser configured to generate first polarized light having the first optical frequency; and

an optical splitter configured to receive the first polarized light and output a first portion of the first polarized light and a second portion of the first polarized light;

wherein the first portion forms the first light output of the light source;

wherein the second portion is transmitted to a frequency shifter configured to frequency shift the second portion to generate a frequency-shifted second portion having the second optical frequency, and the frequency-shifted second portion forms the second light output of the light source.

34. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises:

a laser configured to generate a first light;

a modulator configured to divide the first light into a first spectral tone and a second spectral tone, and generate a second light, the second light comprising the first spectral tone and the second spectral tone;

a frequency divider configured to divide the second light into a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion includes the first spectral tone and the second portion includes the second spectral tone; and is also provided with

Wherein the first portion forms the first light output of the light source and the second portion forms the second light output of the light source.

35. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises:

a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;

a second laser configured to emit light of a second polarization at a second wavelength;

a first light modulator configured to modulate the first polarized light to generate first modulated polarized light;

a second light modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to generate second modulated polarized light;

wherein the first modulated polarized light forms the first light output of the light source and the second modulated polarized light forms the second light output of the light source.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the light source comprises a light delay element configured to delay the second modulated polarized light prior to polarization combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the light source comprises a signal generator configured to generate an electrical signal for driving the first light modulator and the second light modulator,

wherein the first laser, the first modulator, and the signal generator are configured to generate the first modulated polarized light as a first optical pulse train, an

Wherein the second laser, the second modulator, and the signal generator are configured to generate the second modulated polarized light as a second optical pulse train.

38. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the light source comprises a signal generator configured to generate an electrical signal for driving the first light modulator and the second light modulator,

wherein the first laser, the first modulator, the second modulator, and the signal generator are configured to generate the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light as a dispersive predistortion optical signal.

39. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the first modulator and the second modulator are configured to modulate a time stamp onto the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light.

40. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises:

a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;

a second polarization combiner configured to polarization combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to generate a first combined light;

an optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to generate modulated combined light; and

a splitter for splitting the modulated combined light into a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion forms the first light output of the light source and the second portion forms the second light output of the light source.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the light source comprises an optical delay element configured to delay the second portion prior to combining the second portion with the first portion polarization by the polarization combiner.

42. An apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the apparatus comprising:

Light-powered, the light-powered comprising:

a light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate;

a polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate a light output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, wherein mutually orthogonal first and second polarization components carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively; and

a polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator configured to generate two tones at a first polarization and two tones at a second polarization, the second polarization being orthogonal to the first polarization.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein a frequency spacing between the two tones at the first polarization and a frequency spacing between the two tones at the second polarization are equal to each other.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein a frequency interval between a tone of the first polarization and a tone of the second polarization is an integer multiple of the frequency interval between the two tones of the first polarization.

45. An apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the apparatus comprising:

light-powered, the light-powered comprising:

a laser;

an electronic controller electrically coupled to the laser and configured to cause the laser to generate a first polarized light output having a first optical frequency;

a frequency shifter configured to frequency shift the second portion to generate a frequency-shifted second portion having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, wherein each of the first portion and the frequency-shifted second portion is stable for a time interval that is significantly longer than the time interval at the symbol rate;

A polarization combiner configured to receive the first portion and the frequency shifted second portion, wherein the polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output signal comprising first and second polarization components that are mutually orthogonal, the first and second polarization components carrying light of the first portion and light of the frequency shifted second portion, respectively.

46. An apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the apparatus comprising:

light-powered, the light-powered comprising:

a laser configured to generate a first light;

a modulator configured to divide the first light into a first spectral tone and a second spectral tone, and to generate a second light comprising the first spectral tone and the second spectral tone;

a frequency divider configured to divide the second light into a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion comprises the first spectral tone and the second portion comprises the second spectral tone, and each of the first portion and the second portion is stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate;

A polarization combiner configured to receive the first and second portions, wherein the polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output signal comprising first and second polarization components that are mutually orthogonal, the first and second polarization components carrying light of the first and second portions, respectively.

47. An apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the apparatus comprising:

light-powered, the light-powered comprising:

a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;

a second light modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to generate second modulated polarized light, and each of the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light is stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate; and

A polarization combiner configured to receive the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light, wherein the polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, the optical output signal comprising first and second polarization components that are mutually orthogonal, the first and second polarization components carrying light of the first and second modulated polarized light, respectively.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the light source comprises a light delay element configured to delay the second modulated polarized light prior to polarization combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light.

49. An apparatus for transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the apparatus comprising:

light-powered, the light-powered comprising:

a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;

a first polarization combiner configured to polarization combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to generate a first combined light;

An optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to generate modulated combined light;

a splitter dividing the modulated combined light into a first portion and a second portion, and each of the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate; and

50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the light energization comprises a light delay element configured to delay the second portion before combining the second portion with the first portion polarization by the polarization combiner.

51. A method of transmitting an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate, the method comprising:

generating a first light output having a first optical frequency;

generating a second optical output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first and second optical outputs being stable for a time interval that is significantly longer than the time interval at the symbol rate;

polarization combining the first light output and the second light output and generating a light output signal comprising first and second polarization components orthogonal to each other, the first and second polarization components carrying light of the first light output and light of the second light output, respectively; and

the optical output signal is propagated through an optical fiber comprising one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber to a transmission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal.

52. The method of claim 51, comprising configuring the first light output and the second light output to be mutually orthogonal in time/frequency.

53. The method of claim 51, wherein generating the first light output comprises generating a first continuous wave light field at the first optical frequency and generating the second light output comprises generating a second continuous wave light field at the second optical frequency.

54. The method of claim 51, wherein a difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is approximately an integer multiple of the symbol rate.

55. The method of claim 51, wherein generating the first light output comprises generating a first light pulse train having a first period, and

wherein generating the second light output comprises generating a second light pulse train having a second period.

56. The method of claim 55, comprising aligning in time a center of a pulse of the first optical pulse train with a center of a corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train.

57. The method of claim 55, comprising shifting a center of a pulse of the first optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift from a center of a corresponding pulse of the second optical pulse train.

58. The method of claim 55, wherein generating a first optical pulse train comprises generating a first optical pulse train having a spectrum comprising two first optical frequency tones; and is also provided with

Wherein generating the second optical pulse train comprises generating the second optical pulse train having a spectrum comprising two second optical frequency tones different from the two first optical frequency tones.

59. The method of claim 51, comprising printing first control information on the first light output and printing second control information on the second light output.

60. A method as defined in claim 51, including generating two tones at a first polarization and two tones at a second polarization using a polarization diversity in-phase modulator/polarization diversity quadrature modulator, the second polarization being orthogonal to the first polarization.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein a frequency spacing between the two tones at the first polarization and a frequency spacing between the two tones at the second polarization are equal to each other.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein a frequency spacing between a tone of the first polarization and a tone of the second polarization is an integer multiple of the frequency spacing between the two tones of the first polarization.

63. The method of claim 61, comprising dividing the optical output signal into a first portion and a second portion;

modulating the first portion using first data to generate a first modulated optical signal; and

the second portion is modulated using second data to generate a second modulated optical signal.

64. A system, the system comprising:

light-powered, the light-powered comprising:

a first light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to generate a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate; and

a first polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at respective different input ports of the first polarization combiner, the polarization combiner configured to generate a first light output signal at an output port of the polarization combiner, wherein mutually orthogonal first and second polarization components carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively.

65. The system of claim 64, wherein the system comprises a first data processing device, the first data processing device comprising:

the first housing is provided with a first opening,

a first data processor disposed in the first housing, an

A first commonly packaged optical module configured to convert an output electrical signal of the first data processor into an output optical signal, the output optical signal provided to a first fiber optic cable optically coupled to the first data processing device;

wherein the optical power supply is configured to provide the first optical output signal to the first commonly packaged optical module over a first optical link.

66. The system of claim 65, wherein the light energizing comprises:

a second light source configured to generate a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency, the second optical frequency being different from the first optical frequency, each of the first and second light outputs being stable for a time interval that is substantially longer than the time interval at the symbol rate; and

A second polarization combiner connected to receive the first and second light outputs of the second light source at respective different input ports of the second polarization combiner, the second polarization combiner configured to generate a second light output signal at an output port of the second polarization combiner, wherein mutually orthogonal first and second polarization components carry light of the first and second light outputs, respectively;

wherein the system comprises a second data processing device comprising:

the second housing is provided with a second opening,

a second data processor disposed in the second housing, and

a second co-packaged optical module configured to convert an output electrical signal of the second data processor into an output optical signal, the output optical signal being provided to a second fiber optic cable optically coupled to the second data processing device, the first and second fiber optic cables being the same cable or different cables;

wherein the optical power supply is configured to provide the second optical output signal to the second co-packaged optical module over a second optical link.

67. The system of claim 65 or 66, wherein the first common packaged optical module comprises an emission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the first optical output signal of the output port of the polarization combiner; and

wherein the first optical link comprises one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber, wherein the first optical link is optically coupled between the output port of the polarization combiner and the emission module, and the first optical link is configured to transmit the first optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner to the emission module.

68. The system of any one of claims 65 to 67, wherein the system comprises a distributed data processing system, the first data processing device comprises a data server comprising a circuit board on which the first data processor is mounted, the circuit board being positioned relative to the housing such that a first major surface of the circuit board is at an angle relative to a floor of the housing, and the angle is in the range of 45 ° to 90 °.

69. The system of claim 68, wherein the circuit board is positioned parallel to the front plate.

70. The system of claim 68 or 69, wherein the first data processor comprises: at least one of a network switch, a central processor, a graphics processing unit, a tensor processing unit, a neural network processor, an artificial intelligence accelerator, a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

71. The system of any one of claims 65 to 70, wherein the first common packaged light module comprises: a first photonic integrated circuit; a first optical connector component configured to be removably coupled to a second optical connector component attached to the first optical fiber cable; and an optically powered connector connected to the first optical link to receive supply light from the optically powered.

72. The system of claim 71, wherein the first optical output signal is modulated via synchronization information, the first common package optical module comprising an optical splitter that distributes the supply light and provides a first portion of the supply light to a receiver configured to extract the synchronization information.

73. The system of claim 71, wherein the first common package optical module comprises an optical splitter that distributes the supply light and provides a first portion of the supply light to an optoelectronic modulator configured to modulate the output electrical signal of the first data processor onto the first portion of the supply light to generate modulated light, wherein the modulated light is output through the first fiber optic cable.

74. The system of any of claims 68-73, wherein the first commonly packaged optical module is electrically coupled to the first circuit board using electrical contacts comprising at least one of a spring-loaded element, a compression interposer, or a land grid array.

75. The system of any one of claims 64 to 75, wherein the system comprises:

an emission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal of the output port of the polarization combiner; and

76. The system of any one of claims 65 to 75, comprising a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly comprises:

a first fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port; and

a second fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port;

wherein the light-powered fiber port of the first fiber optic connector is optically coupled to the light-powered fiber port of the second fiber optic connector;

wherein the first fiber optic connector is configured to optically couple to the first commonly packaged optical module;

wherein the second fiber optic connector is configured to optically couple to the optical power supply to receive the first optical output signal from the output port.

77. The system of claim 76, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the first light-powered fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

78. The system of any one of claims 66-75, wherein the system comprises a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link and the second optical link, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly comprises:

a first fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port;

a second fiber optic connector comprising an optically powered fiber optic port, an emitter fiber optic port, and a receiver fiber optic port;

a third fiber optic connector comprising a first light-powered fiber optic port and a second light-powered fiber optic port;

wherein the light-powered optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector is optically coupled to the first light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector, and the light-powered optical fiber port of the second optical fiber connector is optically coupled to the second light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector;

wherein the first fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the first commonly packaged optical module, the second fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the second commonly packaged optical module, and the third fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the optical power supply.

79. The system of claim 78, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered fiber port of the first optical fiber connector and the first light-powered fiber port of the third optical fiber connector.

80. The system of claim 79, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a second optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered fiber port of the second fiber optic connector and the second light-powered fiber port of the third fiber optic connector.

81. The system of claim 80, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a third optical fiber optically coupled to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

82. The system of claim 81, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a fourth optical fiber optically coupled to the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

83. The system of claim 82, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a fiber optic guidance module including a first port, a second port, and a third port,

Wherein the first optical fiber extends through the first port and the third port, the second optical fiber extends through the second port and the third port, the third optical fiber extends through the first port and the second port, and the fourth optical fiber extends through the first port and the second port.

84. The system of claim 83, wherein the first optical fiber, the third optical fiber, and the fourth optical fiber extend from the first port of the fiber optic guidance module to the first fiber optic connector.

85. The system of claim 84, wherein the second optical fiber, the third optical fiber, and the fourth optical fiber extend from the second port of the fiber optic guidance module to the second optical fiber connector.

86. The system of claim 85, wherein the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber extend from the third port of the fiber optic guidance module to the third fiber optic connector.

87. The system of any one of claims 83 to 86, wherein the fiber optic guidance module is configured to limit bending of the optical fibers passing through the fiber optic guidance module such that each optical fiber in the fiber optic guidance module has a bending radius greater than a predetermined value to prevent excessive light loss or damage to the optical fibers caused by bending.

88. The system of claim 78, wherein the first common packaged optical module comprises a first photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the first fiber connector and configured to receive the energy light of the first light source through the light-powered fiber port of the first fiber connector.

89. The system of claim 88, wherein the first photonic integrated circuit is configured to modulate the energy light to generate a first modulated light signal and transmit the first modulated light signal to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

90. The system of claim 89, wherein the second co-packaged optical module comprises a second photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the second fiber optic connector and configured to receive the energy light of the second light source through the light-energized fiber optic port of the second fiber optic connector.

91. The system of claim 90, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit is configured to modulate the energy light to generate a second modulated optical signal and transmit the second modulated optical signal to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

92. The system of claim 91, wherein said first photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive said second modulated optical signal transmitted by said second photonic integrated circuit through said receiver fiber port of said first fiber optic connector.

93. The system of claim 92, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive the first modulated optical signal transmitted by the first photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

94. The system of any one of claims 78 to 93, wherein the light-powered is optically coupled to the third fiber optic connector and configured to provide a first sequence of light frame templates to the first light-powered fiber optic port and a second sequence of light frame templates to the second light-powered fiber optic port.

95. The system of claim 94, wherein the first common packaged optical module comprises a first photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the first fiber connector and configured to receive the first sequence of light-powered optical frame templates through the light-powered fiber ports of the first fiber connector.

96. The system of claim 95, wherein the first photonic integrated circuit is configured to modulate the first sequence of optical frame templates to generate a first sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the first sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

97. The system of claim 96, wherein the second co-packaged optical module comprises a second photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the second fiber optic connector and configured to receive the second sequence of light-powered optical frame templates through the light-powered fiber ports of the second fiber optic connector.

98. The system of claim 97, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit is configured to modulate the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate a second sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the second sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

99. The system of claim 98, wherein the first photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive a second sequence of the loaded optical frames transmitted by the second photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

100. The system of claim 99, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive the first sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted by the first photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

101. A system, the system comprising:

a first data processing apparatus, the first data processing apparatus comprising a first optical transmitter, the first optical transmitter comprising:

a passive polarization splitter having an optical input port and first and second optical output ports, the optical input port being optically connected to receive an optical input signal having first and second polarization components, the first polarization component carrying light of a first optical frequency and the second polarization component carrying light of a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, the first and second polarization components being mutually orthogonal and commonly undergoing a change in polarization state during a time interval, the passive polarization splitter directing light of a first fixed polarization from the optical input port to the first optical output port and also directing light of a second fixed polarization from the optical input port to the second optical output port, the first and second fixed polarizations being mutually orthogonal, the change in polarization state causing the respective spectral components of the light directed to the first optical port and the light directed to the second optical port to change during the time interval; and

A first optical modulator connected to the first optical output port and configured to modulate the first fixed polarized light received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal; and

a first optical link optically connected between the optical input port and an optical supply providing the optical input signal.

102. The system of claim 101, wherein the first data processing device comprises a first housing and the first light emitter is disposed in the first housing;

wherein the system comprises:

a second data processing device comprising a second housing, a second light emitter disposed in the second housing; and

a second optical link optically connected between the second optical transmitter and the optical energy supply.

103. The system of claim 101 or 102, wherein the first optical link comprises one or more lengths of non-polarization maintaining optical fiber, wherein the first optical link is optically coupled between the output port of the polarization combiner and the emission module, and wherein the first optical link is configured to transmit the first optical output signal from the output port of the polarization combiner to the emission module.

104. The system of claim 102 or 103, wherein the first data processing device comprises a circuit board on which is mounted a first photonic integrated circuit, the first light emitter is part of the first photonic integrated circuit, the circuit board is positioned relative to the housing such that a first major surface of the circuit board is at an angle relative to a floor of the housing, and the angle is in a range of 45 ° to 90 °.

105. The system of claim 104, wherein the circuit board is positioned parallel to a front plate of the housing.

106. The system of any one of claims 101 to 105, wherein the first data processing device comprises a first data processor configured to provide the first data signal, and the first data processor comprises: at least one of a network switch, a central processor, a graphics processing unit, a tensor processing unit, a neural network processor, an artificial intelligence accelerator, a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

107. The system of any one of claims 101 to 106, wherein the system comprises a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly comprises:

wherein the first fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the first data processing device;

wherein the second fiber optic connector is configured to optically couple to the optical power supply.

108. The system of claim 107, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the light-powered fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

109. The system of any one of claims 102 to 106, wherein the system comprises a fiber optic cable assembly including the first optical link and the second optical link, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly comprises:

wherein the first fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the first data processing device, the second fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the second data processing device, and the third fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the optical energy supply.

110. The system of claim 109, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector and the first light-powered optical fiber port of the third optical fiber connector.

111. The system of claim 110, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a second optical fiber optically coupled to the light-powered fiber port of the second optical fiber connector and the second light-powered fiber port of the third optical fiber connector.

112. The system of claim 111, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a third optical fiber optically coupled to the transmitter optical fiber port of the first optical fiber connector and the receiver optical fiber port of the second optical fiber connector.

113. The system of claim 112, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a fourth optical fiber optically coupled to the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

114. The system of claim 113, wherein the fiber optic cable assembly includes a fiber optic guidance module including a first port, a second port, and a third port,

115. The system of claim 114, wherein the first optical fiber, the third optical fiber, and the fourth optical fiber extend from the first port of the fiber optic guidance module to the first fiber optic connector.

116. The system of claim 115, wherein the second optical fiber, the third optical fiber, and the fourth optical fiber extend from the second port of the fiber optic guidance module to the second fiber optic connector.

117. The system of claim 116, wherein the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber extend from the third port of the fiber optic guidance module to the third fiber optic connector.

118. The system of any one of claims 114-117, wherein the fiber optic guidance module is configured to limit bending of the optical fibers passing through the fiber optic guidance module such that each optical fiber in the fiber optic guidance module has a bending radius greater than a predetermined value to prevent excessive light loss or damage to the optical fibers caused by bending.

119. The system of claim 109, wherein the first optical transmitter is configured to receive the light-powered energy light through the light-powered fiber optic port of the first fiber optic connector, modulate the first fixedly polarized light in response to the first data signal to generate a first modulated optical signal, and transmit the first modulated optical signal to the transmitter fiber optic port of the first fiber optic connector.

120. The system of claim 119, wherein the second optical transmitter is configured to receive the light-powered energy light through the light-powered fiber optic port of the second fiber optic connector, modulate the energy light to generate a second modulated optical signal, and transmit the second modulated optical signal to the transmitter fiber optic port of the second fiber optic connector.

121. The system of any one of claims 109-120, wherein the system comprises the light energization, wherein the light energization is optically coupled to the third fiber optic connector, and the light energization is configured to provide a first sequence of light frame templates to the first light energization fiber optic port and a second sequence of light frame templates to the second light energization fiber optic port.

122. The system of claim 121, wherein the first light emitter is configured to receive the first sequence of light-powered optical frame templates through the light-powered optical fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

123. The system of claim 122, wherein the first optical transmitter is configured to modulate the first sequence of optical frame templates in response to the first data signal to generate a first sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the first sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

124. The system of claim 123, wherein the second light emitter is configured to receive the second sequence of light-powered optical frame templates through the light-powered optical fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

125. The system of claim 124, wherein the second optical transmitter is configured to modulate the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate a second sequence of loaded optical frames and transmit the second sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

126. The system of claim 125, wherein the first data processing device is configured to receive a second sequence of the loaded optical frames transmitted by the second photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector.

127. The system of claim 126, wherein the second data processing device is configured to receive the first sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted by the first photonic integrated circuit through the receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.