KR20230074066A - Polarization Diversity Optical Power Supplies - Google Patents

Abstract

An optical communication system is provided that includes a polarization-diversity optical power supply capable of supplying light through a non-polarization-maintaining optical fiber to a polarization-sensitive modulation device. In an exemplary embodiment, a polarization-diversity optical power supply operates to accommodate random polarization fluctuations within a non-polarization-maintaining optical fiber and enables equal-power splitting in a passive polarization splitter preceding the polarization-sensitive modulation device.

Description

Polarization-Diversity Optical Power Supplies

This application is filed on June 1, 2020, US Patent Application No. 16/888,890, claiming priority thereto, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This application is filed on February 3, 2021, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/145,368, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Various exemplary embodiments relate to optical communications equipment, and more specifically to (but not limited to) optical power supplies.

This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the statements in this section are to be read in this light and are not to be construed as admissions of what is or is not in the prior art.

As the input/output (I/O) capacity of electronic processing chips increases, electrical signals may not provide sufficient I/O capacity across the finite size of a practically viable electronic chip package. A feasible alternative may be to use optical signals to interconnect electronic chip packages, which can typically deliver a much higher I/O capacity per unit area than electrical I/Os.

Optics comprising a polarization-diversity optical power supply capable of supplying light to a polarization-sensitive modulation device through a non-polarization-maintaining optical fiber. Various embodiments of a communication system are disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, the polarization-diversity optical power supply operates to accommodate random polarization fluctuations within the non-polarization-maintaining optical fiber and equalizes them in a passive polarization splitter preceding the polarization-sensitive modulation device. -Enables equal-power division.

According to one embodiment, an apparatus for communicating an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate is provided, the apparatus comprising an optical power supply, the optical power supply being coupled to a light source and a light source to provide the light source. An electronic controller for generating a first light output having a 1 optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, each of the first and second light outputs having a 1/symbol - Steady for time intervals significantly longer than the rate; and a polarization combiner coupled to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at different respective input ports, wherein the polarization combiner is configured to transmit first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components at the output port to the first light output and the second light output. configured to generate optical outputs that each carry light of the optical outputs.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the degree that the first light output and the second light output are time/frequency orthogonal is greater than 0.8.

In some embodiments for any device above, the degree is greater than 0.9.

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

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is greater than 5 times the symbol rate.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the first optical output comprises a first optical pulse train of a first period and the second optical output comprises a second optical pulse train of a first period. do.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the pulses of the first and second optical pulse trains have individual intensity waveforms different from each other.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train are temporally aligned with centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train.

In some embodiments of any device above, centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train are temporally offset from centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the electronic controller is also configured to imprint 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 device above, the first control information is the same as the second control information.

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

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the electronic controller is configured to control the first CW laser and the second CW laser to controllably establish a frequency differential between the first and second optical frequencies.

In some embodiments of any device above, the polarization combiner includes one or more of a polarization beam combiner, a polarization-maintaining optical power combiner, and a polarization-maintaining wavelength multiplexer.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the electronic controller is configured to control the optical frequency of the first modulation tone.

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

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source comprises a pulsed laser configured to generate an optical pulse train.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source includes an optical delay element configured to delay the first light output relative to the second light output.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical power supply includes an optical dispersion-compensating element.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source includes a polarization-diversity in-phase/quartile-phase modulator.

In some embodiments of any device above, the polarization-diversity in-phase/quadrature phase modulator is configured to produce two tones of a first polarization and two tones of a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization. made up; a frequency interval between the two tones of the first polarization and a frequency interval between the two tones of the second polarization are equal to each other; A frequency spacing between a tone of the first polarization and a tone of the second polarization is an integer multiple of the same frequency spacing.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the device further comprises an optical transmission module optically end-connected through one or more sections of optical fiber to the output port of the polarization combiner, the transmission module comprising: , a polarization splitter having an input port optically coupled to one end of one of the sections of the optical fiber for receiving light of an optical output; a first optical data modulator coupled to a first output of the polarization splitter; and a second optical data modulator connected to the second output of the polarization splitter.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, at least one of the one or more sections of the optical fiber remains unpolarized.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical fiber is at least 1 meter long.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical fiber is at least 10 meters long.

According to another embodiment, an apparatus is provided that includes an optical transmitter, the 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 having a first polarization input port. optically coupled to receive an optical input signal having a polarization component and a second polarization component, the first polarization component carrying light at a first optical frequency, and the second polarization component at a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency. Carries light of, the first polarization component and the second polarization component are orthogonal to each other and jointly undergo a state-of-polarization change for a certain time interval, and the passive polarization splitter has a first fixed polarization ( fixed polarization) is directed from the optical input port to the first optical output port, and also allows light of a second fixed polarization to be directed from the optical input port to the second optical output port, wherein the first fixed polarization and the second fixed polarization are directed. the polarizations are orthogonal to each other, and the polarization state change causes the respective spectral compositions of lights directed to the first and second optical ports to change during the time interval; and a first optical modulator coupled to the first optical output port and configured to modulate light of a first fixed polarization received therefrom in response to a first data signal.

In some embodiments of the above apparatus, the optical transmitter further includes a second optical modulator coupled to the second optical output port and configured to modulate light of a second fixed polarization received therefrom in response to the second data signal. .

In some embodiments of any device above, the first and second optical modulators are coupled to transmit individual modulated lights over different individual optical fibers.

In some embodiments of any device above, at some times in the time interval, the first optical modulator receives a first optical frequency but not a second optical frequency from the first output port; At some other times in the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency but not the first optical frequency from the first output port.

In some embodiments of any device above, at some other times of the time interval, the first optical modulators receive a mixture of first and second optical frequencies from the first output port.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical input port is optically coupled to receive an optical input signal from a proximate end of an optical fiber section that includes at least one section that maintains depolarization.

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

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

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

In some embodiments of any device above, an optical power supply is coupled to a light source and to the light source such that the light source generates a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency. an electronic controller that causes each of the first light output and the second light output to be in a steady state during the time interval; and a polarization combiner coupled to receive the first and second optical outputs of the light source at different respective input ports, the polarization combiner coupled to the optical fiber at the output port to allow the optical input port of the polarization splitter to receive the optical input signal. Configured to generate an output - contains.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the first optical modulator is unsuitable for modulating optical signals having a second fixed polarization.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the second optical modulator is unsuitable for modulating optical signals having the first fixed polarization.

In some embodiments of any device above, the difference between the first and second optical frequencies may be Δf , the symbol rate may be Rs , and Δf may be within ±10% of Rs . can

In some embodiments of any of the above apparatus, the apparatus includes a transmission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate an optical output signal from an output port of the polarization combiner; and an optical fiber comprising one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber. An optical fiber may be optically coupled between the output port of the polarization coupler and the transmission module, and the optical fiber may be configured to transmit an optical output signal from the output port of the polarization coupler to the transmission module.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical fiber between the transmission module and the polarization coupler is at least 1 meter long.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical fiber between the transmission module and the polarization combiner is at least 10 meters long.

In some embodiments of any device above, the transmission module may include a passive polarization splitter having an optical input port, a first optical output port and a second optical output port, the optical input port comprising: optically coupled to receive an optical input signal from an optical power supply having a first polarization component and a second polarization component carrying light of a first optical frequency, the second polarization component carrying light of the second optical carries light of a frequency. The first polarization component and the second polarization component are orthogonal to each other and jointly undergo a polarization state change over a period of time, and the passive polarization splitter directs light of the first fixed polarization from the optical input port to the first optical output port; It also directs light of the 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, and the polarization state change causes the respective spectral configurations of lights directed to the first and second optical ports to change during the time interval. The transmit module can include a first optical modulator optically coupled to the first optical output port and configured to modulate light of a first fixed polarization received therefrom in response to a first data signal.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator may be optically coupled to transmit individual modulated lights through different individual optical fibers.

In some embodiments of any device above, at some times in the time interval, the first optical modulator may receive a first optical frequency but not a second optical frequency from the first output port; At some other times in the time interval, the first optical modulator may receive the second optical frequency but not the first optical frequency from the first output port.

In some embodiments of any device above, at some 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 device above, the polarization combiner is a polarization beam combiner, a polarization-maintaining optical power combiner and a polarization-maintaining wavelength multiplexer. wavelength multiplexer).

In some embodiments of any of the devices above, the device includes a chromatic-dispersion-compensating optical element configured to pre-disperse the optical output signal from the polarization combiner. can include

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source may include a first laser configured to produce a first polarized light having a first optical frequency. The first polarized light may form a first light output of a light source. The light source can include a second laser configured to produce a second polarized light having a second optical frequency. The second polarized light may form a second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source comprises a laser configured to produce a first polarized light 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 first portion may form a 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 a second optical frequency, the frequency-shifted second portion comprising: A second light output of the light source may be formed.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source comprises a laser configured to generate a first light; a modulator configured to split 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; and a frequency splitter configured to frequency-split the second light into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion may include a first spectral tone, and the second portion may include a second spectral tone. The first portion may form a first light output of the light source and the second portion may form a second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source comprises a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength; a first optical modulator configured to modulate the first polarized light to produce first modulated polarized light; and a second optical modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to produce a second modulated polarized light. The first modulated polarized light may form a first light output of the light source and the second modulated polarized light may form a second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source is an optical delay element configured to retard the second modulated polarized light before polarization-combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light. delay element) may be included.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source may include a signal generator configured to generate electrical signals for driving the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator. The first laser, the first optical modulator, the second optical modulator and the signal generator are configured to generate the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light as dispersion pre-distorted optical signals. It can be.

In some embodiments of any device above, the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator may be configured to modulate time stamps with the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light. .

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source comprises a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength; a second polarization combiner configured to polarization-combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to produce a first combined light; an optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to produce modulated combined light; and a splitter for splitting the modulation-combined light into a first part and a second part. The first portion may form a first light output of the light source and the second portion may form a second light output of the light source.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source may include an optical retardation element configured to delay the second portion before the second portion is polarization-coupled with the first portion by the polarization combiner.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for communicating an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes an optical power supply comprising: a laser; an electronic controller electrically coupled to the laser and configured to cause the laser to produce 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 produce 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 steady-state for a time interval significantly longer than 1/symbol rate. The optical power supply 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 comprising first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components carrying light of the first portion and the frequency-shifted second portion, respectively, at an output port of the polarization combiner.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for communicating an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes an optical power supply comprising: a laser configured to generate a first light; and a modulator configured to split 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. The optical power supply includes a frequency splitter configured to frequency-divide the second light into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion includes a first spectral tone, the second portion includes a second spectral tone, and each of the first and second portions is steady-state for a time interval significantly greater than 1/symbol rate. The optical power supply includes a polarization combiner configured to receive a first portion and a second portion. The polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal comprising first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components carrying light of a first portion and a second portion, respectively, at an output port of the polarization combiner.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for communicating an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes an optical power supply comprising: a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; and a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength. The optical power supply includes a first optical modulator configured to modulate the first polarized light to produce a first modulated polarized light; and a second optical modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to produce a second modulated polarized light. Each of the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light is steady state for a time interval significantly longer than the 1/symbol rate. The optical power supply 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 comprising first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components carrying first and second modulated polarized light, respectively, at an output port of the polarization combiner.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. The optical power supply may include an optical retardation element configured to delay the second modulated polarized light before polarization-combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light.

In another general aspect, an apparatus for communicating an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes an optical power supply comprising: a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength; and a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength. The optical power supply includes a first polarization combiner configured to polarization-combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to produce a first combined light; and an optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to produce modulated combined light. The optical power supply includes a splitter for splitting the modulated combined light into a first portion and a second portion, each of the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light for a time interval significantly longer than the 1/symbol rate. It is normal. The optical power supply includes a polarization combiner configured to receive a first portion and a second portion. The polarization combiner is configured to generate an optical output signal comprising first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components carrying light of a first portion and a second portion, respectively, at an output port of the polarization combiner.

Implementations may 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 the second portion is polarization-coupled with the first portion by the polarization combiner.

In another general aspect, a method of communicating an optical signal modulated at a symbol rate includes generating a first optical output having a first optical frequency; generating a second light output having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, each of the first and second light outputs being steady-state for a time interval significantly longer than 1/symbol rate; and an optical output signal comprising first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components polarization-combining the first light output and the second light output and carrying light of the first light output and the second light output, respectively. It includes the step of generating. The method includes propagating an optical output signal through an optical fiber comprising one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber to a transmission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Way

It may include configuring the first light output and the second light output to be time/frequency orthogonal to each other.

Generating the first optical output can include generating a first continuous wave optical field at a first optical frequency, and generating the second optical output generates a second continuous wave optical field at a second optical frequency. steps may be included.

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 optical output may include generating a first optical pulse train having a first period, and generating the second optical output may include generating a second optical pulse train having a second period. steps may be included.

The method may include temporally aligning centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train with centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train.

The method may include temporally offsetting centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift from centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train.

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

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

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

A frequency interval between the two tones of the first polarization and a frequency interval between the two tones of the second polarization may be equal to each other.

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

The method includes splitting an optical output signal into a first portion and a second portion; modulating the first portion with first data to generate a first modulated optical signal; and generating a second modulated optical signal by modulating the second part with second data.

In another general aspect, a system includes an optical power supply, the optical power supply coupled to a first light source and to the light source such that the light source has a first optical output having a first optical frequency and a first optical power different from the first optical frequency. 2 optical frequency, wherein each of the first light output and the second light output is steady state for a time interval significantly longer than 1/symbol rate. The optical power supply includes a first polarization combiner coupled to receive first and second light outputs of the light source at different respective input ports, the polarization combiner having first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components at the output port. are configured to generate a first optical output signal carrying light of the first light output and the second light output, respectively.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. The system includes a first data processing device comprising a first housing, a first data processor disposed in the first housing, and output electrical signals from the first data processor to the first data processing device. and a first co-packaged optical module configured to convert output optical signals provided to the optically coupled first fiber optic cable. The optical power supply may be configured to provide a first optical output signal to the first co-packaged optical module through the first optical link.

The optical power supply 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 different from the first optical frequency, the first light output and the second light output are steady-state for a time interval significantly greater than 1/symbol rate. The optical power supply may include a second polarization coupler connected to receive the first light output and the second light output of the second light source at different respective input ports, the second polarization combiner having first and second polarization couplers at the output port. The two mutually orthogonal polarization components are configured to generate a second optical output signal carrying light of the first light output and the second light output, respectively. The system includes a second data processing device, wherein the second data processing device transmits a second housing, a second data processor disposed in the second housing, and output electrical signals from the second data processor to the second data processing device. and a second co-packaged optical module configured to convert output optical signals provided to a second optical fiber cable optically coupled to the optical fiber cable, wherein the first optical fiber cable and the second optical fiber cable are the same cable or different cables. can be The optical power supply can be configured to provide a second optical output signal to the second co-packaged optical module through the second optical link.

The first co-packaged optical module can include a transmit module including at least one optical modulator configured to modulate a first optical output signal from an output port of the polarization combiner. The first optical link may include one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber. A first optical link can be optically coupled between an output port of the polarization coupler and the transmission module, and the first optical link can be configured to transmit the first optical output signal from the output port of the polarization coupler to the transmission module.

The system may include a distributed data processing system, the first data processing device may include a data server, the data server may include a circuit board on which the first data processor is mounted, and the circuit board may include a circuit board of the circuit board. It may be positioned relative to the housing such that the first major surface is angled relative to the bottom panel of the housing and the angle is in the range of 45° to 90°.

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

The first data processor is a network switch, a central processor unit, a graphics processor unit, a tensor processing unit, a neural network processor, an artificial intelligence accelerator It may include at least one of an artificial intelligence accelerator, a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

The first co-packaged optical module includes a first photonic integrated circuit, a first optical connector portion configured to be removably coupled to a second optical connector portion attached to a first optical fiber cable, and an optical power supply. and an optical power supply connector coupled to the first optical link for receiving supply light from the optical power supply connector.

The first optical output signal may be modulated with synchronization information, and the first co-packaged optical module may include an optical splitter that splits supply light and provides a first portion of the supply light to a receiver configured to extract synchronization information. can

A first co-packaged optical module is configured to split supply light and modulate the first portion of the supply light with the first portion of the supply light to generate the output electrical signals from the first data processor to generate modulated light. An optical splitter providing an optoelectronic modulator may be included, and the modulated light is output through a first optical fiber cable.

The first co-packaged optical module comprises an electrical contact comprising at least one of spring-loaded elements, compression interposers, and land-grid arrays. It may be electrically coupled to the first circuit board using electrical contacts.

The system includes a transmit module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate an optical output signal from an output port of the polarization combiner; and an optical fiber comprising one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber. An optical fiber may be optically coupled between the output port of the polarization coupler and the transmission module, and the optical fiber may be configured to transmit an optical output signal from the output port of the polarization coupler to the transmission module.

A system may include an optical cable assembly including the first optical link. An optical cable assembly includes a first optical fiber connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port and a receiver fiber port; and a second fiber optic connector including an optical power supply fiber port. The optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector may be optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. The first fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the first co-packaged optical module. The second fiber optic connector may be configured to be optically coupled to the optical power supply for receiving the first optical output signal from the output port.

The optical cable assembly may include a first optical fiber optically coupled to an optical power supply fiber port of a first fiber optic connector and a first optical power supply fiber port of a second fiber optic connector.

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

The optical cable assembly may include a first optical fiber optically coupled to an optical power supply fiber port of a first fiber optic connector and to a first optical power supply fiber port of a third fiber optic connector.

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

The optical cable assembly may include 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.

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

The optical cable assembly may include an optical fiber guide 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, and 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 optical fiber, the third optical fiber and the fourth optical fiber may extend from the first port of the optical fiber guide module to the first optical fiber connector.

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

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

The fiber guide module passes through the fiber guide module so that each fiber in the fiber guide module has a bending radius greater than a predetermined value to prevent excessive optical light loss or damage to the optical fiber due to bending. It can be configured to limit the bending of the optical fibers that do.

The first co-packaged optical module may include a first photonic integrated circuit optically coupled to the first fiber optic connector and configured to receive power supply light from a first light source through an optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. can

The first photonic integrated circuit may be configured to modulate the power supply light to generate a first modulated optical signal and transmit the first modulated optical signal to a 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 power supply light from a second light source through an optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. can

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

The first photonic integrated circuit may be configured to receive a second modulated optical signal transmitted from 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.

An optical power supply may be optically coupled to the third fiber optic connector, providing a first sequence of optical frame templates to the first optical power supply fiber port, and a second sequence of optical frame templates. to the second optical power supply fiber port.

a first co-packaged optical module optically coupled to the first optical fiber connector and configured to receive a first sequence of optical frame templates from an optical power supply through an optical power supply fiber port of the first optical fiber connector; circuitry may be included.

A first photonic integrated circuit modulates a first sequence of optical frame templates to generate a first sequence of loaded optical frames, and the first sequence of loaded optical frames to a transmitter fiber port of a first fiber optic connector. can be configured to transmit.

a second co-packaged optical module optically coupled to the second fiber optic connector and configured to receive a second sequence of optical frame templates from an optical power supply through an optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector; circuitry may be included.

The second photonic integrated circuit is configured to modulate the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate the 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. It can be.

The first photonic integrated circuit may be configured to receive the second sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted from 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 device including a first optical transmitter, the first optical transmitter comprising a passive polarization signal having an optical input port, a first optical output port, and a second optical output port. Includes splitters. The optical input port is optically coupled to receive an optical input signal having a first polarization component and a second polarization component, the first polarization component carrying light of a first optical frequency and the second polarization component having a first optical frequency and carries light of a different second optical frequency. The first polarization component and the second polarization component are orthogonal to each other and jointly undergo a polarization state change during a predetermined 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 the respective spectral configurations of the lights directed to the first optical output port and the second optical output port to change during the time interval. The first data processing device includes a first optical modulator connected to the first optical output port and configured to modulate light of a first fixed polarization received therefrom in response to a first data signal. The device includes a first optical link optically coupled between an optical input port and an optical power supply providing an optical input signal.

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

The first optical link may include one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber. A first optical link can be optically coupled between an output port of the polarization coupler and the transmission module, and the first optical link can be configured to transmit the first optical output signal from the output port of the polarization coupler to the transmission module.

The first data processing device may include a circuit board having a first photonic integrated circuit mounted thereon, and the first optical transmitter may be part of the first photonic integrated circuit, the circuit board having a first major surface of the circuit board. It is angled relative to the bottom panel of the housing and can be positioned relative to the housing such that the angle is in the range of 45° to 90°.

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

The first data processing device may include a first data processor configured to provide a first data signal, the first data processor comprising: a network switch, a central processor unit, a graphics processor unit, a tensor processing unit, a neural network processor, an artificial intelligence accelerator , a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

The system can include an optical cable assembly that includes a first optical link. An optical cable assembly includes a first optical fiber connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port and a receiver fiber port; and a second fiber optic connector including an optical power supply fiber port. The optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector may be optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic 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 an optical power supply.

The optical cable assembly may include a first optical fiber optically coupled to an optical power supply fiber port of a first fiber optic connector and an optical power supply fiber port of a second fiber optic connector.

A system may include an optical cable assembly including a first optical link and the second optical link. An optical cable assembly includes a first optical fiber connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port and a receiver fiber port; a second fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port and a receiver fiber port; and a third optical fiber connector comprising a first optical power supply fiber port and a second optical power supply fiber port. The optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector may be optically coupled to the first optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector, and the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector may be coupled to the second optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector. It can be optically coupled to the power supply fiber port. The first fiber optic connector can be optically coupled to the first data processing device, the second fiber optic connector can be configured to be optically coupled to the second data processing device, and the third fiber optic connector is optically coupled to the optical power supply. It can be configured so that

The optical cable assembly may include a first optical fiber optically coupled to an optical power supply fiber port of a first fiber optic connector and to a first optical power supply fiber port of a third fiber optic connector.

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

The optical cable assembly may include 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.

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

The optical cable assembly may include an optical fiber guide 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, and the third optical fiber may extend through the first port and the second port. and a fourth optical fiber may extend through the first port and the second port.

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

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

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

The optical fiber guide module limits the bending of the optical fibers passing through the optical fiber guide module so that each optical fiber in the optical fiber guide module has a bending radius greater than a predetermined value to prevent excessive optical light loss or damage to the optical fiber due to bending. can be configured.

The first optical transmitter receives power supply light from the optical power supply through the optical power supply fiber port of the first optical fiber connector, modulates light of a first fixed polarization in response to the first data signal, and generates 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 receives power supply light from the optical power supply through the optical power supply fiber port of the second optical fiber connector, modulates the power supply light to generate a second modulated optical signal, and generates a second modulated optical signal. to the transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The system may include an optical power supply. The optical power supply is optically coupled to the third optical fiber connector and is configured to provide a first sequence of optical frame templates to the first optical power supply fiber port and a second sequence of optical frame templates to the second optical power supply fiber port. It can be.

The first optical transmitter may be configured to receive the first sequence of optical frame templates from an optical power supply through an optical power supply fiber port of the first optical fiber connector.

The first optical transmitter modulates the first sequence of optical frame templates in response to the first data signal to generate the first sequence of loaded optical frames, and transmits the first sequence of loaded optical frames to the transmitter fiber of the first fiber optic connector. It can be configured to transmit to a port.

The second optical transmitter may be configured to receive the second sequence of optical frame templates from the optical power supply through the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector.

The second optical transmitter may be configured to modulate the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate the 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. there is.

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

The second data processing device 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.

Other aspects, features, and advantages of the various disclosed embodiments will become more fully apparent from, for example, the following detailed description and accompanying drawings:
1 shows a block diagram of an optical communication system in which at least some embodiments may be practiced.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an optical power supply module that may be used in the optical communication system of FIG. 1 according to an exemplary embodiment.
3A-3E illustrate some characteristics of light generated by an optical power supply in the optical communication system of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.
4A-4F illustrate optical power supplies according to some embodiments, one or more of which may be used in the optical communication system of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an exemplary distributed optical transmitter of the optical communication system of FIG. 1 using the optical power supply module of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment.
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 graphically depict some example use cases illustrating polarization-rotation independent optical-power splitting that may be implemented in the optical communication system of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments.
FIG. 8 graphically illustrates some signals used/generated in the optical transmitter of FIG. 5 and corresponding electrical signals recovered by a corresponding optical receiver according to an exemplary embodiment.
9-13A are diagrams of examples of optical communication systems.
FIG. 13B is a diagram of an example of an optical cable assembly used in the optical communication system of FIG. 13A.
13C is an enlarged view of the optical cable assembly of FIG. 13B.
FIG. 13D is an enlarged view of the top of the optical cable assembly of FIG. 13B.
13E is an enlarged view of the lower portion of the optical cable assembly of FIG. 13B.
14 and 15A are diagrams of examples of optical communication systems.
15B is a diagram of an example of an optical cable assembly.
15C is an enlarged view of the optical cable assembly of FIG. 15B.
FIG. 15D is an enlarged view of the top of the optical cable assembly of FIG. 15B.
15E is an enlarged view of the lower portion of the optical cable assembly of FIG. 15B.
16 and 17A are diagrams of examples of optical communication systems.
17B is a diagram of an example of an optical cable assembly.
17C is an enlarged view of the optical cable assembly of FIG. 17B.
18-20B are diagrams of examples of data processing systems.

At least some embodiments are disclosed in, for example, US Patent Application No. 14, filed April 14, 2020. 16/847,705 may benefit from the use of a light source configured to supply pulsed light for local optical modulation and/or as a clock reference within a corresponding island of synchronicity, which application claims the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Recent optical interconnects aim to co-package and even co-integrate an optical transponder with an electronic processing chip, which is relatively low power. and a transponder solution robust enough to the significant temperature variations that can be found within an electronic processing chip package. massively spatially parallel (multiplexing) information onto relatively few wavelengths and using a relatively large number of parallel spatial paths for chip-to-chip interconnection; Massively spatially parallel) optical interconnect solutions are attracting considerable interest. In such a system, it may be advantageous to place the light source outside the package housing the corresponding photonic and electronic processing chips, and connect the light source to the package via one or more optical fibers. In some such systems, the light source may be placed in a separate location optically connected to the package by, for example, at least one meter of optical fiber.

In some such systems, at least some photonic components within the package may be polarization sensitive, ie only accept or properly process light of a particular polarization state. For example, a one-dimensional vertical grating coupler, which can act as a coupling interface to the optical fiber connecting the light source to the package, can transmit one light while rejecting, deflecting, or dissipating the other light. Only light of a specific polarization can be coupled from the fiber to the photonic processing chip. In another example, an optical modulator integrated into the package can effectively modulate light of only one particular polarization state. Therefore, in such a system it may be advantageous to use a polarization-maintaining optical fiber (PMF) to connect the light source to the corresponding electronic and photonic processing chips. However, some systems that use PMF may be more difficult and/or more expensive to manufacture than systems that use standard non-polarization-maintaining optical fiber (SF), which is for example PMF. is more expensive than SF, and PMF may require rotationally aligned fiber optic connections. However, SF may not preserve the polarization state of light as it is transmitted from the light source to the package housing.

Some systems that use SF to couple a light source with a photonic chip may therefore require an active optical polarization control mechanism or polarization-diversity setup. In some such systems, polarization diversity is described in, for example, US Patent No. 5,654,818, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In some such systems, polarization diversity can be reduced by more complex optical data modulator structures, such as US Patent No. 10,222,676, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

U.S. Patent No. 6,959,152 and no. 7,106,970, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, uses trains of temporally interleaved and orthogonally polarized optical pulses of the same optical wavelength. Some systems configured to do so are disclosed. However, such temporal interleaving can result in significant timing jitter and/or pulse broadening in the modulator due to random polarization rotations within the SF.

At least some of the problems indicated above in the state of the art can be solved by use of various embodiments using, for example, a polarization-diversity optical power supply as outlined herein. For example, the need for PMF can be advantageously bypassed.

1 shows a block diagram of a communication system 100 in which at least some embodiments may be practiced. As shown, system 100 includes nodes 101 ₁ - 101 ₆ , which in some embodiments are optical communication devices, electronic and/or optical switching devices, electronic and/or optical switching devices, respectively. routing devices, network control devices, traffic control devices, synchronization devices, computing devices, and data storage devices. Nodes 101 ₁ - 101 ₆ may be suitably interconnected by fiber optic links 102 ₁ - 102 ₁₂ establishing communication paths between communication devices within the nodes. System 100 may also include one or more optical power supply modules 103 that generate one or more optical supply outputs.

As used herein, “light supply” or “supplied light” refers to nodes 101 ₁ at which the complex optical field amplitude is “steady”. -101 ₆ ) is light for use as a modulation carrier in one or more of the optical communication devices. where the light comprises one or more continuous-wave (CW) optical fields, or the light comprises one or more optical pulse trains of period T _I (where the pulse repetition rate R _I = 1/ T _I ), the light is referred to as "steady state", and each of the pulse trains is significantly longer than the duration T _S of a modulation symbol used for optical communication in the system 100 (eg , at least 100 times) substantially constant individual light-pulse amplitudes and substantially constant individual light-pulse durations over the time interval. (Hereinafter, R _S = 1/ T _S is called the modulation symbol rate.)

As used herein, the complex amplitude of the optical field of light is approximately ( _e.g. , , within ±20%), the light is called "continuous wave (CW)". In some embodiments, a light may be referred to as CW light if the complex amplitude of the optical field of light is approximately constant over at least 100 times the duration T _S of the modulation symbol, i.e., T _CW ≥ 100 T _S . . In some embodiments, the complex amplitude of the optical field of light is at least T _CW > 1000 T _S If it is approximately constant over , the light may be referred to as a CW light. In some embodiments, the term "continuous wave" (or CW) also refers to a frequency much lower than R _S , for example, to such an extent that the effects of noise, drift or dither cause an optical intensity change (eg, duration T _CW small analog dither modulations using one or more sinewave dither tones, of frequency less than R _S /1000, as long as they are not as strong as ±20% of the average optical intensity within); It can be applied to an optical field affected by random drifts, or random noise.

As used herein, the phrase “optical pulse train of period T _I ” means the optical intensity waveform I(t) = | E ₀ (t) | ² denotes a periodic optical field with time period T _I . In some embodiments, the complex amplitude E ₀ (t) of the optical field of the optical pulse train can be periodic with an integral multiple of T _I , i.e., n T _I , where n = 1, 2, 3,... there is.

As used herein, the term "periodic" refers to a waveform characterized by a parameter or characteristic (or a change in a parameter or characteristic) that repeats every period of time T within a duration of time T _D , where T _D is significantly greater than T , for example T _D ≥ 100 T . In some cases, the term "periodic" is used to the extent that the effects of, for example, noise, drift, or dither obscure the waveform periodicity (e.g., render it virtually imperceptible) of a frequency well below 1/ T . ) small analog dither modulations using one or more sinusoidal dither tones, of frequency less than 1/(1000 T ), as long as they are not strong, random drifts, or a waveform affected by random noise.

In some embodiments, the optical supply may also include control information. Control information can be found, for example, in US Patent Application No. 16/847,705 may be used by other network elements of system 100. As used herein, the term “control information” refers to the purpose of controlling, managing, and/or monitoring one or more network elements of system 100 and/or various synchronization operations within one or more network elements of system 100. Refers to information that is imprinted on one or more optical supplies by the optical power supply module 130 to facilitate processing. In some embodiments, the control information includes clock frequency, clock phase, synchronization time stamp, frame delimiter, frame counter, status information, heart It may contain one or more of commands that may be used to control the behavior of other network elements, such as a heartbeat signal, master/slave assignment or reset command.

For illustrative purposes, only one such optical power supply module 103 is shown in FIG. 1 . One skilled in the art will understand that some embodiments may have one or more optical power supply modules 103 suitably distributed throughout the system 100 and that multiple such optical power supply modules may be used, for example as cited above. US Patent Application No. It will be appreciated that synchronization may be achieved using some of the techniques disclosed in 16/847,705.

Some end-to-end communication paths may pass through the optical power supply module 103 (eg, see the communication path between nodes 101 ₂ and 101 ₆ ). For example, the communication path between the nodes 101 ₂ and 101 ₆ may be jointly established by the optical fiber links 102 ₇ and 102 ₈ , whereby the optical power supply module 103 The supplied light is multiplexed onto the fiber optic links 102 ₇ , 102 ₈ .

Some end-to-end communication paths may pass through one or more optical multiplexing units 104 (eg, see communication path between nodes 101 ₂ and 101 ₆ ). For example, a communication path between nodes 101 ₂ and 101 ₆ may be jointly established by fiber optic links 102 ₁₀ and 102 ₁₁ . The multiplexing unit 104 is also connected via a link 102 ₉ to receive the light supplied by the optical power supply module 103, and thus transmits the received optical supply to the optical fiber links 102 ₁₀ , 102 ₁₁ ) can be operated to multiplex onto.

Some end-to-end communication paths may pass through one or more optical switching units 105 (eg see communication path between nodes 101 ₁ and 101 ₄ ). For example, a communication path between nodes 101 ₁ and 101 ₄ may be jointly established by fiber optic links 102 ₃ and 102 ₁₂ , whereby a communication path from fiber optic links 102 ₃ and 102 ₄ may be established. Light is either statically or dynamically directed to the fiber optic link 102 ₁₂ .

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

Some optical supply distribution paths may pass through more than one network element. For example, the optical power supply module 103 passes the supply light through the network elements 101 ₂ , 105 , to the node 101 ₄ via the fiber optic links 102 ₇ , 102 ₄ , 102 ₁₂ . light can be supplied.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an optical power supply 290 that may be used as part of optical power supply module 103 to create an optical supply for use in system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment. The optical power supply 290 includes (i) a light source 200 having two light outputs 212, 222, each in a single polarization state; (ii) electronic controller 230 configured to control light source 200, such as establishing time/frequency orthogonality between light outputs 212 and 222; and a polarization combiner 240 configured to multiplex the optical outputs 212 and 222 at output 242 into two orthogonal polarization states.

Here, a “polarization combiner” has two input ports (e.g. connected to 212 and 222) and at least one output port (e.g. 242), at a first input port of which to multiplex light of a first polarization state of light onto a first polarization state of light on one of the output ports and light of a second polarization state at its second input port into a second polarization state of light on the same output port. configured optical device, the second polarization state at the output port 242 is approximately orthogonal to the first polarization state at the output port 242 . In some embodiments, the two orthogonal polarization states at output port 242 may be linearly polarized horizontally and vertically, respectively. In some other embodiments, the two orthogonal polarization states at output port 242 may be circularly polarized left and right, respectively. In some other embodiments, the two orthogonal polarization states at output port 242 may be relatively orthogonal, elliptically polarized states. In some embodiments, 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 and may be implemented as a polarization beam combiner, for example. In some other embodiments, polarization combiner 240 may not include any polarization-sensitive elements, such as a polarization-maintaining optical power combiner or a polarization-maintaining wavelength multiplexer. (polarization-maintaining wavelength multiplexer).

The concept of “polarization state” is graphically illustrated in FIG. 7A. For example, light in a linear polarization state can be represented as a complex electric field vector.

(One)

는 상대적으로 긴 지속시간, 예를 들어 약 1 시간에 걸쳐, 예를 들어 ±20 도(degrees) 이내의 정확도로 선형 데카르트 축(Cartesian axis)(예를 들어, 광원(200)의 고정 좌표계에 대해 정의된 x-축)을 따라 그 방향을 유지할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 단위 벡터

는 광학 파워 서플라이(290)의 일반적인 노멀 동작(normal operation) 지속시간 동안, 예를 들어 ±20 도의 정확도 내에서 선형 데카르트 축을 따라 그 방향을 유지할 수 있다. 위 표현에서, E ₀ (t)는 복소 전기장 벡터의 일정한 또는 시변 복소 진폭, f는 광학 주파수, t는 시간 변수 및 j =

을 나타낸다. 또 다른 예에서, 원형 편광 상태는 복소 전기장 벡터로 표현될 수 있다.Here, the unit vector

is a linear Cartesian axis (e.g., relative to a fixed coordinate system of the light source 200) over a relatively long duration, e.g., about 1 hour, e.g., with an accuracy within ±20 degrees. It can keep its orientation along the defined x-axis). In some embodiments, a unit vector

may maintain its orientation along the linear Cartesian axis for the duration of the normal normal operation of the optical power supply 290, for example within an accuracy of ±20 degrees. In the above expression, E ₀ (t) is the constant or time-varying complex amplitude of the complex electric field vector, f is the optical frequency, t is the time variable and j =

indicates In another example, a circular polarization state can be represented as a complex electric field vector.

(2)

는

에 직교하고 두 단위 벡터들은 모두 상대적으로 긴 지속시간, 예를 들어 약 1 시간에 걸쳐, 예를 들어 ±20 도의 정확도 내에서 2 개의 직교 선형 데카르트 축을 따라 그것들의 방향을 유지한다. 본 명세서에서 사용되는, 용어 "편광된 광(polarized light)"은 일부 잘 정의된 편광 상태에 있는 광을 나타낸다.Here, the unit vector

Is

and both unit vectors maintain their orientation along two orthogonal linear Cartesian axes over a relatively long duration, eg about 1 hour, eg within an accuracy of ±20 degrees. As used herein, the term "polarized light" refers to light in some well-defined polarization state.

가 1 에 가까운 경우, 예를 들어 0.8 내지 1 의 값을 갖는 경우 "시간/주파수 직교(time/frequency orthogonal)"한다고 한다.As used herein, two optical fields are the degree of orthogonality of the complex amplitudes E ₁ (t) and E ₂ (t) of the two optical fields defined as

When is close to 1, for example, when it has a value of 0.8 to 1, it is said to be "time/frequency orthogonal".

(3)

이 0.8 보다 큰 경우 2 개의 필드들은 시간/주파수 직교한다고 할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서는,

이 0.9 보다 큰 경우 2 개의 필드들은 시간/주파수 직교한다고 할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서는,

이 0.99 보다 큰 경우 2 개의 필드들은 시간/주파수 직교한다고 할 수 있다. 직교성의 정도

은 주파수 도메인에서 다음과 같이 표현될 수도 있다.Here, the integral time interval [ t , t + T ] represents the time interval at which time/frequency orthogonality is determined. If at least one of the optical fields E ₁ (t) and E ₂ (t) has a non-periodic complex amplitude, the integration time interval is chosen to be long compared to the characteristic time duration in system 100, e.g. For example, the duration T may be selected to be at least 10 times the duration T _S of the modulation symbol, at least 10 times the duration of the information packet, or at least 10 times the duration of the optical frame template. If both optical fields have periodic complex amplitude E ₁ (t) or E ₂ (t) with period T , then the time duration T can be chosen as the duration over which the above integrals are being taken. In some embodiments,

If is greater than 0.8, the two fields can be said to be time/frequency orthogonal. In some embodiments,

If is greater than 0.9, the two fields can be said to be time/frequency orthogonal. In some embodiments,

If is greater than 0.99, the two fields can be said to be time/frequency orthogonal. degree of orthogonality

may be expressed in the frequency domain as:

(4)

의 예시적인 값들/범위들에 의해 나타낸 바와 같은 그것들의 직교성의 정도가 1에 가깝다면, 그것들이 시간 및 주파수 모두에서 겹쳐지면 시간/주파수 직교일 수 있다.From the above two definitions (see Eqs. (3) and (4)), the two optical fields are, for example, (i) spectrally disjoint, i.e., the spectral contents of the two fields are primarily mutual. time-frequency, if located at exclusive optical frequencies, and/or (ii) temporally disjoint, i.e., if the complex amplitudes of the two optical fields differ from zero primarily at mutually exclusive times. It can be seen that they are orthogonal. In some embodiments, the two optical fields are for example

If their degree of orthogonality, as indicated by the exemplary values/ranges of , is close to 1, then they may be time/frequency orthogonal if they overlap in both time and frequency.

In some embodiments, light source 200 produces light at different respective optical center frequencies for light outputs 212 and 222 . As used herein, the term “optical center frequency” refers to the center of mass of the power spectral density of an optical field. In some embodiments, controller 230 calculates an optical frequency separation of light outputs 212 and 222 generated by light source 200, for example a difference between the optical center frequencies of the two light sources. can act to control.

In some embodiments, light source 200 is operable to produce two continuous wave (CW) light outputs.

In some embodiments, light source 200 may be configured such that light outputs 212 and 222 include optical pulse trains of approximately equal period T _I (eg, to within ±1%). In some embodiments, the shape of the optical pulses of the pulse train on light output 212 can be different from the shape of the optical pulses of the pulse train on light output 222 . In some embodiments, the shape of the optical pulses of the pulse train on light output 212 may be approximately the same as the shape of the optical pulses of the pulse train on light output 222 . In some embodiments, controller 230 may be configured to phase-lock the optical pulse trains with respect to each other. In some embodiments, controller 230 may be configured to synchronize the optical pulse trains such that centers of optical pulses on light output 212 are temporally aligned with centers of pulses on light output 222 . As used herein, the term “center of a pulse” refers to the time corresponding to the center of mass of the intensity waveform of a pulse. In some embodiments, controller 230 controls the optical pulse train such that centers of optical pulses on light output 212 are temporally offset from centers of pulses on light output 222 by a fixed amount ΔT . can be configured to synchronize them. In some embodiments, Δ T < T _I / 2. In some embodiments, Δ T < T _I / 4.

In some embodiments, controller 230 may invoke light outputs 212 and 222 to convey control information. Control information can be found, for example, in US Patent Application No. 16/847,705, may be used by other network elements of system 100. As used herein, the term “control information” refers to the purpose of controlling, managing, and/or monitoring one or more network elements of system 100 and/or various synchronization operations within one or more network elements of system 100. For ease of use, refers to information that is imprinted (eg, equally or unequally) on one or both of the optical outputs 212 , 222 by the optical power supply 290 . In some embodiments, control information is used to control the behavior of other network elements, such as clock frequency, clock phase, sync time stamp, frame delimiter, frame counter, status information, heartbeat signal, master/slave assignment or reset command. It may contain one or more of the commands that may be used. Different types of control information may be equally or unequally imprinted on both light outputs 212 and 222 using their different characteristics. For example, some type of control information may be imprinted using any suitable data modulation that is equally or unequally imprinted on both light outputs 212 and 222 . In various embodiments, the control information may be imprinted using approximately equal changes to the intensity, phase, frequency or polarization of light 212, 222.

3A-3E illustrate various features of optical outputs 212 and 222 of optical power supply 290 in accordance with some embodiments. 3A illustrates an intensity-versus-time plot of some embodiments of light outputs 212 and 222 . In certain such embodiments, light outputs 212 and 222 may be CW of different optical frequencies f ₁ = c/λ ₁ and f ₂ = c/λ ₂ , respectively, where λ ₁ and λ ₂ are optical. are the wavelengths associated with the frequencies f ₁ and f ₂ and c is the speed of light in the medium in which the wavelength is being measured.

n R _S (여기서, n = 1, 2, 3, …)가 되도록 선택될 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, Δf

R _S 이다. 일부 실시예들에서, Δf

2 R _S 이다.3B illustrates the optical power-spectral densities (PSDs) of the light outputs 212 and 222 . In some embodiments, the optical frequency difference between light output 212 and light output 222 Δ f = | f ₁ - f ₂ | may be significantly greater than the symbol rate R _S used for communication by the transmitter of node 101 receiving light for modulation from optical power supply 290, i.e. Δ f >> R _S can be In some embodiments, Δ f > 2 R _S . In some other embodiments, Δ f > 5 R _S . In some other embodiments, the frequency difference Δf is approximately (eg, to within ±10%) an integer multiple of R _S , Δf

n R _S (where n = 1, 2, 3, ...). In some embodiments, Δ f

It is R _S. In some embodiments, Δ f

2 R _S .

T _I / 2와 동일할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 광 출력(212)의 펄스 트레인은 광 출력(222)의 펄스 트레인에 대해 시간 ΔT의 양만큼 시간적으로 오프셋될 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 시간적 오프셋 ΔT는 펄스 트레인들을 구성하는 펄스들의 절반높이 전폭의 1.5배보다 클 수 있다. 일부 다른 실시예들에서, 시간적 오프셋(ΔT)은 펄스 트레인들을 구성하는 펄스들의 절반높이 전폭의 2배보다 클 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 시간적 오프셋은 T _I /2보다 상당히 작을 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 2 개의 펄스 트레인들은 시간적으로 정렬, 즉 ΔT

0일 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 시간적 정렬은 ΔT < T _P /10 을 의미할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 시간적 정렬은 ΔT < T _P /100을 의미할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 시간적 정렬은 ΔT < T _I /10을 의미할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 시간 정렬은 ΔT < T _I /100을 의미할 수 있다3C shows an intensity-versus-time plot of light outputs 212 and 222 for some example embodiments. In these embodiments, light outputs 212 and 222 may each carry an optical pulse train of period T _I and pulse duration T _P at different respective optical center frequencies f ₁ ≠ f ₂ . In some embodiments, T _P may be defined as the full-width-at-half height of the pulse's optical intensity waveform. In other embodiments, T _P may be defined as the reciprocal of the 3-dB bandwidth of the optical pulse spectrum. In some embodiments, T _P is approximately half the pulse train period T _I , i.e., T _P

It may be equal to T _I / 2. In some embodiments, the pulse train of light output 212 may be offset in time relative to the pulse train of light output 222 by an amount of time ΔT . In some embodiments, the temporal offset ΔT may be greater than 1.5 times the full width half height of the pulses comprising the pulse trains. In some other embodiments, the temporal offset ( ΔT ) may be greater than twice the full width of the half height of the pulses comprising the pulse trains. In some embodiments, the temporal offset can be significantly less than T _I /2. In some embodiments, the two pulse trains are temporally aligned, ΔT

can be 0 In some embodiments, temporal alignment can mean Δ T < T _P /10. In some embodiments, temporal alignment can mean Δ T < T _P /100. In some embodiments, temporal alignment can mean Δ T < T _I /10. In some embodiments, temporal alignment can mean Δ T < T _I /100

n R _I (여기서, n = 2, 3, 4, …)가 되도록 선택될 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, Δf

2 R _I 이다. 일부 실시예들에서, Δf

3 R _I 이다. 도 3e에 구체화된 일부 실시예들에서, 광 출력(212) 및 광 출력(222)의 복소 진폭은 각각 주기 R _I /2의 정현파적 시간 의존성을 가질 수 있고, 즉 광 출력(212) 및 광 출력(222)의 스펙트럼은 각각 R _I 만큼 이격된 2 개의 톤(tone)들을 포함한다. 따라서 결과적인 시간 강도 파형들은 광 출력들(212, 222)에서 대응하는 펄스 트레인들에 대해 sin²(πR _I t)에 비례한다. 다양한 실시예들에서, 광 출력들(212, 222)의 중심 주파수들은 2 R _I 만큼 이격될 수 있고, 즉, 광 출력들(212, 222)을 공동으로 구성하는 4 개의 톤들은 모두 R _I 만큼 이격된다. 다양한 실시예들에서, 스펙트럼적으로 인접한 톤들 사이의 광학 위상차는 일정하며, 예를 들어 주파수 f ₁ - R _I /2의 톤과 주파수 f ₁ + R _I /2의 톤 사이의 위상차는 주파수 f ₂ - R _I /2의 톤과 주파수 f ₂ + R _I /2의 톤 사이의 위상차와 동일하다. 그러한 일정한 위상 진행(progression)은 광 출력들(212, 222)에서 펄스 트레인들 사이의 시간 스큐(temporal skew)가 대략 0, 예를 들어 ΔT = 0임을 보장할 수 있다. 일부 실시예들에서, 주파수 f ₁ + R _I /2의 톤과 주파수 f ₂ - R _I /2의 톤은 또한 주파수 f ₁ - R _I /2의 톤과 주파수 f ₁ + R _I /2의 톤 사이의 위상차와 동일한 위상차를 가질 수 있다. 3D and 3E illustrate optical spectra of light outputs 212 and 222 according to some exemplary embodiments. In some embodiments, frequency separation Δ f = | f ₁ - f ₂ | can be significantly greater than the pulse repetition rate R _I = 1/ T _I , ie Δ f >> R _I. In some other embodiments, Δ f > 5 R _I . In some other embodiments, the frequency difference Δf is approximately (eg, to within ±10%) an integer multiple of R _I , Δf

n R _I (where n = 2, 3, 4, ...). In some embodiments, Δ f

2 R _I . In some embodiments, Δ f

3 R _I. In some embodiments embodied in FIG. 3E , the complex amplitudes of light output 212 and light output 222 may each have a sinusoidal time dependence of period R _I /2, i.e., light output 212 and light output The spectrum of output 222 includes two tones each spaced apart by R _I . The resulting time intensity waveforms are therefore proportional to sin ² (π R _I t ) for the corresponding pulse trains at the light outputs 212 and 222 . In various embodiments, the center frequencies of light outputs 212 and 222 can be spaced apart by 2 R _I , that is, all four tones that jointly make up light outputs 212 and 222 are all by R _I are spaced apart In various embodiments, the optical phase difference between spectrally adjacent tones is constant, eg, the phase difference between a tone at frequency f ₁ -R _I /2 and a tone at frequency f ₁ + R _I /2 is at frequency f ₂ - It is equal to the phase difference between the tone of R _I /2 and the tone of frequency f ₂ + R _I /2. Such constant phase progression can ensure that the temporal skew between the pulse trains at the light outputs 212 and 222 is approximately zero, eg ΔT = 0. In some embodiments, the tone at frequency f ₁ + R _I /2 and the tone at frequency f ₂ - R _I /2 are also the tone at frequency f ₁ - R _I /2 and the tone at frequency f ₁ + R _I /2 may have the same phase difference as the phase difference between

4A-4F illustrate various embodiments of an optical power supply 290 . The various embodiments corresponding to FIGS. 4A-4C implement some of the approaches described above with reference to FIGS. 3A-3B. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4A , two CW laser sources 410 and 420 have different respective wavelengths λ ₁ that can be optically amplified using polarization-maintaining optical amplifiers 413 and 423 . and λ ₂ polarized light (ie, light in respective specific polarization states). The two sources of CW light can be polarization-combined using an optical polarization combiner 440, which transmits polarized light on its two input ports 412, 422 to an output port ( 441) is configured to combine into two orthogonal polarization states. A spectral characteristic of the optical polarization combiner 440 is that light of two wavelengths λ ₁ and λ 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-maintaining optical power combiner. In still some embodiments, polarization combiner 440 may be a polarization-maintaining wavelength multiplexer. Polarization combiner 440 may be followed by polarization-independent optical amplifier 443 . Lasers 410 and 420 may be wavelength-controlled by wavelength controller 430 .

In the embodiment of optical power supply 290 shown in FIG. 4B , CW laser source 410 of wavelength λ ₁ may be free-running or may be wavelength-locked by wavelength controller 431 and It can be configured to emit polarized light. Light produced by laser source 410 may be amplified by polarization-maintaining optical amplifier 413 before being split by optical splitter 414 . In some embodiments, optical splitter 414 may be a polarization-maintaining optical power splitter. In some other embodiments, optical splitter 414 is a polarizing beam splitter configured to split polarized light incident on its input 415 into two orthogonally polarized portions at its two outputs 416, 426. can be In some embodiments, optical splitter 414 may be a linear polarization splitter oriented at 45 degrees to the linear polarization state of laser light incident on its input 415 . A portion 416 of the split light of wavelength λ ₁ can be passed directly to the combiner 440, while a portion 426 of the split light is driven, for example, by a sinusoidal electrical reference signal 432. It may be frequency-shifted using an optical frequency shifter 424 . In some embodiments, frequency shifter 424 includes one of an acousto-optic modulator, a single-sideband modulator, and a Mach-Zehnder modulator. In some embodiments, frequency shifter 424 may be followed by an optional optical bandpass filter 425 that may pass only one of several tones that may be generated by upstream frequency shifter 424 . An additional optical amplifier 423 may be used to compensate for optical losses. Frequency-shifted light at port 422 may be polarization-combined at combiner 440 with non-frequency-shifted light at port 412 .

In the embodiment of optical power supply 290 shown in FIG. 4C , CW laser source 410 may be free running or may be wavelength-controlled by 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 can be configured to split the CW optical field at its input into two spectral tones at its output. For example, modulator 417 may be a Mach-Zehnder modulator driven by a sinusoidal electrical signal biased at its transmit null and having a period T that is substantially less than the modulator's half-wave voltage. This mode of operation is known to suppress the incoming CW tone of optical frequency f ₀ and to generate two spectral tones of f _1,2 = f ₀ ± T at the modulator output. The two tones that make up optical field 418 may be frequency-divided into parts 416 and 426 by optical frequency splitter 419 . In some embodiments, optical frequency splitter 419 may be implemented using an optical (de)interleaver. Portions 416 and 426 may then be polarization-orthogonally coupled using combiner 440 . In some embodiments, modulator 417 may also be configured to imprint control information into optical field 418 . For example, modulator 417 can be configured to decay light in optical field 418 periodically for a short period of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to dissipate light in optical field 418 for a duration of 2 T _S once per period of duration 1000 T _S . In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to modulate the time stamp with light 418 for a duration of 10 T _S once per period of 10000 T _S in duration.

The various embodiments shown in FIGS. 4D-4F implement some of the approaches described above with reference to FIGS. 3C-3E. In the embodiment of the optical power supply 290 shown in FIG. 4D , the two laser sources 410 and 420 may emit polarized light of different wavelengths λ ₁ and λ ₂ . In some embodiments, wavelengths λ ₁ and λ 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, light emitted by one or both of lasers 410 and 420 may include an optical pulse train. In some embodiments, light emitted by lasers 410, 420 may be modulated using optical modulators 417, 427 driven by individual electrical signals generated by signal generator 433. can In some embodiments, laser 420 and modulator 427, as well as laser 410 and modulator 417, together with signal generator 433, each of modulated optical fields 456 and 457 have a period T _I It can be configured to include an optical pulse train having. In various embodiments, the modulators 417 and 427 are electro-absorption modulators, ring modulators, Mach-Zehnder modulators, or in-phase /quadrature, IQ) modulators. In some embodiments, modulators 417, 427 and signal generator 433 are chirped and optionally pre-distorted optical fields, for example dispersion pre-distorted optics. It can be configured to generate optical fields 456, 457 that are periodically modulated in both amplitude and phase, including fields. In some embodiments, the functions of light generation and modulation provided by laser 420 and modulator 427, as well as laser 410 and modulator 417, are each a single direct-modulated laser or mode. - Can be implemented using a mode-locked laser. In some embodiments, the output of 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, delay element 419 may be a lumped free-space optical delay element. In some embodiments, the delay ΔT imposed on optical pulse train 457 by delay element 419 relative to optical pulse train 456 may be less than half of the optical pulse train period, i.e. ΔT < T is _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 an integer multiple of half modulo T _I of the optical pulse train period. can be, that is, Δ T + k T _I (where k = ±1, ±2, ±3, ...). In some embodiments, individual pulses of optical pulse trains 456 and 457 may have substantially similar intensity waveforms. In some other embodiments, individual pulses of optical pulse trains 456 and 457 may have different intensity waveforms. Optical pulse trains 456 and 457 can be polarization-combined using combiner 440, which is configured to combine light on its two input ports into orthogonal polarizations at the output port. In some embodiments, a chromatic-dispersion-compensating optical element 470 may pre-disperse the polarization-multiplexed optical pulse trains. In some embodiments, color-dispersion-compensating optical element 470 may be a grating-based or etalon-based optical dispersion compensator. In some other embodiments, color-dispersion-compensating optical element 470 may be implemented using a length of dispersion-compensating optical fiber. In some embodiments, modulators 417 and 427 may also be configured to imprint control information into optical pulse trains 456 and 457 . For example, modulators 417 and 427 can be configured to periodically extinguish light 456 and 457 for a short period of time. In some embodiments, modulators 417 and 427 may be configured to dissipate light 456 and 457 for a duration of 2 T _S once per period of 1000 T _S in duration. In some embodiments, modulators 417 and 427 may be configured to modulate a time stamp with light 456 and 457 for a duration of 10 T _S once per period of duration 10000 T _S.

In the embodiment of the optical power supply 290 shown in FIG. 4E , the two laser sources 410 and 420 may emit polarized light of different respective wavelengths λ ₁ and λ ₂ . In some embodiments, wavelengths λ ₁ and λ ₂ and/or their difference may be controlled by wavelength controller 430 . The light produced by laser 410 and laser 420 may be combined by polarization-maintaining optical combiner 428 . In some embodiments, polarization-maintaining optical coupler 428 may be a polarization-maintaining optical power coupler. In some embodiments, polarization-maintaining optical combiner 428 may be a polarization-maintaining optical wavelength multiplexer. The combined light may be modulated by an optical modulator 417 driven by an electrical signal generator 433 to generate an optical pulse train at the modulator output 418 at wavelengths λ ₁ and λ ₂ , respectively. The light output by modulator 417 can be split into two parts 456 and 457 using splitter 414 . In some embodiments, portion 456 may be passed directly to combiner 440 while portion 457 may be optically delayed by delay element 419 . Optionally, relatively retarded portions 456, 457 can be polarization-combined using combiner 440, which is configured to combine light on its two input ports into orthogonal polarizations at the output port. do. In some embodiments, a color-dispersion-compensating optical element 470 may pre-disperse the polarization-multiplexed optical pulse trains. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may also be configured to imprint control information into light output 418 . For example, modulator 417 can be configured to periodically extinguish light 418 for a short period of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to dissipate light 418 for a duration of 2 T _S once per period of 1000 T _S in duration. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to modulate the time stamp with light 418 for a duration of 10 T _S once per period of 10000 T _S in duration.

In the embodiment of optical power supply 290 shown in FIG. 4F , CW laser source 410 may be free running or may be wavelength-controlled by 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 . The modulator 417 includes a total of four Mach-Zehnder modulators in a nested configuration, denoted Ix-MZM, Qx-MZM, Iy-MZM and Qy-MZM, FIG. 4F ), in-phase / It can be a quadrature phase (IQ) modulator (PDM-IQM), with the "Q" paths built-in an optical phase shift of 90 degrees relative to the "I" paths. PDM-IQM 417 and signal generator 433 may be configured to generate the spectrum shown in FIG. 3E , for example, as follows: signals 433 _Ix , 433 _Qx , 433 _Iy , 433 _Qy , respectively with voltage swings not significantly greater than the half-wavelength voltage of the Mach-Zehnder modulator of , respectively cos(π R _I t ) + cos(3π R _I t ), - sin(π R _I t ) - sin(3π R _I t ), cos(π R _I t ) + cos(3π R _I t ) and sin(π R _I t ) + sin(3π R _I t ). In some embodiments, the electrical signals 433 _Ix , 433 _Qx , 433 _Iy , and 433 _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 imprint control information into lights 456 and 457 . For example, modulator 417 can be configured to periodically extinguish lights 456 and 457 for short periods of time. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to dissipate lights 456 and 457 for a duration of 2 T _S once per period of 1000 T _S in duration. In some embodiments, modulator 417 may be configured to modulate the time stamp with light 456, 457 for a duration of 10 T _S once per period of duration 10000 T _S.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a distributed optical transmitter 500 that may be used in the optical communication system 100 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment. The transmitter 500 includes an optical power supply 290 and a transmission module 504 . As shown in FIG. 5 , optical power supply 290 may be part of optical power supply module 103 . In operation, optical power supply 290 may generate an optical supply on output 242 , for example as described with reference to one or more of FIGS. 3A-3E . The output 242 of the optical power supply 290 is optically coupled to the transmission module 504 via an optical fiber 543 , which can be, for example, part of a fiber link 102 ₆ . In other embodiments, transmission module 504 may be part of different network elements of system 100 . For descriptive purposes and without any implied limitation, transmission module 504 is described herein with reference to an embodiment in which the transmission element is part of a node 101 ₁ .

In some embodiments, optical fiber 543 may include one or more sections of a non-polarization-maintaining optical fiber. In such embodiments, light supplied to node 101 ₁ by optical power supply module 103 may experience random polarization rotation as it propagates through fiber 543 . Due to this random polarization rotation, the light supplied by fiber 543 is such that the two polarized components of optical output 242 will enter two random, but through its optical interface 510, transmission module 504. can reach node 101 ₁ , so that it is in a relatively orthogonal polarization state. For example, because both polarization components of light output 242 are subjected to substantially equal (albeit random) polarization rotation in one or more sections of the non-polarization-maintaining fiber, relative orthogonality may be maintained. .

In some embodiments, optical interface 510 includes one or more optical connectors, one or more edge-coupling mechanisms to a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), one or more vertical coupling mechanisms to a PIC, or the like. can include Optical interface 510 is connected to 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, a polarization-diversity vertical grating coupler can be configured to simultaneously act as a polarization splitter 515 and as part of optical interface 510 . In some other embodiments, an optical connector that includes a polarization-diversity arrangement can simultaneously act as an optical interface 510 and as a polarization splitter 515 .

Due to the time/frequency orthogonality as well as the polarization-multiplexed nature of the light generated by optical power supply 290 at output 242, any arbitrary polarization rotation within fiber link 102 ₆ is results in substantially equal optical power splitting between the output ports 516 and 517 (eg, see detailed description of FIGS. 7A-7D below). Thus, light on ports 516 and 517 can be used as a relatively stable optical power supply for optical modulation within transmit module 504, independent of random polarization rotation that may occur within link 102 ₆ . .

Optical modulators 530 ₁ and 530 ₂ receive supply light on respective polarization splitter outputs 516 and 517 and modulate data with the light using one or more electrical drive signals 531 ₁ and 531 ₂ . , thereby generating individual modulated optical signals at modulator outputs 532 ₁ , 531 ₂ . In various embodiments, modulation can be done in any one or more of intensity, phase, polarization and frequency. In some embodiments, modulation may be done at a modulation symbol rate of 1/ T _I. In some embodiments, for polarization rotator 506 to convert orthogonal output polarization states at polarization splitter outputs 516, 517 to identical polarization states on ports 516, 517' for later modulation. can be used For example, the polarization splitter 515 splits light incident on its input port into transversal-magnetic (TM) and transversal-electric (TE) polarizations at its two outputs 516 and 517, respectively. can be divided into If modulators 530 are all designed to modulate TE-polarized light, polarization rotator 506 is used to rotate TM-polarized light on port 517 to TE-polarized light on port 517'. can be used In some embodiments, polarization rotator 506 may be part of polarization splitter 515 .

The modulated light on modulator output ports 532 ₁ and 532 ₂ can be carried on different individual fibers of link 102 ₁ for information communication to another node in system 100, where the other node is node 101 ₂ in the exemplary case shown in FIG. 5 . Some example signals that may be used and/or generated by transmitter 500 are described below with reference to FIG. 8 .

6 shows a block diagram of an optical transmission module 600 that may be used in system 100 according to an embodiment. Transmission module 600 may be implemented using some of the same elements as transmission module 504, as indicated by corresponding corresponding reference numbers in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example. In other embodiments, transmission module 600 may be part of different network elements of system 100 . For descriptive purposes and without any implied limitation, the transmission module 600 is described below with reference to an embodiment in which the transmission module is part of a node 101 ₁ .

During operation, the transmit module 600 will receive light from the optical port 242 of the optical power supply 290 included in the optical power supply module 103 via the optical interface 510 and the optical link 102 ₆ . (see also FIGS. 1 and 5). Optical interface 510 is coupled to 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 can also be coupled to one or more (eg, cascaded) optical splitters 620, only two of which are shown in FIG. 6 for illustrative purposes. . In various embodiments, optical splitter 620 may be, for example, optical power splitters, wavelength splitters, and spatial-mode splitters or multi-mode splitters, as known in the art. - Can be configured using one or more of spatial-distribution splitters such as multi-core-fiber fanouts.

The optical modulator 530 of the transmission module 600 receives the light on the individual light-splitter outputs 622 and modulates data with the light using one or more electrical drive signals 531, thereby generating the modulator outputs ( 532) to generate individual modulated optical signals. In various embodiments, modulation can be done in any one or more of intensity, phase, polarization and frequency. In some embodiments, modulation may be done with a modulation symbol rate R _S = R _I = 1/ T _I .

In some embodiments, one or more modulators 530 may sometimes fail to modulate information into light in outputs 622 . Alternatively or additionally, one or more of the illustrated modulators 530 may be omitted from the structure of the transmission module 600 (ie may not be present). In such case, the light of the corresponding output(s) 622 may pass through the system ( eg, in accordance with the functional description provided above for certain aspects of the system 100 ( FIG. 1 ) through the transmission module 600 . 100) to other network elements. In some embodiments, some of such transmitted light 622 may be used as an optical power supply by other network elements of system 100 . In some embodiments, some of such transmitted light 622 may be received by other network elements of system 100 to extract control information therefrom.

In some embodiments, some modulators 530 of transmission module 600 may be configured to use more than one electrical drive signal 531 to modulate light received from corresponding output 622 . Examples of such modulators 530 may include (but are not limited to) in-phase/quartile-phase (IQ) modulators and segmented-electrode modulators. In various embodiments, the opto-electronic modulators 530 may include field-absorption modulators, ring modulators, or Mach-Zehnder modulators. In various embodiments, optoelectronic modulators 530 may be made of a semiconductor material, a material used in Silicon Photonics, a polymer material, or Lithium Niobate. In some embodiments, optoelectronic modulators 530 may be at least partially integrated into one or more PICs (not explicitly shown in FIG. 6 ). In various embodiments, electrical drive signals 531 may be binary or multilevel. In some embodiments, electrical drive signals 531 may be suitably pulsed, pre-distorted using digital or analog filters, or electrically amplified using electrical driver amplifiers. It can be.

In some embodiments, some of the optics on optical splitter outputs 622 may be detected using one or more optical receivers 680 to extract information contained therein. Such information may include, without limitation, one or more frequency components embedded within the supply optics generated by optical power supply module 103, one or more time skew or clock phase values, and one or more control information. .

In some embodiments, the information extracted by optical receivers 680 is output port for further use within system 100, such as network traffic synchronization/arbitration/scheduling, database time-stamping, local clock synchronization, etc. Transmission module 600 on 681 may be provided to external devices. In some embodiments, information extracted by optical receiver(s) 680 may be fed to electronic signal processor 612 . In some embodiments, electronic signal processor 612 may receive one or more electrical signals 614 and pre-process these electrical signals to obtain electrical drive signals 531 for modulators 530. can create In some embodiments, preprocessing may include retiming, de-skewing, buffering, bit stuffing, bit removal, forward error correction coding, line coding. (line coding), framing, insertion of pilots and packet headers, time-stamping, linear and non-linear pre-compensation, pre-equalization, Any form of analog, digital or mixed-signal manipulation including, but not limited to, pre-emphasis and pre-distortion.

In some embodiments, the modulated light on modulator outputs 532 is multiplexed in the wavelength, polarization, or spatial distribution of the optical field using one or more multiplexers 624 to produce one or more optically multiplexed signals 652. can do. The multiplexed signals 652 are then transmitted through one or more output interfaces 650 to one or more optical fibers 102 ₁ . In some embodiments, output interfaces 650 may be implemented as one or more fiber optic connectors, one or more edge couplers from PIC to fibers, or one or more vertical couplers from PIC to fibers, for example. In some embodiments, specific multiplexing functions of multiplexer 624 may be incorporated into specific output interfaces 650 . For example, in some embodiments, a polarization-diversity vertical grating coupler can simultaneously act as a polarization multiplexer of multiplexer 624 and as part of output interface 650 . In some other embodiments, an optical connector comprising a polarization-diversity arrangement can simultaneously act as an output interface 650 and a polarization multiplexer 624 .

In some embodiments, each modulator output 532 is directly to a corresponding fiber optic core of a corresponding fiber or fiber link 102 ₁ via a corresponding output interface 650, i.e., without any multiplexing therebetween. can be transmitted without That is, multiplexer 624 or some parts thereof may not be present in some embodiments.

7A-7D show polarization-rotation independent optical power within transmission modules 504, 600, which may be implemented based on embodiments of optical power supply 290 within optical power supply module 103, for example. A graph depicts some example use cases illustrating segmentation.

7A shows a Poincare sphere commonly used to visualize the polarization state of light. Polarization states that are orthogonal to each other are found at diametrically opposite positions on the sphere. For example, linear polarization states can be found at the equator of a sphere, with one orthogonal pair including horizontal linear polarization (HLP) and vertical linear polarization (VLP), plus ±45 degrees ( Another orthogonal pair containing LP±45 degrees) is shown in FIG. 7A. As also indicated in FIG. 7A , orthogonal pairs of right-circular polarization (RCP) and left-circular polarization (LCP) are found at the two poles of the Poincaré sphere.

7B shows an intensity-versus-time plot of light at two output ports 516, 517 of a polarization splitter 515 (see also FIGS. 5 and 6) in an exemplary case, where an optical power supply 103 transmits the CW wavelength λ ₁ of the HLP and the CW wavelength λ ₂ of the VLP (see also FIGS. 3A-3B ). Time intervals (A), (B) and (C) (they are not meant to occur in the depicted temporal sequence or be characterized by an abrupt transition therebetween) are three different exemplary instantiations of random polarization rotations. (instantiation), where, during the time interval (A), the fiber link 102 ₆ does not rotate its polarization; During time interval B, fiber link 102 ₆ rotates polarization to LP±45 degree states; During time interval (C), fiber link 102 ₆ rotates polarization to RCP/LCP states. Since the optical power supply 290 is configured to transmit two time/frequency-orthogonal optical fields in two orthogonal polarization states, the light intensity at the output ports 516, 517 of the polarization splitter 515 is will be approximately constant regardless of random polarization rotation at the polarization splitter input.

For time interval A, polarization splitter 515 directs (i) light of wavelength λ ₁ substantially exclusively to output port 516; (ii) direct light of wavelength λ ₂ substantially exclusively to output port 517 . For time interval B, polarization splitter 515 operates such that output ports 516 and 517 each have approximately equal amounts of light of wavelength λ ₁ and wavelength λ ₂ . Similarly, for time interval C, polarization splitter 515 operates such that output ports 516 and 517 each have approximately equal amounts of light of wavelength λ ₁ and wavelength λ ₂ . For time intervals (B) and (C), the differential frequency between two CW tones of wavelengths λ ₁ , λ ₂ Δ f = | Possible beat frequency oscillations of f ₁ - f ₂ | are not shown in FIG. 7B. However, as long as Δf is chosen large enough relative to the symbol rate R _S , these oscillations can be averaged out within each modulation symbol of transmitter 500 and thus not significantly affect performance. . Choosing Δf less than R _S can result in slow fading of the light output at each individual port 516, 517. More specifically, the light incident on the polarization splitter 515 appears entirely at the output port 516 (no light appears at the output port 517) and entirely at the output port 517 (output port 517). No light appears at port 516). This periodic transition of light between the ports 516 and 517 may occur with a period Δf , and if Δf is significantly smaller than R _S , receiving no or insufficient light for modulating information, respectively, may result in some modulation time slots on the polarization splitter output port of Choosing Δf to be significantly greater than R _S causes optical transitions between ports 516 and 517 to occur multiple times per symbol period, so that every symbol time slot always receives half of the light supplied by optical power supply 103. do. Choosing Δ f equal to R _S results in constant power at ports 516 and 517 during time interval (A) or in the form of sin ² (π R _S t ) during time intervals (B) and (C). of pulses can occur. This particular configuration may be useful for some modes of operation. Similarly, choosing Δ f equal to an integer multiple of R _S (Δ f = n R _S , n = 1, 2, 3, ...) can be an advantageous mode of operation.

7C shows the optical power at the two output ports 516, 517 of the polarization splitter 515 as an exemplary use case, where the optical power supply 103 is the wavelengths λ ₁ of the HLP and VLP. λ ₂ ) of temporally partially overlapping pulse trains (ie, Δ T < T _P ) (see also FIG. 3C ). Time intervals (A), (B) and (C) correspond to the same three instantiations of random polarization fluctuations as in Fig. 7b. For time interval (A), polarization splitter 515 (i) directs a pulse train of wavelength λ ₁ substantially exclusively to output port 516; (ii) direct the pulse train of wavelength λ ₂ substantially exclusively to the output port 517 . For time interval B, polarization splitter 515 operates such that output ports 516 and 517 each have approximately equal amounts of pulse trains of wavelength λ ₁ and pulse trains of wavelength λ ₂ . Similarly, for time interval C, polarization splitter 515 operates such that output ports 516, 517 each have approximately equal amounts of pulse trains of wavelength λ ₁ and pulse trains of wavelength λ ₂ . For time intervals (B) and ( _C ), the _differential frequency Δ f = | Possible beat frequency oscillations of f ₁ - f ₂ | are not shown in FIG. 7c. However, as long as Δf is chosen large enough relative to the symbol rate R _S , these oscillations can be averaged out within each modulation symbol of transmitter 500 and thus not significantly affect performance. More precisely, the total optical energy within a period equal to twice the total optical pulse duration T _P measured at polarization-splitter interface 515 is the polarization at the input to polarization splitter 515. Regardless of the state, it can be maintained approximately constant.

7D shows the optical power at the two output ports 516, 517 of the polarization splitter 515 in an exemplary use case, where the optical power supply 103 provides four tones (HLP) separated by R _I 2 in VLP and 2 in VLP) (see also Fig. 3e). Time intervals (A), (B) and (C) correspond to the same three instantiations of random polarization fluctuations as in Fig. 7b. For time interval (A), polarization splitter 515 transmits substantially exclusively output port 516 to (i) the two lower frequency tones of frequencies f ₁ - R _I /2 and f ₁ + R _I /2. directed to; (ii) directs the two higher frequency tones of frequencies f ₂ -R _I /2 and f ₂ + R _I /2 substantially entirely to the output port 517 . Thus, in the time domain, output ports 516 and 517 may represent time-aligned sin ² -shaped optical intensity pulses. For time interval B, polarization splitter 515 operates such that output ports 516 and 517 each have approximately equal amounts of the four tones shown in FIG. 3E. Similarly, for time interval C, polarization splitter 515 operates such that output ports 516 and 517 each have approximately equal amounts of the four tones shown in FIG. 3E. Beat oscillations are clearly visible in (B) and (C) because the spacing of the two lower frequency tones and the two higher frequency tones is close. However, due to the specific nature of the 4-tone dual polarization optical field, the pulse energy can always remain well confined near the common center-of-mass (e.g., 710) regardless of the polarization rotation. This confinement of pulse energies at specific time positions within a symbol period regardless of polarization rotation on fiber optic link 102 ₆ can be beneficial for modulation within transmit module 504 .

As illustrated by the results graphically depicted in FIGS. 7B-7D , using various embodiments for optical power supply module 103 advantageously includes polarization splitter 515 , optical power supply module 103 and the polarization rotations within one or more sections of the non-polarization-maintaining fiber disposed between the polarization splitter 515's host device (e.g., transmission module 504 in FIG. 5), its output ports 516 , 517) to passively perform a substantially equal-power split between Such passive, equal-power splitting in the polarization splitter 515 is made possible, for example, by the above-described exemplary configurations of the optical power supply module 103, according to which the output port of the optical power supply module 103 The light output at 242 has two components that are time/frequency orthogonal and polarization-orthogonal to each other. This latter characteristic for the received light is then substantially equal- to perform power splitting. The light generated on the output ports 516, 517 can then advantageously be used as an optical carrier onto which data information can be modulated, for example by the transmission module 504.

As a result of the foregoing operation of polarization splitter 515, during some time interval (eg, time interval A), optical modulator 530 ₁ may receive supply light at the first optical center frequency but not at the second optical center frequency. The supply light of the center frequency cannot be received, and the modulator 530 ₂ can receive the supply light of the second optical center frequency but cannot receive the supply light of the first optical center frequency; During some time interval (not explicitly shown in FIG. 7 ), the optical modulator 530 ₁ can receive supply light at the second optical center frequency but not supply light at the first optical center frequency, and the modulator 530 ₂ can receive the supply light of the first optical center frequency but cannot receive the supply light of the second optical center frequency; During some time interval (eg, time intervals (B) and (C)) the optical modulator 530 ₁ may receive supply light at both the first optical center frequency and the second optical center frequency, and the modulator ( 530 ₂ ) can also receive supply light at both the first optical center frequency and the second optical center frequency.

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

(i) Optical supply waveforms at each of the ports 516 and 517 corresponding to the embodiment of FIG. 3E. These waveforms are shown for three different polarization rotations in fiber 543, namely for time intervals (A), (B) and (C) according to FIG. 7d;

(ii) electrical drive signals 531 ₁ , 531 ₂ that drive optical modulators 530 ₁ , 530 ₂ ( FIG. 5 ). For illustrative purposes, the modulation format imprinted with the supply light is binary on/off keying (OOK) in this exemplary embodiment (those skilled in the art can Any other optical modulation format may also be imprinted into the supply light, including multi-level and multi-dimensional formats that use any physical modulation dimension of the supply light's optical field, such as field, frequency, and polarization. will understand). An exemplary binary data sequence represented by electrical drive signal 531 ₁ is [01101010...01101010...01101010]. An exemplary binary data sequence represented by electrical drive signal 531 ₂ is [01011100...01011100...01011100];

(iii) modulated optical output signals 532 ₁ and 532 ₂ respectively generated by transmission module 504 in response to electrical drive signals 531 ₁ and 531 ₂ shown; and

(iv) Electrical signals 801 and 802 generated by a direct-detection optical receiver in response to the illustrated modulated optical output signals 532 ₁ and 532 ₂ , respectively. The direct-detection optical receiver is modeled to have a first-order Gaussian low-pass characteristic of electrical bandwidth equal to the symbol rate.

It is clear that the electrical data signals 531 ₁ and 532 ₂ are reconstructed accurately and substantially jitter-free by the electrical signals 801 and 802 regardless of the polarization rotation exerted by the optical fiber 543. do.

FIG. 9 shows an optical communication system 900 comprising an optical power supply (also referred to as an external photon supply) 902 , a first data processing device 904 and a second data processing device 906 . do. The first data processing device 904 includes a first chip 905 and the second data processing device 906 includes a second chip 908 . System 900 is described in, for example, U.S. application no. High-speed communication between the first chip 905 and the second chip 908 can be achieved using co-packaged optical interconnect modules 910 similar to those shown in FIGS. 2-5 and 17 of 63/145,368. make it possible Each of the first and second chips 906 and 908 may be a high-capacity chip, for example, a high bandwidth Ethernet switch chip.

The first and second chips 906 and 908 communicate with each other through a fiber optic interconnect cable 912 comprising a plurality of optical fibers. In some implementations, the fiber optic interconnect cable 912 can include optical power cores that transmit data and control signals between the first and second chips 906 and 908 . The fiber optic interconnect cable 912 also connects the optical power supply light from the optical power supply or photon supply 902 to a cavity-providing optoelectronic interfaces to the first and second chips 906, 908. and one or more fiber optic cores that transmit to photonic integrated circuits in packaged optical interconnect modules 910 .

Fiber optic interconnect cable 912 may include single-core fibers or multi-core fibers. Each single-core fiber includes a core and a cladding, typically made of glasses of different refractive indices, such that the refractive index of the cladding is lower than the refractive index of the core to provide a dielectric optical waveguide. Each multi-core optical fiber includes a plurality of cores and a cladding typically made of glasses of different refractive indices such that the refractive index of the cladding is lower than the refractive index of the core. More complex refractive index profiles may also be used, such as index trenches, multi-index profiles, or progressively changing refractive index profiles. More complex geometries such as non-circular cores or claddings, photonic crystal structures, photonic bandgap structures, or nested antiresonant nodeless hollow core structures. Structures may also be used.

The example of FIG. 9 illustrates a switch-to-switch use case. The external optical power supply or photon supply 902 provides optical power supply signals, which can be, for example, continuous wave light, one or more trains of periodic optical pulses, or one or more trains of aperiodic optical pulses. Power supply light is provided from photon supply 902 to co-packaged optical interconnect modules 910 via optical fibers 914 and 916, respectively. For example, optical power supply 902 is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 16/847,705 may provide both continuous wave light, or pulsed optics for data modulation and synchronization. This causes the first chip 905 to be synchronized with the second chip 908 .

For example, the photon supply 902 may correspond to the optical power supply 103 of FIG. 1 . Pulsed light from the photon supply 902 is described in US application no. 63/145,368 may be provided to link 102 ₆ of data processing system 200 of FIG. In some implementations, photon supply 902 can provide a sequence of optical frame templates, each of which includes a respective frame header and a respective frame body. , wherein the frame body contains individual optical pulse trains. US Application No. The modulators 417 of FIG. 20 of 63/145,368 load the individual frame bodies with data to generate the sequence of optical frame templates into a loaded optical frame that is output through the fiber optic link 102 ₁ . can be converted into the corresponding sequence of .

FIG. 10 shows a high-capacity chip 1002 (eg, an Ethernet switch chip) and a number of low-capacity chips 1004a, 1004b, 1004c, eg, a co-packaged optical interconnect module similar to those shown in FIG. 9 . shows an example of an optical communication system 1000 that provides high-speed communication between multiple network interface chips attached to computer servers using fields 910. The high-capacity chip 1002 communicates with the low-capacity chips 1004a, 1004b, and 1004c through a high-capacity fiber optic interconnect cable 1008, which is then connected to the low-capacity chips 1004a, 1004b, and 1004c, respectively. It branches into several low-capacity optical fiber interconnection cables 1010a, 1010b, and 1010c that are connected. This example illustrates a use case for switch-to-servers.

An external optical power supply or photon supply 1012 provides optical power supply signals, which may be continuous wave light, one or more trains of periodic optical pulses, or one or more trains of aperiodic optical pulses. Power supply light is provided from the photon supply 1012 to the optical interconnect modules 1006 via optical fibers 1014, 1016a, 1016b, and 1016c, respectively. For example, optical power supply 1012 is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 16/847,705 may provide both pulsed optics for data modulation and synchronization. This allows the high capacity chip 1002 to be synchronized with the low capacity chips 1004a, 1004b and 1004c.

11 shows a high-capacity chip 1102 (eg, an Ethernet switch chip) and a number of low-capacity chips 1104a, 1104b, such as conventional pluggable optical interconnect modules 1108, as well as in FIG. It depicts an optical communication system 1100 that provides high-speed communication between multiple network interface chips attached to computer servers using a mix of co-packaged optical interconnect modules 901 similar to those shown.

An external optical power supply or photon supply 1106 provides optical power supply signals, which may be continuous wave light, one or more trains of periodic optical pulses, or one or more trains of aperiodic optical pulses. For example, optical power supply 1106 is described in US patent application no. 16/847,705 may provide both pulsed optics for data modulation and synchronization. This allows the high capacity chip 1102 to be synchronized with the low capacity chips 1104a and 1104b.

9-11 show examples of optical communication systems 900, 1000 and 1100, in each system an optical power supply or photon supply is used in multiple communication devices (eg optical transponders). An optical power supply provides light to hosted photonic integrated circuits, and the optical power supply is external to the communication devices. The optical power supply may have its own housing, electrical power supply, and control circuitry independent of the housings of the communication devices, electrical power supplies, and control circuitry. This allows the optical power supply to be serviced, repaired or replaced independently of the communication devices. Redundant optical power supplies may be provided so that a defective external optical power supply can be repaired or replaced without taking the communication devices off-line. An external optical power supply can be placed in a convenient central location with a dedicated temperature environment (as opposed to being crammed inside communication devices that can be hot). Since certain common parts such as monitoring circuitry and thermal control units can be amortized for more communication devices, an external optical power supply can be built more efficiently than separate power supply units. The following describes fiber cabling implementations for remote optical power supplies.

12 is a system functional block diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1200 that includes a first communication transponder 1202 and a second communication transponder 1204 . Each of the first and second communication transponders 1202, 1204 may include one or more co-packaged optical modules described above. Each communication transponder includes one or more data processors, such as, for example, network switches, central processing units, graphics processor units, tensor processing units, digital signal processors, and/or other application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). can include In this example, the first communication transponder 1202 transmits optical signals to the second communication transponder 1204 over the first optical communication link 1206 and receives optical signals from the second communication transponder 1204. do. One or more data processors in each communication transponder 1202, 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 can be extended to include additional communication transponders. Optical communication system 1200 can also be extended to include additional communication between two or more external photon supplies, which can adjust aspects of the supplied light, such as the respective emitted wavelengths or the relative timing of each emitted optical pulses. can

The first external photon supply 1208 provides optical power supply light to the first communication transponder 1202 through the first optical power supply link 1210, and the second external photon supply 1212 provides the second optical power. An optical power supply light is provided to the second communication transponder 1204 via the supply link 1214. In one exemplary embodiment, the first external photon supply 1208 and the second external photon supply 1212 provide continuous wave laser light of the same optical wavelength. In another exemplary embodiment, the first external photon supply 1208 and the second external photon supply 1212 provide continuous wave laser light of different wavelengths from each other. In another exemplary embodiment, the first external photon supply 1208 provides the first sequence of optical frame templates to the first communication transponder 1202, and the second external photon supply 1212 provides the second communication transponder 1202. A second sequence of optical frame templates is provided to ponder 1204. For example, US Patent No. As described in 16/847,705, each of the optical frame templates may include a respective frame header and a respective frame body, where the frame body includes a respective optical pulse train. The first communication transponder 1202 receives the first sequence of optical frame templates from the first external photon supply 1208 and loads data into individual frame bodies to convert the first sequence of optical frame templates into the first optical frame templates. into a first sequence of loaded optical frames that are transmitted over the communication link 1206 to the second communication transponder 1204. Similarly, the second communication transponder 1204 receives the second sequence of optical frame templates from the second external photon supply 1212 and loads data into individual frame bodies to generate the second sequence of optical frame templates. to a second sequence of loaded optical frames that are transmitted over the first optical communication link 1206 to the first communication transponder 1202.

13A is a diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1300 that includes a first switch box 1302 and a second switch box 1304 . Each of switch boxes 1302 and 1304 may include one or more data processors, such as network switches. The first and second switch boxes 1302 and 1304 may be separated by a distance greater than 1 ft, 3 ft, 10 ft, 100 ft or 1000 ft, for example. The drawing shows a view of the front panel 1306 of the first switch box 1302 and the front panel 1308 of the second switch box 1304 . In this example, the first switch box 1302 is described in US Application No. 63/145,368 includes a vertical ASIC mount grid structure 1310 similar to the grid structure 870 of FIG. 43 . The co-packaged optical module 1312 is attached to the receptor of the grid structure 1310 . The second switch box 1304 is described in US application no. and a vertical ASIC mount grid structure 1314 similar to the grid structure 870 of FIG. 43 of 63/145,368. Co-packaged optical modules 1316 are attached to the receptors of the grid structure 1314 . The first co-packaged optical module 1312 communicates with the second co-packaged optical module 1316 via an optical fiber bundle 1318 that includes multiple optical fibers. Optional fiber connectors 1320 may be used along fiber optic bundles 1318, where short sections of fiber optic bundles are connected by fiber connectors 1320.

In some implementations, each co-packaged optical module (eg, 1312, 1316) converts input optical signals into input electrical signals provided to a data processor and output electrical signals from the data processor to an output optical signal. and a photonic integrated circuit configured to convert them into signals. The co-packaged optical module processes the input electrical signals from the photonic integrated circuit before they are sent to the data processor, and processes the output electrical signals from the data processor before the output electrical signals are sent to the photonic integrated circuit. It may include an electronic integrated circuit configured to process. In some implementations, the electronic integrated circuit includes a plurality of serializers/deserializers configured to process input electrical signals from the photonic integrated circuit and process output electrical signals sent to the photonic integrated circuit. may include 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 by a photonic integrated circuit. generate a plurality of sets of first parallel electrical signals based on a plurality of first serial electrical signals provided and condition the electrical signals, wherein each set of first parallel electrical signals corresponds to generated based on the 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 transmits first parallel electrical signals. and generate a plurality of second serial electrical signals based on the plurality of sets, each second serial electrical signal being generated based on a corresponding first set of parallel electrical signals. The second plurality of serial electrical signals may be sent towards a data processor.

The first switch box 1302 includes an external optical power supply 1322 (ie, external to the co-packaged optical module) that provides optical power supply light through an optical connector array 1324. In this example, the optical power supply 1322 is located inside the housing of the switch box 1302. Optical fibers 1326 are optically coupled to optical connector 1328 (of optical connector array 1324) and co-packaged optical module 1312. Optical power supply 1322 transmits optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1312 via optical connector 1328 and optical fibers 1326 . For example, the co-packaged optical module 1312 modulates power supply light based on data provided by the data processor to generate a modulated optical signal, and converts the modulated optical signal to the fiber bundle 1318. and a photonic integrated circuit that transmits through one of the optical fibers to the co-packaged optical module 1316.

In some examples, optical power supply 1322 provides optical power to co-packaged optical module 1312 via multiple links with built-in redundancy in case of malfunction in some of the optical power supply modules. It is configured to provide a supply light. For example, co-packaged optical module 1312 may provide N1 channels of optical power supply light from optical power supply 1322 (e.g., N1 continuous wave optical signals of the same or different optical wavelengths, or an optical frame). N1 sequences of templates), where N1 is a positive integer. Optical power supply 1322 provides N1+M1 channels of optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1312, where the M1 channels of optical power supply light are one or more of the N1 channels of optical power supply light. is used for backup in case of failure, and M1 is a positive integer.

The second switch box 1304 is, for example, outside the second switch box 1304 and near the second switch box 1304, for example in a data center, in the same rack as the second switch box 1304 ( optical power supply light is received from a co-located optical power supply 1330, located in a rack. Optical power supply 1330 includes an array 1332 of optical connectors. Optical fibers 1334 are optically coupled to optical connector 1336 (of optical connectors 1332) and co-packaged optical module 1316. Optical power supply 1330 transmits optical power supply light through optical connector 1336 and optical fibers 1334 to co-packaged optical module 1316 . For example, the co-packaged optical module 1316 modulates the power supply light based on data provided by the data processor to generate a modulated optical signal, and the modulated optical signal to the fiber bundle 1318 and a photonic integrated circuit that transmits through one of the optical fibers to the co-packaged optical module 1312.

In some examples, optical power supply 1330 is configured to provide optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1316 via multiple links with built-in redundancy in case of malfunction in some of the optical power supply modules. do. For example, co-packaged optical module 1316 may provide N2 channels of optical power supply light from optical power supply 1322 (e.g., N2 continuous wave optical signals of the same or different optical wavelengths, or an optical frame). N2 sequences of templates), where N2 is a positive integer. Optical power supply 1322 provides N2+M2 channels of optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1312, where the M2 channels of optical power supply light are one or more of the N2 channels of optical power supply light. is used for backup in case of failure, and M2 is a positive integer.

13B enables a first co-packaged optical module 1312 to receive optical power supply light from a first optical power supply 1322, and a second co-packaged optical module 1316 to receive optical power supply light from a second optical power supply 1322. which can be used to enable receiving optical power supply light from the power supply 1330 and enable the first co-packaged optical module 1312 to communicate with the second co-packaged optical module 1316 A diagram of an example of an optical cable assembly 1340. 13C is an enlarged view of optical cable assembly 1340 with some of the reference numbers missing for clarity of explanation.

The optical 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 be optically coupled to the first co-packaged optical module 1312 . For example, the first fiber optic connector 1342 may be configured to mate with a connector portion of the first co-packaged optical module 1312 or a connector portion optically coupled to the first co-packaged optical module 1312. can The first, second, third and fourth fiber optic connectors 1342, 1344, 1346 and 1348 define industry specifications for fiber optic interconnect cables carrying data and control signals, and optical power supply light. standards can be followed.

The first fiber optic connector 1342 includes optical power supply (PS) fiber ports, transmitter (TX) fiber ports, and receiver (RX) fiber ports. The optical power supply fiber ports provide optical power supply light to the co-packaged optical module 1312 . The transmitter fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1312 to transmit output optical signals (eg, data and/or control signals), and the receiver fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1312 to transmit output optical signals (e.g., data and/or control signals). Allows to receive these input optical signals (eg data and/or control signals). An example arrangement of the optical power supply fiber ports, transmitter ports and receiver ports in the first fiber optic connector 1342 is shown in FIG. 13D.

FIG. 13D shows an enlarged top view of the diagram of FIG. 13B , showing an example mapping of the fiber ports 1750 of the first fiber optic connector 1342 and the mapping of the fiber ports 1752 of the third fiber optic connector 1346. has been added The mapping of fiber ports 1750 is the transmitter fiber ports (e.g., 1753), receiver fiber ports (e.g., eg 1755) and the positions of the power supply fiber ports (eg 1751). The mapping of fiber ports 1752 shows the positions of the power supply fiber ports (eg, 1757) of third fiber optic connector 1346 as viewed into third fiber optic connector 1346 in direction 1756.

The second fiber optic connector 1344 is designed and configured to be optically coupled to the second co-packaged optical module 1316 . The second fiber optic connector 1344 includes optical power supply fiber ports, transmitter fiber ports, and receiver fiber ports. The optical power supply fiber ports provide optical power supply light to the co-packaged optical module 1316 . The transmitter fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1316 to transmit output optical signals, and the receiver fiber ports allow the co-packaged optical module 1316 to receive input optical signals. An example arrangement of the optical power supply fiber ports, transmitter ports and receiver ports in the second fiber optic connector 1344 is shown in FIG. 13E.

FIG. 13E shows an enlarged lower portion of the view of FIG. 13B , showing an example of the mapping of fiber ports 1760 of second fiber optic connector 1344 and the mapping of fiber ports 1762 of fourth fiber optic connector 1348 has been added The mapping of fiber ports 1760 is the transmitter fiber ports (e.g., 1763), receiver fiber ports (e.g., eg 1765) and the positions of the power supply fiber ports (eg 1761). The mapping of fiber ports 1762 shows the positions of power supply fiber ports (eg, 1767) of fourth fiber optic connector 1348 as viewed from direction 1766 to fourth fiber connector 1348.

Third optical connector 1346 is designed and configured to be optically coupled to power supply 1322 . Third optical connector 1346 includes optical power supply fiber ports (eg, 1757) through which power supply 1322 can output optical power supply light. The fourth optical connector 1348 is designed and configured to be optically coupled to the power supply 1330 . Fourth optical connector 1348 includes optical power supply fiber ports (eg, 1762) through which power supply 1330 can output optical power supply light.

In some implementations, the optical power supply fiber ports, transmitter fiber ports, and receiver fiber ports of the first and second fiber optic connectors 1342, 1344 are designed to be independent of the communication devices, i.e., any of the fiber ports Without re-mapping, the first fiber optic connector 1342 can be optically coupled to the second switch box 1304, and the second fiber optic connector 1344 is optically coupled to the first switch box 1302. It can be. Similarly, the optical power supply fiber ports of the third and fourth fiber optic connectors 1346 and 1348 are designed to be independent of the optical power supplies, i.e., the first fiber optic connector 1342 is connected to the second switch box 1304. Once optically coupled, the third fiber optic connector 1346 can be optically coupled to the second optical power supply 1330 . When the second fiber optic connector 1344 is optically coupled to the first switch box 1302 , the fourth optical fiber connector 1348 can be optically coupled to the first optical power supply 1322 .

The optical cable assembly 1340 includes a first fiber guide module 1350 and a second fiber guide module 1352 . Because the fiber optic guide module combines multiple bundles of fibers into one bundle of fibers, or separates one bundle of fibers into multiple bundles of fibers, the fiber optic guide module is also called an optical fiber coupler or splitter depending on the context. The first fiber guide module 1350 includes a first port 1354, a second port 1356 and a third port 1358. The second fiber guide module 1352 includes a first port 1360 , a second port 1362 and a third port 1364 . The fiber bundle 1318 includes the first port 1354 and the second port 1356 of the first fiber guide module 1350 and the second port 1362 and the first port 1360 of the second fiber guide module 1352. ) through which it extends from the first optical fiber connector 1342 to the second optical fiber connector 1344. The optical fibers 1326 extend from the third fiber optic connector 1346 to the first fiber optic connector 1342 through the third port 1358 and the first port 1354 of the first fiber guide module 1350 . The optical fibers 1334 extend from the fourth fiber optic connector 1348 to the second fiber optic connector 1344 through the third port 1364 and the first port 1360 of the second fiber guide module 1352 .

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

In the first fiber guide module 1350, in order to prevent excessive loss of optical light or damage to an optical fiber, the bending radius of an arbitrary optical fiber within the first fiber guide module 1350 is larger than a minimum bending radius specified by the optical fiber manufacturer. It is designed to limit the bending of optical fibers. For example, the minimum bending radius may be 2 cm, 1 cm, 5 mm or 2.5 mm. Other bend radii are possible. For example, fibers 1318 and fibers 1326 extend outwardly from first port 1354 along a first direction, and fibers 1318 extend outward from second port 1356 along a second direction. Fibers 1326 extend outwardly from third port 1358 along a third direction. The first angle is between the first and second directions, the second angle is between the first and third directions, and the third angle is between the second and third directions. The first fiber guide module 1350 may be designed to limit the bending of the optical fibers such that each of the first, second and third angles is in the range of, for example, 30° to 180°.

For example, a portion of the optical fibers 1318 between the first fiber optic connector 1342 and the first port 1354 of the first fiber guide module 1350 and a portion of the optical fibers 1326 may include a first common sheath ( It may be surrounded and protected by a sheath) (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 are surrounded and protected by a second common sheath 1368. It can be. A portion of the optical fibers 1318 between the second optical fiber connector 1344 and the first port 1360 of the second fiber guide module 1352 and a portion of the optical fibers 1334 are separated by a third common sheath 1369. You can be surrounded and protected. Optical fibers 1326 between the third optical fiber connector 1346 and the third port 1358 of the first fiber guide module 1350 may be surrounded and protected by a fourth common sheath 1367 . The optical fibers 1334 between the fourth optical fiber connector 1348 and the third port 1364 of the second optical fiber guide module 1352 may be surrounded and protected by a fifth common sheath 1370 . For example, US Patent Application No. As described in 16/822,103, each of the common sheaths may be laterally flexible and/or laterally stretchable.

One or more optical cable assemblies 1340 ( FIGS. 13B and 13C ) and other optical cable assemblies (eg, 1400 in FIGS. 15B and 15C , 1490 in FIGS. 17B and 17C ) described herein are illustrated in FIG. 13A It can be used to optically connect differently configured switch boxes compared to switch boxes 1302 and 1304, where the switch boxes receive optical power supply light from one or more external optical power supplies. For example, in some implementations, optical cable assembly 1340 can be attached to a fiber optic array connector mounted outside the front panel of an optical switch, and another fiber optic cable can then be routed inside the fiber connector into a housing of a switch box. Connects to a co-packaged optical module mounted on a circuit board positioned therein. A co-packaged optical module (which includes, for example, a photonic integrated circuit, optical-to-electrical converters such as photodetectors and electro-optical converters such as laser diodes) may be co-packaged together with a switch ASIC. It can be mounted on a circuit board that can be oriented vertically or horizontally. For example, in some implementations the front panel is mounted on hinges and the vertical ASIC mount is recessed behind it. US Application No. See 63/145,368 for examples in FIGS. 77A , 77B and 78 . Optical cable assembly 1340 provides optical paths for communication between the switch boxes, and optical paths for transmitting power supply light from one or more external optical power supplies to the switch boxes. The switch boxes control how the power supply light and data and/or control signals from the fiber optic connectors are transmitted to or received from the photonic integrated circuits and how the signals are transmitted between the photonic integrated circuits and the data processors. It may have any configuration among various configurations regarding the transmission method.

One or more optical cable assemblies 1340 and other optical cable assemblies described herein (eg, 1400 in FIGS. 15B, 15C, 1490 in FIGS. 17B, 17C) optically connect computing devices other than switch boxes. can be used to For example, computing devices may be used in cloud computing, database processing, audio/video hosting and streaming, e-mail, data storage, web hosting, social networking, supercomputing, scientific research computing, healthcare data processing, to name a few. These may be server computers providing various services such as financial transaction processing, logistics management, weather forecasting or simulations. Optical power light required in optoelectronic modules of computing devices may be provided using one or more external optical power supplies. For example, in some implementations, one or more centrally managed external optical power supplies can be configured to provide optical power supply light to hundreds or thousands of server computers in a data center, and the one or more optical power supplies and server computers can be optically coupled using the optical cable assemblies described herein (eg, 1340, 1400, 1490) and variations of optical cable assemblies using the principles described herein.

14 is a system functional block diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1380 that includes a first communication transponder 1282 and a second communication transponder 1284. The first communication transponder 1282 transmits optical signals to and receives optical signals from the second communication transponder 1284 over the first optical communication link 1290 . Optical communication system 1380 can be extended to include additional communication transponders.

An external photon supply 1382 provides optical power supply light to a first communication transponder 1282 through a first optical power supply link 1384 and a second communication transponder through a second optical power supply link 1386. An optical power supply light is provided to the ponder 1284. In one example, the external photon supply 1282 provides continuous wave light to the first communication transponder 1282 and the second communication transponder 1284 . In one example, the continuous wave light can be of the same optical wavelength. In another example, the continuous wave light may be of different optical wavelengths. In another example, an external photon supply 1282 provides a first sequence of optical frame templates to a first communication transponder 1282 and a second sequence of optical frame templates to a second communication transponder 1284. do. Each of the optical frame templates includes a respective frame header and a respective frame body, the frame body including a respective optical pulse train. A first communication transponder 1282 receives a first sequence of optical frame templates from an external photon supply 1382 and loads data into individual frame bodies to transmit the first sequence of optical frame templates to a first optical communication link. to a first sequence of loaded optical frames that are transmitted via 1290 to the second communication transponder 1284. Similarly, the second communication transponder 1284 receives the second sequence of optical frame templates from the external photon supply 1382 and loads the data into individual frame bodies to convert the second sequence of optical frame templates to the first to a second sequence of loaded optical frames that are transmitted over the optical communication link 1290 to the first communication transponder 1282.

FIG. 15A is a diagram of an example of an optical communication system 1390 that includes a first switch box 1302 and a second switch box 1304 similar to those of FIG. 13A. The first switch box 1302 includes a vertical ASIC mount grid structure 1310 , and a co-packaged optical module 1312 is attached to a receptor of the grid structure 1310 . The second switch box 1304 includes a vertical ASIC mount grid structure 1314 , and a co-packaged optical module 1316 is attached to a receptor of the grid structure 1314 . The first co-packaged optical module 1312 communicates with the second co-packaged optical module 1316 via an optical fiber bundle 1318 that includes multiple optical fibers.

As discussed above with respect to FIGS. 13A-13E , the first and second switch boxes 1302 and 1304 may have other configurations. For example, horizontally mounted ASICs may be used. A fiber optic array connector attached to the front panel can be used to optically connect optical cable assembly 1340 to other fiber optic cables that connect to co-packaged optical modules mounted on circuit boards inside the switch box. The front panel can be mounted on hinges and a vertical ASIC mount can be recessed behind it. Switch boxes can be replaced with other types of server computers.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first switch box 1302 includes both the co-packaged optical module 1312 in the first switch box 1302 and the co-packaged optical module 1316 in the second switch box 1304. and an external optical power supply 1322 providing light to the optical power supply. In another exemplary embodiment, the optical power supply may be located outside the switch box 1302 (see 1330 in FIG. 13A). An optical power supply 1322 provides optical power supply light through an optical connector array 1324 . Optical fibers 1392 are optically coupled to an optical connector 1396 and co-packaged optical module 1312 . Optical power supply 1322 transmits optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1312 in first switch box 1302 via optical connector 1396 and optical fibers 1392 . Optical fibers 1394 are optically coupled to optical connector 1396 and co-packaged optical module 1316 . Optical power supply 1322 transmits optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1316 of second switch box 1304 via optical connector 1396 and optical fibers 1394 .

15B enables a first co-packaged optical module 1312 to receive optical power supply light from an optical power supply 1322, and a second co-packaged optical module 1316 to receive optical power supply 1322 ) and enable the first co-packaged optical module 1312 to communicate with the second co-packaged optical module 1316 ( 1400) shows an example. 15C is an enlarged view of optical cable assembly 1400 with some of the reference numbers missing for clarity of explanation.

The optical 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 FIGS. 13B, 13C, 13D and is designed and configured to be optically coupled to the first co-packaged optical module 1312. The second fiber optic connector 1404 is similar to the second fiber optic connector 1344 of FIGS. 13B, 13C, 13E and is designed and configured to be optically coupled to the second co-packaged optical module 1316. Third optical connector 1406 is designed and configured to be optically coupled to power supply 1322 . The third optical connector 1406 includes first optical power supply fiber ports (eg, 1770 in FIG. 15D ) and second optical power supply fiber ports (eg, 1772 ). The power supply 1322 outputs optical power supply light to optical fibers 1392 through first optical power supply fiber ports and outputs optical power supply light to optical fibers 1394 through second optical power supply fiber ports. do. The first, second and third fiber optic connectors 1402, 1404, 1406 may conform to industry standards that specify specifications for fiber optic interconnecting cables that carry data and control signals, and optical power supply light. .

FIG. 15D shows an enlarged top view of the diagram of FIG. 15B , showing an example of the mapping of the fiber ports 1774 of the first fiber optic connector 1402 and the mapping of the fiber ports 1776 of the third fiber optic connector 1406. has been added The mapping of the fiber ports 1774 is the transmitter fiber ports (e.g., 1778), receiver fiber ports (e.g., 1778), and receiver fiber ports (e.g. eg 1780) and the positions of the power supply fiber ports (eg 1782). Mapping of fiber ports 1776 shows the positions of power supply fiber ports (eg, 1770, 1772) of third fiber optic connector 1406 as viewed into third fiber optic connector 1406 in direction 1786 do. In this example, third fiber optic connector 1406 includes eight optical power supply fiber ports.

In some examples, optical connector array 1324 of optical power supply 1322 includes optical connectors of a first type accommodating fiber optic connectors having four optical power supply fiber ports, as in the example of FIG. 13D and FIG. 15D . A second type of optical connectors accommodating fiber optic connectors having eight optical power supply fiber ports as in the example. In some examples, if the optical connector array 1324 of the optical power supply 1322 only accepts fiber optic connectors having four optical power supply fiber ports, the third fiber optic connector 1406 of FIG. ), a converter cable can be used to convert to two fiber optic connectors each having four optical power supply fiber ports.

FIG. 15E shows an enlarged lower portion of the diagram of FIG. 15B , with an example of the mapping of the fiber ports 1790 of the second fiber optic connector 1404 added. The mapping of fiber ports 1790 is the transmitter fiber ports (e.g., 1792), receiver fiber ports (e.g., eg 1794), and the positions of the power supply fiber ports (eg 1796).

The port mappings of the fiber optic connectors shown in FIGS. 13D, 13E, 15D and 15E are examples only. Each fiber optic connector has more or fewer transmitter fiber ports, more or fewer receiver fiber ports, and more fiber ports than those shown in FIGS. 13D, 13E, 15D, and 15E. or fewer optical power supply fiber ports. The arrangement of the relative positions of the transmitter, receiver and optical power supply fiber ports may also differ from those shown in FIGS. 13D, 13E, 15D and 15E.

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

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

The optical fiber guide module 1408 is configured such that the radius of curvature of any optical fiber in the optical fiber guide module 1408 is greater than the minimum radius of curvature specified by the optical fiber manufacturer in order to prevent excessive optical light loss or damage to the optical fiber. designed to limit their bending. For example, optical fibers 1318 and 1392 extend outward from first port 1410 along a first direction, and optical fibers 1318 and 1394 extend outward along a second direction. Optical fibers 1392 and 1394 extend outwardly from the second port 1412, and optical fibers 1392 and 1394 extend outwardly from the third port 1414 along a third direction. The first angle is between the first and second directions, the second angle is between the first and third directions, and the third angle is between the second and third directions. The fiber guide module 1408 can be designed to limit bending of the optical fibers such that each of the first, second and third angles ranges from 30° to 180°, for example.

For example, the portion of the optical fibers 1318 between the first fiber optic connector 1402 and the first port 1410 of the fiber guide module 1408 and the portion of the optical fibers 1392 are the first common sheath 1416 can be surrounded and protected by Optical fibers 1318 and optical fibers 1394 between the second fiber optic connector 1404 and the second port 1412 of the fiber guide module 1408 may be surrounded and protected by a second common sheath 1418. The optical fibers 1392 and 1394 between the third optical fiber connector 1406 and the third port 1414 of the optical fiber guide module 1408 may be surrounded and protected by a third common sheath 1420. Each of the common sheaths may be laterally flexible and/or laterally stretchable.

16 is an example of an optical communication system 1430 that includes a first communication transponder 1432, a second communication transponder 1434, a third communication transponder 1436 and a fourth communication transponder 1438. It is a system functional block diagram for Each of communication transponders 1432, 1434, 1436, and 1438 may be similar to communication transponders 1202 and 1204 of FIG. The first communication transponder 1432 communicates with the second communication transponder 1434 over a first optical link 1440 . The first communication transponder 1432 communicates with the third communication transponder 1436 via the second optical link 1442 . The first communication transponder 1432 communicates with the fourth communication transponder 1438 via a third optical link 1444 .

The external photon supply 1446 provides optical power supply light to the first communication transponder 1432 through a first optical power supply link 1448 and to a second communication transponder through a second optical power supply link 1450. Provides optical power supply light to the ponder 1434, provides optical power supply light to the third communication transponder 1436 through the third optical power supply link 1452, and provides optical power supply light to the fourth optical power supply link 1454 Optical power supply light is provided to the fourth communication transponder 1438 through

17A shows an optical communication system including a first switch box 1462 and a remote server array 1470 including a second switch box 1464, a third switch box 1466 and a fourth switch box 1468. 1460 is a diagram for an example. The first switch box 1462 includes a vertical ASIC mount grid structure 1310 , and a co-packaged optical module 1312 is attached to a receptor of the grid structure 1310 . The second switch box 1464 includes a co-packaged optical module 1472, the third switch box 1466 includes a co-packaged optical module 1474, and the fourth switch box 1468 includes co-packaged optical module 1476. The first co-packaged optical module 1312 is connected to the co-packaged optical modules 1472, 1474, and 1476 via an optical fiber bundle 1478 that branches to the co-packaged optical modules 1472, 1474, and 1476. ) to communicate with.

In one exemplary embodiment, first switch box 1462 includes an external optical power supply 1322 that provides optical power supply light through optical connector array 1324 . In another exemplary embodiment, the optical power supply may be located outside the switch box 1462 (see 1330 in FIG. 13A). The optical fibers 1480 are optically coupled to the optical connector 1482, and the optical power supply 1322 transmits the optical power supply light through the optical connector 1482 and the optical fibers 1480 to the co-packaged optical modules ( 1312, 1472, 1474, 1476).

FIG. 17B shows an optical power supply 1322 providing optical power supply light to co-packaged optical modules 1312, 1472, 1474, 1476 and co-packaged optical module 1312 providing co-packaged optical modules. shows an example of an optical cable assembly 1490 that can be used to enable communication with fields 1472, 1474, and 1476. Optical cable assembly 1490 includes a first fiber optic connector 1492, a second fiber optic connector 1494, a third fiber optic connector 1496, a fourth fiber optic connector 1498, and a fifth fiber optic connector 1500. . The first fiber optic connector 1492 is configured to be optically coupled to the co-packaged optical module 1312 . The second fiber optic connector 1494 is configured to be optically coupled to the co-packaged optical module 1472 . The third fiber optic connector 1496 is configured to be optically coupled to the co-packaged optical module 1474. The fourth fiber optic connector 1498 is configured to be optically coupled to the co-packaged optical module 1476. The fifth fiber optic connector 1500 is configured to be optically coupled to the optical power supply 1322 . 17C is an enlarged view of optical cable assembly 1490.

Optical fibers optically coupled to fiber optic connectors 1500 and 1492 enable optical power supply 1322 to provide optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1312 . Optical fibers optically coupled to fiber optic connectors 1500 and 1494 enable optical power supply 1322 to provide optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1472 . Optical fibers optically coupled to fiber optic connectors 1500 and 1496 enable optical power supply 1322 to provide optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1474 . Optical fibers optically coupled to fiber optic connectors 1500 and 1498 enable optical power supply 1322 to provide optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1476 .

Fiber guide modules 1502, 1504, 1506 and common sheaths are provided to organize the optical fibers so that they can be easily positioned and managed. The fiber guide module 1502 is similar to the fiber guide module 1408 of FIG. 15B. Fiber guide modules 1504 and 1506 are similar to fiber guide module 1350 of FIG. 13B. Common sheaths gather the fibers into bundles so that they can be more easily handled, and fiber guide modules guide the fibers so that they extend in various directions towards devices that need to be optically coupled by the optical cable assembly 1490. guide Optical fiber guide modules limit the bending of optical fibers so that the bending radius is greater than the minimum value specified by the optical fiber manufacturer in order to prevent excessive optical light loss or damage to the optical fiber.

Optical fibers 1480 extending from optical connector 1482 are surrounded and protected by a common sheath 1508. In the fiber guide module 1502, the fibers 1480 are split into a first group of fibers 1510 and a second group of fibers 1512. A first group of optical fibers 1510 extends to a first fiber optic connector 1492 . The second group of optical fibers 1512 extends toward the fiber guide modules 1504 and 1506, which together lead the optical fibers 1512 to the third group of optical fibers 1514 and the fourth group of optical fibers 1516. ) and the fifth group of optical fibers 1518 as a 1:3 splitter. A group of optical fibers 1514 extends into a fiber optic connector 1494, a group of optical fibers 1516 extends into a fiber optic connector 1496, and a group of optical fibers 1518 extends into a fiber optic connector 1498. . In some examples, instead of using two 1:2 split fiber guide modules 1504, 1506, a 1:3 split fiber with 4 ports, for example 1 input port and 3 output ports, is used. It is also possible to use a guide module. In general, splitting fibers into 1:N splits (where N is an integer greater than 2) can occur in one step or in multiple steps.

18 is a diagram of an example of a data processing system (eg, data center) 1520 that includes N servers 1522 distributed across K racks 1524 . In this example, there are 6 racks 1524, and each rack 1524 includes 15 servers 1522. Each server 1522 communicates directly with a tier 1 switch 1526. The left portion of the figure shows an enlarged view of portion 1528 of system 1520. Server 1522a communicates directly with tier 1 switch 1526a via communication link 1530a. Similarly, servers 1522b and 1522c communicate directly with tier 1 switch 1526a via communication links 1530b and 1530c, respectively. Server 1522a communicates directly with tier 1 switch 1526b over communication link 1532a. Similarly, servers 1522b and 1522c communicate directly with tier 1 switch 1526b via communication links 1532b and 1532c, respectively. Each communication link may include a pair of optical fibers allowing bi-directional communication. System 1520 can bypass conventional top-of-rack switches and take advantage of higher data throughput. System 1520 includes point-to-point connections between all servers 1522 and all tier 1 switches 1526 . In this example, there are four tier 1 switches 1526, and four fiber pairs per server 1522 are used to communicate with the tier 1 switches 1526. Each tier-1 switch 1526 connects to N servers, so there are N fiber pairs connected to each tier-1 switch 1526.

Referring to FIG. 19 , in some implementations, a data processing system (eg, data center) 1540 is a separate rack 1540 with N servers 1522 distributed across K racks 1524 . tier-1 switches 1526 co-located on Each server 1522 has a direct link to each of the tier-1 switches 1526. In some implementations, there is one fiber cable 1542 (or fewer << N/K fiber cables) from the tier-1 switch rack 1540 to each of the K server racks 1524 .

20A is a diagram of an example of a data processing system 1550 comprising N = 1024 servers 1552 distributed over K = 32 racks 1554, each rack 1554 being N/K = 1024/32 = 32 servers 1552. Co-located in rack 1560 are four tier-1 switches 1556 and an optical power supply 1558.

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

For example, on the server rack side, fibers 1566 (connected to servers 1552 in rack 1554) terminate in server rack connector 1568. On the switch rack side, optical fibers 1578 (connected to switch boxes 1556 and optical power supply 1558) terminate in switch rack connector 1576. An optical fiber extension cable 1572 is optically coupled to the server rack side and the switch rack side. Fiber extension cable 1572 includes 256 + 32 = 288 fibers. The fiber extension cable 1572 includes a first fiber optic connector 1570 and a second fiber optic connector 1574 . The first fiber optic connector 1570 is connected to the server rack connector 1568, and the second fiber optic connector 1574 is connected to the switch rack connector 1576. On the switch rack side, the fibers 1578 include 288 fibers, of which 32 fibers 1580 are optically coupled to the optical power supply 1558. The 256 fibers carrying 128 bi-directional communication channels (each channel has 100 Gbps bandwidth in each direction) are split into 4 groups of 64 fibers, where the 64 fibers in each group are connected to a switch box optically coupled to co-packaged optical module 1582 in one of s 1556 . The co-packaged optical module 1582 is configured to have a bandwidth of 32 x 100 Gbps = 3.2 Tbps in each direction (input and output). Each switch box 1556 is connected to each server 1552 in a rack 1554 via a pair of optical fibers carrying 100 Gbps of bandwidth in each direction.

Optical power supply 1558 provides optical power supply light to co-packaged optical modules 1582 in switch boxes 1556 . In this example, the optical power supply 1558 provides optical power supply light to each co-packaged optical module 1582 through 4 optical fibers, so a total of 16 optical fibers are supplied to the 4 switch boxes 1556. An optical power supply is used to provide light. A bundle of optical fibers 1584 is optically coupled to a co-packaged optical module 1582 in switch box 1556. The bundle of optical fibers 1584 contains 64 + 16 = 80 fibers. In some examples, optical power supply 1558 can provide additional optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1582 using additional optical fibers. For example, optical power supply 1558 can provide optical power supply light to co-packaged optical module 1582 using 32 optical fibers with built-in redundancy.

Referring to FIG. 20B , data processing system 1550 includes a fiber guide module 1590 that helps organize the fibers so that they are directed in the proper direction. The fiber guide module 1590 also limits the bending of the fibers within specified limits to prevent excessive optical light loss or fiber damage. The fiber guide module 1590 includes a first port 1592 , a second port 1594 and a third port 1596 . Optical fibers extending outwardly from first port 1592 are optically coupled to switch rack connector 1576 . Optical fibers extending outward from the second port 1594 are optically coupled to the switch boxes. Optical fibers extending outward from third port 1596 are optically coupled to an optical power supply 1558 .

In some implementations, the optical power supply or external photon supply 902 of FIG. 9 , 1012 of FIG. 10 , 1106 of FIG. 11 , 1208 of FIG. 12 , 1212 , 1322 of FIG. 13A , 1330 of FIG. 14 , 1382 of FIG. Each of 1322 of FIG. 16 , 1446 of FIG. 16 , 1322 of FIG. 17A , and 1558 of FIGS. 20A and 20B may have a configuration similar to any one of the optical power supplies shown in FIGS. 2 and 4A to 4F . In some implementations, optical fibers 914, 916 in FIG. 9 optically coupled to an optical power supply, 1014, 1016a, 1016b, 1016c in FIG. 10, 1210 and 1214 in FIG. 12, 1384 and 1386 in FIG. 14, FIG. Each of 1394 in FIG. 15A, 1448, 1450, 1452, 1454 in FIG. 16, and 1580 in FIG. 20A may include one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining optical fiber. Light supplied by an optical power supply module may experience random polarization rotation as it propagates through an optical fiber.

In some implementations, the co-packaged optical interconnect modules 910 of FIGS. 9-11 , the communication transponders 1202 and 1204 of FIG. 12 , and the co-packaged optical modules 1312 and 1316 of FIG. ), communication transponders 1282, 1284 of FIG. 14, co-packaged optical modules 1312, 1316 of FIG. 15A, communication transponders 1432, 1434, 1436, 1438 of FIG. 16, FIG. 17A Each of the co-packaged optical modules 1312, 1472, 1474, and 1476 of FIG. 20A and the co-packaged optical module 1564 and 1582 of FIG. One or more similar optical transmission modules may be provided.

Fiber cables that can be used to transmit light from optical power supplies to photonic integrated circuits that contain modulators that can modulate the light, and to couple the light from fibers to photonic integrated circuits. Additional details on fiber-to-photonic integrated circuit connects that may be used are found in, for example, US Patent Application No. 16/816,171, and PCT application no. PCT/US2021/021953, US Patent Application No. 18, filed March 18, 2020. 16/822,103, PCT Application No. filed on March 17, 2021. PCT/US2021/022730, and PCT application no. It can be found in PCT/US2021/027306. Application No. 16/816,171, Application No. PCT/US2021/021953, application no. 16/822,103, Application No. PCT/US2021/022730, and application no. The entire contents of PCT/US2021/027306 are hereby incorporated by reference. Additional details relating to photonic integrated circuits that include modulators capable of modulating light provided by optical power supplies can be found, for example, in US Provisional Patent Application No. 63/080,528, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Additional details on fiber connectors that can help connect fiber optic cables to optical power supplies and photonic integrated circuits can be found in, for example, US Provisional Patent Application No. 63/088,914, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In accordance with the exemplary embodiments disclosed above, referring to, for example, the summary section and/or any one or any combination of some or all of FIGS. 1-8, the symbol rate (e.g. For example, an apparatus (eg, 100 in FIG. 1 ) for communicating an optical signal modulated with R _S is provided, the apparatus including an optical power supply (eg, 290 in FIG. 2 ), comprising: A power supply is coupled to a light source (eg, 200 in FIG. 2 ) and a light source such that the light source has a first optical output having a first optical frequency (eg, 212 in FIGS. 2 and 3 ) and a first optical frequency. an electronic controller to generate a second light output having a second optical frequency (e.g., 222 in FIGS. 2 and 3) different from , wherein the first and second light outputs each have a 1/symbol rate Steady-state for significantly longer (eg, 100 times) time intervals; and a polarization combiner (e.g., 240 in FIG. 2) coupled to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at different respective input ports, the polarization combiner having first and second mutually orthogonal to each other at the output port. the polarization components configured to produce an optical output conveying a first light output and a second light output, respectively.

In some embodiments of the above device, the electronic controller is configured to cause the first light output and the second light output to be time/frequency orthogonal to each other (eg according to equations (3) and (4)).

In some embodiments of any device above, the degree that the first light output and the second light output are time/frequency orthogonal is greater than 0.8.

In some embodiments for any device above, the degree is greater than 0.9.

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

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is greater than 5 times the symbol rate (eg, Δ f = | f ₁ - f ₂ | > 5 R _I , 212, 222 in Fig. 3d).

n R _I , 여기서 n = 2,3,4...임)이다.In some embodiments of any device above, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is approximately an integer multiple of the symbol rate (i.e., Δf

n R _I , where n = 2,3,4...).

In some embodiments of any device above, the first light output includes a first optical pulse train of a first period and the second light output includes a second optical pulse train of a first period.

In some embodiments of any device above, the pulses of the first and second optical pulse trains have the same intensity waveform (eg, 212, 222 in FIG. 3C).

In some embodiments of any device above, the pulses of the first and second optical pulse trains have individual intensity waveforms different from each other.

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

0, 도 3c의 212, 222).In some embodiments of any device above, centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train are temporally aligned with centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train (eg, ΔT

0, 212, 222 in Fig. 3c).

In some embodiments of any of the apparatus above, centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train are temporally offset from centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift (e.g. , ΔT, 212, 222 in Fig. 3c).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the non-zero time shift is less than one-half of the first period (eg, Δ T < T _I /2, 212, 222 in FIG. 3C ).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the non-zero time shift is less than one quarter of the first period (eg, Δ T < T _I /4, 212, 222 in FIG. 3C ).

2 R _I , 도 3e의 212, 222).In some embodiments of any device above, the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is twice the pulse repetition rate (i.e., Δf

2 R _I , 212, 222 in Fig. 3e).

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

3 R _I ).

In some embodiments of any device above (eg, 212, 222 in FIG. 3E ; 516, 517 in FIG. 6D ), the spectrum of the first pulse train has two first optical frequency tones; The spectrum of the second pulse train has two second optical frequency tones different from the two first optical frequency tones.

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

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the electronic controller is also configured to imprint 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 device above, the first control information is the same as the second control information.

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

In some embodiments of any of the devices above, the light sources include a first CW laser oscillating at a first optical frequency (eg, 410 in FIG. 4A ) and a second CW laser oscillating at a second optical frequency (eg, 410 in FIG. 4A ). For example, 420 of FIG. 4A) is included.

In some embodiments of any device above, the electronic controller is configured to control the first CW laser and the second CW laser to controllably establish a frequency differential between the first and second optical frequencies ( For example, 430 in FIG. 4A).

In some embodiments of any device above, the polarization combiner includes one or more of a polarization beam combiner, a polarization-maintaining optical power combiner, and a polarization-maintaining wavelength multiplexer.

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source comprises a CW laser and an optical modulator optically coupled to the CW laser, the optical modulator being configured to generate a first modulated tone at a first optical frequency (e.g. For example, 424 in FIG. 4B; 417 in FIG. 4C).

In some embodiments of any device above, the electronic controller (eg, 432 of FIG. 4B ; 433 of FIG. 4C ) is configured to control the optical frequency of the first modulation tone.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical modulator is also configured to generate a second modulated tone at a second optical frequency (eg, 417 in FIG. 4B ).

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source includes an optical amplitude modulator configured to generate an optical pulse train (eg, 417, 427 in FIG. 4D; 417 in FIG. 4E).

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source includes a pulsed laser configured to generate an optical pulse train (eg, 410 and 417, 420 and 427 in FIG. 4C).

In some embodiments of any device above, the light source includes an optical delay element configured to delay the first light output relative to the second light output (eg, 419 in FIGS. 4D and 4E ).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical power supply includes an optical dispersion-compensating element (eg, 470 in FIGS. 4D and 4E ).

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the light source includes a polarization-diversity in-phase/quadrature phase modulator (eg, 417 in FIG. 4F).

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

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

In some embodiments of any of the devices above, the device may attach one or more sections of optical fiber (eg, 102 ₆ , 543 in FIG. 5 ) to the output port of the polarization combiner (eg, 242 in FIG. 2 ). and an optical transmission module (e.g., 504 in FIG. 5; 600 in FIG. 6) optically end-connected via an end of one of the sections of the optical fiber for receiving light of an optical output. a polarization splitter having an input port optically coupled to (eg, 515 in FIG. 5 ); a first optical data modulator (eg, 530 ₁ in FIG. 5 ) connected to the first output of the polarization splitter; and a second optical data modulator (eg, 530 ₂ in FIG. 5 ) connected to the second output of the polarization splitter.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, at least one of the one or more sections of the optical fiber remains unpolarized.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical fiber is at least 1 meter long.

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical fiber is at least 10 meters long.

According to yet another exemplary embodiment disclosed above, referring to, for example, in the Summary section and/or any one or any combination of some or all of FIGS. 1 to 8 , an optical transmitter (e.g. , 500 of FIG. 5 ) is provided, and an optical transmitter includes an optical input port, a first optical output port (eg, 516 in FIG. 5 ) and a second optical output port (eg, FIG. 5 ). 517 of 5) (e.g., 515 of FIG. 5) - an optical input port having an optical input signal having a first polarization component and a second polarization component (e.g., FIGS. 3A-3E) wherein the first polarization component carries light at a first optical frequency, the second polarization component carries light at a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, the first polarization component and The second polarization components are orthogonal to each other and jointly undergo a polarization state change during a certain time interval (e.g., intervals (A), (B), and (C) of FIGS. 7B to 7D), and the passive polarization splitter Let light of one fixed polarization be directed from the optical input port to the first optical output port, and also direct 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 polarizations are orthogonal to each other, and the polarization state change causes the respective spectral configurations of the lights directed to the first and second optical ports to change during the time interval (e.g., FIGS. 7B-7D) - ; and coupled to the first optical output port to modulate light of a first fixed polarization received therefrom (eg, 516 in FIG. 5 ) in response to a first data signal (eg, data 1 in FIG. 5 ). and a configured first optical modulator (eg, 530 ₁ in FIG. 5 ).

In some embodiments of the above apparatus, an optical transmitter is coupled to the second optical output port and converts light of a second fixed polarization received therefrom (eg, 517 in FIG. 5 ) into a second data signal (eg, 517 ). , a second optical modulator (eg, 530 ₂ in FIG. 5 ) configured to modulate in response to data 2 in FIG. 5 ).

In some embodiments of any device above, the first and second optical modulators are individually modulating (eg, on ports 532 ₁ and 532 ₂ of FIG. 5 ) via different individual optical fibers. connected to transmit light.

In some embodiments of any device above, at some times of the time interval (eg, interval A in FIGS. 7B-7D ), the first optical modulator is configured to transmit the first optical modulator from the first output port to the first optical modulator. receiving an optical frequency but not receiving a second optical frequency; At some other times in the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency but not the first optical frequency from the first output port.

In some embodiments of any device above, at some other times of the time interval, the first optical modulators receive a mixture of first and second optical frequencies from the first output port (eg , intervals (B), (C) of FIGS. 7B to 7D).

In some embodiments of any device above, the optical input port receives an optical input signal from a proximal end of a section of optical fiber (eg, 543 in FIG. 5 ) that includes at least one section that maintains depolarization. optically connected to

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

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

In some embodiments of any of the above devices, the optical transmitter further includes an optical power supply (eg, 290 in FIG. 5 ) optically coupled to apply the optical input signal to the passive polarization splitter through an optical fiber.

In some embodiments of any device above, an optical power supply is coupled to a light source (eg, 200 in FIG. 2 ) and a light source such that the light source is configured to generate a first optical frequency (eg, FIG. 2 and FIG. 2 ). 212 of 3) and a second light output having a second optical frequency (e.g., 222 of FIGS. 2 and 3) - a first light output and a second light output. - each is steady state during the time interval; and a polarization coupler (e.g., 240 in FIG. 2) coupled to receive the first and second light outputs of the light source at different respective input ports, the polarization combiner having an optical input port of the polarization splitter at its output port an optical input signal. configured to produce an optical output coupled to an optical fiber to receive a.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the first optical modulator is unsuitable for modulating optical signals having a second fixed polarization.

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

In some embodiments of any device above, the second optical modulator is unsuitable for modulating optical signals having the first fixed polarization.

Although this disclosure includes reference to embodiments for explanatory purposes, this specification is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications to the described embodiments which are obvious to those skilled in the art as well as other embodiments within the scope of this disclosure, for example the principles of this disclosure as expressed in the following claims, and within the range.

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

Unless expressly stated otherwise, each number and range is to be interpreted as approximation as if the word "about" or "approximately" preceded the value or range.

Various changes to the details, materials and arrangements of the parts described and illustrated in order to explain the essence of the present disclosure may be made by those skilled in the art, for purposes of this disclosure as expressed in, for example, the following claims. It will also be appreciated that this may be done without departing from the scope.

The use of figure numbers and/or figure reference labels 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 the claims to the embodiments shown in the corresponding drawings.

In the method claims that follow, elements are recited in the specific sequence, along with corresponding designations, where present, but those elements must be presented in that specific sequence, unless the claim recitations suggest otherwise a specific order for implementing some or all of those elements. It is not intended to be limited to implementation.

Reference herein to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, and separate or alternative embodiments are not necessarily mutually exclusive of other embodiments. The same applies to the term "implementation".

Unless otherwise specified herein, use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to refer to one of a plurality of similar objects does not refer to each other for such similar objects. It is only intended to indicate that different instances are being referred to, and is not intended to imply that similar objects so referenced must be in that order or sequence, whether temporally, spatially, rank or in any other way.

Also for purposes of this description, the terms "couple", "coupled", "coupled", "connect", "connecting" or "connected" refer to the terms allowing energy to be transferred between two or more elements and , any manner known in the art or later developed in which interposition of one or more additional elements is contemplated, although not necessarily. Conversely, the terms "directly coupled", "directly connected", etc., mean the absence of such additional elements.

The term compatible, as used herein in relation to elements and standards, means that elements communicate with other elements in the manner specified in whole or in part by the standard, and with other elements in the manner specified by the standard. It means that it can be recognized by other elements as being able to communicate well enough. Compatible elements are not required to behave internally in the manner specified by the standard.

The described embodiments are to be regarded in all respects as merely illustrative and not restrictive. In particular, the scope of this disclosure is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the description and drawings herein. All changes that fall within the meaning and scope of equivalence of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

The description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art may devise various arrangements that embody the principles of the present disclosure and are included within its spirit and scope, even though not explicitly described or illustrated herein. Furthermore, all examples described herein are expressly and in principle only for educational purposes to assist the reader in understanding the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to advance the principles and techniques of this disclosure. intended and should be construed as not limited to the specifically described examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.

The functioning of the various elements shown in the drawings, including any functional blocks labeled or referred to as “processors” and/or “controllers,” may be achieved using dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing the software in association with appropriate software. can be provided through When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, a single shared processor, or a plurality of separate processors that may be partially shared. Moreover, the explicit use of the terms "processor" or "controller" should not be construed to imply hardware capable of executing software, but by implication, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, network processors, custom Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Read Only Memory (ROM) for software storage, Random Access Memory (RAM), and Non-volatile storage may be included without limitation. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Similarly, any switches shown in the drawings are conceptual only. Their functions may be executed through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program control with dedicated logic, or even manually, depending on which particular technique is more specifically understood in context. Optional by the implementer.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (eg, analog and/or digital circuitry-only implementations). ; (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software (where applicable), for example (i) combinations of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware and (ii) (devices such as mobile phones or servers) hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor(s)) with software (which work together to perform various functions), any portions of software and memory(s); and (c) hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portions of microprocessor(s) that require software (eg, firmware) to operate (but are required for operation). If not, the software may not exist). This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application including any claims. As a further example, the term circuitry as used herein also refers merely to a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware implementations. cover The term circuitry is also, for example and where applicable to certain claim elements, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or networking device. Include similar integrated circuits.

Those skilled in the art should appreciate that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the present disclosure.

Claims (127)

An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate, said apparatus comprising an optical power supply comprising:
a light source and an electronic controller coupled to the light source to cause the light source to produce a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency - the first light output and each of said second light output is steady for a time interval significantly greater than 1/symbol rate; and
A polarization coupler connected to receive a first light output and a second light output of the light source at different respective input ports, wherein at the output port, a first mutually orthogonal polarization component and a second mutually orthogonal polarization component are coupled to the first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components. configured to generate an optical output that carries light of the first light output and the second light output, respectively;
An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate comprising: The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electronic controller is configured to cause the first light output and the second light output to be time/frequency orthogonal to each other. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first optical output comprises a first continuous wave optical field at the first optical frequency and the second optical output comprises a second continuous wave optical field at the second optical frequency. Device. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is approximately an integer multiple of the symbol rate. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first optical output includes a first optical pulse train of a first period, and the second optical output includes a second optical pulse train of the first period. A device comprising: 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train are temporally aligned with centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train are temporally offset from centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train by a nonzero time shift. . According to claim 5,
the spectrum of the first pulse train has two first optical frequency tones;
wherein the spectrum of the second pulse train has two second optical frequency tones different from the two first optical frequency tones. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic controller is further configured to imprint 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. , Device. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a polarization-diversity in-phase/quadrature modulator. According to claim 10,
the polarization-diversity in-phase/quadrature phase modulator is configured to generate two tones of a first polarization and two tones of a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization;
a frequency interval between the two tones of the first polarization and a frequency interval between the two tones of the second polarization are equal to each other;
wherein a frequency interval between a tone of the first polarization and a tone of the second polarization is an integer multiple of the same frequency interval. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising an optical transmission module optically end-connected to an output port of the polarization combiner through one or more sections of optical fiber, the transmission module comprising:
a polarization splitter having an input port optically coupled to one end of one of the sections of the optical fiber for receiving light of the optical output;
a first optical data modulator coupled to a first output of the polarization splitter; and
A second optical data modulator connected to the second output of the polarization splitter.
A device comprising a. A device comprising an optical transmitter, wherein the optical transmitter comprises:
A passive polarization splitter having an optical input port, a first optical output port and a second optical output port, the optical input port being optically coupled to receive an optical input signal having a first polarization component and a second polarization component, One polarization component carries light at a first optical frequency, the second polarization component transports light at a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, and the first polarization component and the second polarization component are mutually orthogonal and jointly undergoing a state-of-polarization change during a time interval, the passive polarization splitter converts light of a first fixed polarization from the optical input port to the first optical and directs light of a second fixed polarization from the optical input port to the second optical output port, wherein the first fixed polarization and the second fixed polarization are orthogonal to each other, and the polarization state change causes respective spectral compositions of lights directed to the first optical output port and the second optical output port to change during the time interval; and
A first optical modulator connected to the first optical output port and configured to modulate light of the first fixed polarization received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal.
A device comprising an optical transmitter comprising a. 14. The optical transmitter of claim 13, wherein the optical transmitter comprises a second optical transmitter coupled to the second optical output port and configured to modulate light of the second fixed polarization received from the second optical output port in response to a second data signal. The apparatus further comprising a modulator. 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator are coupled to transmit the respective modulated lights over different respective optical fibers. According to claim 13,
At some times during the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the first optical frequency but not the second optical frequency from the first output port;
At other portions of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency but not the first optical frequency from the first output port. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at still other portions 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. 14. The optical fiber of claim 13, wherein the optical input port is optically connected to receive the optical input signal from a proximate end of a section of optical fiber, wherein the optical fiber is non-polarization-maintaining at least A device comprising one section. 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the optical transmitter further comprises an optical power supply optically coupled to apply the optical input signal to the passive polarization splitter through the optical fiber. The method of claim 19, wherein the optical power supply,
a light source and an electronic controller connected to the light source to cause the light source to produce a first light output having the first optical frequency and a second light output having the second optical frequency - the first light output and the second light output - Each of the outputs is steady during the time interval; and
A polarization coupler coupled to receive the first light output and the second light output of the light source at different respective input ports, wherein the polarization coupler causes, at an output port, an optical input port of the polarization splitter to receive the optical input signal. configured to generate an optical output coupled to the optical fiber for
A device comprising a. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is Δf , the symbol rate is Rs , and Δf is within ±10% of Rs . According to claim 1,
a transmit module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate an optical output signal from an output port of the polarization coupler; and
An optical fiber comprising one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fibers, the optical fiber being optically coupled between an output port of the polarization coupler and the transmission module, the optical fiber being coupled to the output of the polarization coupler. configured to transmit the optical output signal from a port to the transmission module;
Including, device. 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the optical fiber between the transmission module and the polarization combiner is at least 1 meter long. 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the optical fiber between the transmission module and the polarization coupler is at least 10 meters long. The method of claim 22, wherein the transmission module,
A passive polarization splitter having an optical input port, a first optical output port and a second optical output port, wherein the optical input port is optically configured to receive an optical input signal from the optical power supply having a first polarization component and a second polarization component. wherein the first polarization component carries light of the first optical frequency and the second polarization component transports light of the second optical frequency;
The first polarization component and the second polarization component are orthogonal to each other and jointly undergo a polarization state change during a time interval, and the passive polarization splitter allows light of a first fixed polarization to pass from the optical input port to the first optical output port. and 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, and the polarization state change is cause the respective spectral configurations of lights directed to the first optical output port and the second optical output port to change during the time interval; and
A first optical modulator optically coupled to the first optical output port and configured to modulate light of the first fixed polarization received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal.
A device comprising a. 26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the optical transmitter is optically coupled to the second optical output port and configured to modulate light of the second fixed polarization received from the second optical output port in response to a second data signal. An apparatus comprising an optical modulator. 27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator are optically coupled to transmit the respective modulated lights over different respective optical fibers. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein at some times during the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the first optical frequency but not the second optical frequency from the first output port;
At other portions of the time interval, the first optical modulator receives the second optical frequency but not the first optical frequency from the first output port. 29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein at still other portions 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. The device of claim 1 , wherein the polarization combiner comprises at least one of a polarization beam combiner, a polarization-maintaining optical power combiner, or a polarization-maintaining wavelength multiplexer. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a chromatic-dispersion-compensating optical element configured to pre-disperse the optical output signal from the polarization coupler. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source,
a first laser configured to produce a first polarized light having the first optical frequency, the first polarized light forming a first optical output of the light source; and
A second laser configured to produce a second polarized light having the second optical frequency, the second polarized light forming a second optical output of the light source.
A device comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source,
a laser configured to produce a 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.
contains;
the first portion forms a first light output of the light source;
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, the frequency-shifted second portion comprising the light source and forms a second light output of The method of claim 1, wherein the light source,
a laser configured to generate a first light;
a modulator configured to split 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 splitter configured to frequency-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;
the first portion forms a first light output of the light source and the second portion forms a second light output of the light source;
A device comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source,
a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;
a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength;
a first optical modulator configured to modulate the first polarized light to produce first modulated polarized light;
A second optical modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to produce second modulated polarized light
contains;
wherein the first modulated polarized light forms a first light output of the light source and the second modulated polarized light forms a second light output of the light source. 36. The light source of claim 35, wherein the light source comprises an optical retardation element configured to retard the second modulated polarized light before polarization-combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light. person, device. 36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the light source comprises a signal generator configured to generate electrical signals for driving the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator;
the first laser, the first optical modulator, and the signal generator are configured to generate the first modulated polarized light as a first optical pulse train;
wherein the second laser, the second optical modulator, and the signal generator are configured to generate the second modulated polarized light as a second optical pulse train. 36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the light source comprises a signal generator configured to generate electrical signals for driving the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator;
The first laser, the first optical modulator, the second optical modulator, and the signal generator disperse the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light into a dispersion pre-distorted optical signal. An apparatus configured to generate as optical signals. 36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the first optical modulator and the second optical modulator are configured to modulate time stamps with the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source,
a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;
a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength;
a second polarization combiner configured to polarization-combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to produce a first combined light;
an optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to produce 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 a first light output of the light source and the second portion forms a second light output of the light source. -
A device comprising a. 41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the light source comprises an optical retardation element configured to delay the second portion before the second portion is polarization-coupled with the first portion by the polarization coupler. An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate, comprising:
including an optical power supply, wherein the optical power supply comprises:
a light source and an electronic controller coupled to the light source to cause the light source to produce a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency - the first light output and each of said second light output is in a steady state for a time interval significantly longer than 1/symbol rate;
A polarization coupler connected to receive a first light output and a second light output of the light source at different respective input ports, wherein at the output port, a first mutually orthogonal polarization component and a second mutually orthogonal polarization component are coupled to the first and second mutually orthogonal polarization components. configured to generate an optical output signal carrying the first light output and the second light output, respectively; and
A polarization-diversity in-phase/quadrature phase modulator configured to generate two tones of a first polarization and two tones of a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization
An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate comprising: 43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein a frequency spacing between two tones of the first polarization and a frequency spacing between two tones of the second polarization are equal to each other. 44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein a frequency spacing between a tone of the first polarization and a tone of the second polarization is an integer multiple of a frequency spacing between two tones of the first polarization. An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate, comprising:
optical power supply
Including, the optical power supply,
laser;
an electronic controller electrically coupled to the laser and configured to cause the laser to produce a first polarized light output having a first optical frequency;
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;
a frequency shifter configured to frequency-shift the second portion to produce a frequency-shifted second portion having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency; the first portion and the frequency-shifted second portion; Each is steady-state for time intervals significantly longer than the 1/symbol rate;
A polarization combiner configured to receive the first portion and the frequency-shifted second portion, wherein the polarization combiner carries light of the first portion and the frequency-shifted second portion, respectively, at an output port of the polarization combiner. configured to generate an optical output signal comprising a first mutually orthogonal polarization component and a second mutually orthogonal polarization component that
An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate comprising: An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate, comprising:
optical power supply
Including, the optical power supply,
a laser configured to generate a first light;
a modulator configured to split 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 splitter configured to frequency-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; Each of the first part and the second part is in a steady state for a time interval significantly longer than the 1/symbol rate;
a polarization combiner configured to receive the first portion and the second portion, wherein the polarization combiner comprises, at an output port of the polarization combiner, a first mutually orthogonal polarization component carrying light of the first portion and the second portion, respectively; and configured to generate an optical output signal comprising a second mutually orthogonal polarization component;
An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate comprising: An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate, comprising:
optical power supply
Including, the optical power supply,
a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;
a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength;
a first optical modulator configured to modulate the first polarized light to produce first modulated polarized light;
a second optical modulator configured to modulate the second polarized light to produce second modulated polarized light, wherein the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light each have a time interval significantly greater than 1/symbol rate; - Normal state during ; and
A polarization combiner configured to receive the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light, wherein the polarization combiner outputs the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light at an output port of the polarization combiner. configured to generate an optical output signal comprising a first mutually orthogonal polarization component and a second mutually orthogonal polarization component each conveying;
An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate comprising: 48. The optical power supply of claim 47, wherein the optical power supply comprises an optical retardation element configured to delay the second modulated polarized light before polarization-combining the second modulated polarized light with the first modulated polarized light. device that does. An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate, comprising:
optical power supply
Including, the optical power supply,
a first laser configured to emit a first polarized light of a first wavelength;
a second laser configured to emit a second polarized light of a second wavelength;
a first polarization combiner configured to polarization-combine the first polarized light and the second polarized light to produce a first combined light;
an optical modulator configured to modulate the first combined light to produce modulated combined light;
a splitter for splitting the modulated combined light into a first part and a second part, each of the first modulated polarized light and the second modulated polarized light being steady-state for a time interval significantly longer than the 1/symbol rate; and
a polarization combiner configured to receive the first portion and the second portion, wherein the polarization combiner comprises, at an output port of the polarization combiner, a first mutually orthogonal polarization component carrying light of the first portion and the second portion, respectively; and configured to generate an optical output signal comprising a second mutually orthogonal polarization component;
An apparatus for communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate comprising: 50. The optical power supply of claim 49, wherein the optical power supply includes an optical delay element configured to delay the second portion before polarization-combining the second portion with the first portion by the polarization coupler. Device. A method of communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate, comprising:
generating a first optical output having a first optical frequency;
generating a second optical output having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, wherein each of the first and second optical outputs is steady-state for a time interval significantly longer than 1/symbol rate; ;
optics comprising a first mutually orthogonal polarization component and a second mutually orthogonal polarization component that polarization-couple the first and second optical outputs and carry light of the first and second optical outputs, respectively. generating an output signal; and
propagating the optical output signal through an optical fiber comprising one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber to a transmission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate the optical output signal;
A method of communicating optical signals modulated at a symbol rate comprising: 52. The method of claim 51 comprising configuring the first light output and the second light output to be time/frequency orthogonal to each other. 52. The method of claim 51, wherein generating the first optical output comprises generating a first continuous wave optical field at the first optical frequency, and generating the second optical output comprises generating a first continuous wave optical field at the second optical frequency. generating a second continuous wave optical field of 52. The method of claim 51, wherein the difference between the first optical frequency and the second optical frequency is approximately an integer multiple of the symbol rate. 52. The method of claim 51 wherein generating the first optical output comprises generating a first optical pulse train having a first period;
wherein generating the second optical output comprises generating a second optical pulse train having a second period. 56. The method of claim 55, comprising temporally aligning centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train with centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train. 56. The method of claim 55, comprising temporally offsetting centers of pulses of the first optical pulse train by a non-zero time shift from centers of corresponding pulses of the second optical pulse train. 56. The method of claim 55, wherein generating the first optical pulse train comprises generating a first optical pulse train having a spectrum comprising two first optical frequency tones;
Wherein generating the second optical pulse train comprises generating a second optical pulse train having a spectrum comprising two second optical frequency tones different from the two first optical frequency tones. . 52. The method of claim 51 comprising imprinting first control information on the first light output and imprinting second control information on the second light output. 52. The method of claim 51 comprising using a polarization-diversity in-phase/quadrature-phase modulator to generate two tones of a first polarization and two tones of a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization. method. 61. The method of claim 60, wherein a frequency spacing between two tones of the first polarization and a frequency spacing between two tones of 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 a frequency spacing between two tones of the first polarization. 62. The method of claim 61 further comprising: dividing the optical output signal into a first portion and a second portion;
generating a first modulated optical signal by modulating the first portion with first data; and
generating a second modulated optical signal by modulating the second portion with second data;
Including, method. in the system,
optical power supply
Including, the optical power supply,
a first light source and an electronic controller coupled to the light source to cause the light source to produce a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency; Each of the 1 light output and the second light output is in a steady state for a time interval considerably longer than 1/symbol rate; and
a first polarization coupler connected to receive a first light output and a second light output of the light source at different respective input ports, wherein at the output port, a first mutually orthogonal polarization component and a second mutually orthogonal polarization component configured to generate a first optical output signal carrying light of the first light output and the second light output, respectively;
A system that includes a. 65. The method of claim 64 comprising a first data processing device, the first data processing device comprising:
a first housing;
a first data processor disposed in the first housing; and
A first co-packaged optical module configured to convert output electrical signals from the first data processor into output optical signals provided to a first fiber optic cable optically coupled to the first data processing device. optical module)
contains;
wherein the optical power supply is configured to provide the first optical output signal to the first co-packaged optical module through a first optical link. 66. The method of claim 65, wherein the optical power supply comprises:
a second light source configured to produce a first light output having a first optical frequency and a second light output having a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, each of the first light output and the second light output comprising: Steady state for time intervals significantly longer than 1/symbol rate; and
a second polarization coupler connected to receive the first light output and the second light output of the second light source at different respective input ports, the second polarization combiner having at the output port a first mutually orthogonal polarization component and a second polarization coupler; mutually orthogonal polarization components configured to generate a second optical output signal carrying light of the first light output and the second light output, respectively;
contains;
The system includes a second data processing device, the second data processing device comprising:
a second housing;
a second data processor disposed in the second housing; and
a second co-packaged optical module configured to convert output electrical signals from the second data processor into output optical signals provided to a second fiber optic cable optically coupled to the second data processing device - the first The fiber optic cable and the second fiber optic cable are the same cable or different cables -
includes;
wherein the optical power supply is configured to provide the second optical output signal to the second co-packaged optical module through a second optical link. 67. The optical module of claim 65 or 66, wherein the first co-packaged optical module comprises a transmission module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate a first optical output signal from an output port of the polarization coupler; ;
The first optical link comprises one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber, the first optical link is optically coupled between an output port of the polarization coupler and the transmission module, the first optical link comprising the first optical link. 1 configured to transmit an optical output signal from an output port of the polarization coupler to the transmission module. 68. The method of any one of claims 65 to 67, wherein the system comprises a distributed data processing system, the first data processing device comprising a data server, the data server on which the first data processor is mounted. a circuit board, wherein the circuit board is positioned relative to the housing such that a first major surface of the circuit board is angled relative to a bottom panel of the housing and the angle is in a range of 45° to 90°. , system. 69. The system of claim 68, wherein the circuit board is positioned parallel to a front panel. 70. The method of claim 68 or 69, wherein the first data processor is a network switch, a central processor unit, a graphics processor unit, a tensor processing unit, a neural network processor, an artificial intelligence accelerator accelerator), a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). 71. The method of any one of claims 65 to 70, wherein the first co-packaged optical module is connected to a first photonic integrated circuit, a second optical connector portion attached to the first fiber optic cable. a first optical connector portion configured to be removably coupled, and an optical power supply connector coupled to the first optical link for receiving supply light from the optical power supply. 72. The apparatus of claim 71 , wherein the first optical output signal is modulated with synchronization information, and the first co-packaged optical module is configured to split the supply light and extract the synchronization information with a first portion of the supply light. A system comprising an optical splitter providing a receiver. 72. The apparatus of claim 71 , wherein the first co-packaged optical module converts output electrical signals from the first data processor to split the supply light and use a first portion of the supply light to generate modulated light. and an optical splitter providing a first portion of supply light to an optoelectronic modulator configured to modulate, wherein the modulated light is output through the first fiber optic cable. 74. The optical module of any one of claims 68-73, wherein the first co-packaged optical module comprises spring-loaded elements, compression interposers, or a land-grid. and electrically coupled to the first circuit board using electrical contacts comprising at least one of a land-grid array. 76. The method of any one of claims 64 to 75,
a transmit module comprising at least one optical modulator configured to modulate an optical output signal from an output port of the polarization coupler; and
an optical fiber comprising one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fibers, the optical fiber being optically coupled between an output port of the polarization coupler and the transmission module, the optical fiber transmitting the optical output signal from the output port of the polarization coupler to the transmission module. Configured to send to send module -
Including, system. 76. The optical cable assembly of any one of claims 65 to 75 comprising the first optical link.
Including, the optical cable assembly,
a first fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port, and a receiver fiber port; and
A second fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port
contains;
the optical power supply fiber port of the first optical fiber connector is optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the second optical fiber connector;
the first fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the first co-packaged optical module;
wherein the second fiber optic connector is configured to be optically coupled to the optical power supply for receiving the first optical output signal from the output port. 77. The optical cable assembly of claim 76, wherein the optical cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the first optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. system. 76. The optical cable assembly of any one of claims 66 to 75, comprising the first optical link and the second optical link.
Including, the optical cable assembly,
a first fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port, and a receiver fiber port;
a second fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port, and a receiver fiber port;
a third optical fiber connector comprising a first optical power supply fiber port and a second optical power supply fiber port;
includes;
The optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector is optically coupled to the first optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector, and the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector is coupled to the first optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector. 2 optical power supply optically coupled to the fiber port;
the first optical fiber connector is configured to be optically coupled to the first co-packaged optical module, the second optical fiber connector is configured to be optically coupled to the second co-packaged optical module, and the third optical fiber is configured to wherein the connector is configured to be optically coupled to the optical power supply. 79. The optical cable assembly of claim 78, wherein the optical cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the first optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector. system. 80. The optical cable assembly of claim 79, wherein the optical cable assembly includes a second optical fiber optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector and the second optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector. system. 81. The system of claim 80, wherein the optical 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 optical 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 optical cable assembly of claim 82, wherein the optical cable assembly comprises an optical fiber guide module comprising a first port, a second port, and a third port;
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, and the third optical fiber extends through the first port and the third port. 2 port, wherein the fourth optical fiber extends through the first port and the second port. 84. The system of claim 83, wherein the first, third and fourth optical fibers extend from the first port of the fiber guide module to the first fiber optic connector. 85. The system of claim 84, wherein the second, third and fourth optical fibers extend from the second port of the fiber guide module to the second fiber optic connector. 86. The system of claim 85, wherein the first and second optical fibers extend from a third port of the fiber guide module to the third fiber optic connector. 87. The method according to any one of claims 83 to 86, wherein the optical fiber guide module is configured in advance to prevent excessive loss of optical light or damage to the optical fiber due to bending of each optical fiber in the optical fiber guide module. And configured to limit the bending of the optical fibers passing through the optical fiber guide module to have a bending radius greater than a predetermined value. 79. The apparatus of claim 78, wherein the first co-packaged optical module is optically coupled to a first fiber optic connector and receives the power supply light from the first light source through an optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. A system comprising a first photonic integrated circuit configured to: 89. The apparatus of claim 88, wherein the first photonic integrated circuit modulates the power supply light to generate a first modulated optical signal and transmits the first modulated optical signal to a transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. What is configured, the system. 90. The apparatus of claim 89, wherein the second co-packaged optical module is optically coupled to the second fiber optic connector and transmits the power supply light from the second light source through an optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. and a second photonic integrated circuit configured to receive. 91. The apparatus of claim 90, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit modulates the power supply light to generate a second modulated optical signal and transmits the second modulated optical signal to a transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. system configured to do so. 92. The method of claim 91, wherein the first photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive the second modulated optical signal transmitted from the second photonic integrated circuit through a receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. , system. 93. The apparatus of claim 92, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive the first modulated optical signal transmitted from the first photonic integrated circuit through a receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. , system. 94. The method of any one of claims 78-93, wherein the optical power supply is optically coupled to the third fiber optic connector and transmits a first sequence of optical frame templates to the first optical power supply fiber port. and provide a second sequence of optical frame templates to the second optical power supply fiber port. 95. The optical module of claim 94, wherein the first co-packaged optical module is optically coupled to the first fiber optic connector and transmits one of the optical frame templates from the optical power supply via an optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. and a first photonic integrated circuit configured to receive a first sequence. 96. The method of claim 95, wherein the first photonic integrated circuit modulates the first sequence of optical frame templates to generate a first sequence of loaded optical frames, and converts the first sequence of loaded optical frames to the first sequence. and configured to transmit to a transmitter fiber port of a fiber optic connector. 97. The optical fiber optic module of claim 96, wherein the second co-packaged optical module is optically coupled to the second fiber optic connector and transfers one of the optical frame templates from the optical power supply via an optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. and a second photonic integrated circuit configured to receive the second sequence. 98. The method of claim 97, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit modulates the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate a second sequence of loaded optical frames, and converts the second sequence of loaded optical frames to the second sequence. and configured to transmit to a transmitter fiber port of a fiber optic connector. 99. The apparatus of claim 98, wherein the first photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive the second sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted from the second photonic integrated circuit through a receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. that is, the system. 100. The apparatus of claim 99, wherein the second photonic integrated circuit is configured to receive the first sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted from the first photonic integrated circuit through a receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. that is, the system. in the system,
A first data processing device 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 being optically coupled to receive an optical input signal having a first polarization component and a second polarization component, One polarization component carries light of a first optical frequency, the second polarization component transports light of a second optical frequency different from the first optical frequency, and the first polarization component and the second polarization component Mutually orthogonal and jointly undergoing 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 to the optical output port. directed from an optical input port to the second optical output port, the first fixed polarization and the second fixed polarization are orthogonal to each other, and the polarization state change is directed to the first optical output port and the second optical output port. causing the respective spectral configurations of the directed lights to change during the time interval; and
a first optical modulator coupled to the first optical output port and configured to modulate light of the first fixed polarization received from the first optical output port in response to a first data signal. processing device; and
a first optical link optically connected between the optical input port and an optical power supply providing the optical input signal;
Including, system. 102. The apparatus of claim 101, wherein the first data processing device includes a first housing, the first optical transmitter is disposed within the first housing;
The system,
a second data processing device comprising a second housing and a second optical transmitter disposed in the second housing; and
a second optical link optically coupled between the second optical transmitter and the optical power supply;
A system that includes a. 103. The method of claim 101 or 102, wherein the first optical link comprises one or more sections of non-polarization-maintaining fiber, the first optical link optically coupling between the output port of the polarization combiner and the transmission module. and wherein the first optical link is configured to transmit the first optical output signal from an output port of the polarization combiner to the transmission module. 104. The method of claim 102 or claim 103, wherein the first data processing device includes a circuit board mounted with a first photonic integrated circuit, the first optical transmitter is part of the first photonic integrated circuit, and wherein the wherein the circuit board is positioned relative to the housing such that a first major surface of the circuit board is angled relative to a bottom panel 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 the front panel of the housing. 106. The method 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, the first data processor being a network switch, a central processor unit , a graphics processor 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 optical cable assembly of any one of claims 101 to 106 comprising the first optical link, the optical cable assembly comprising:
a first fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port, and a receiver fiber port; and
A second fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port
contains;
the optical power supply fiber port of the first optical fiber connector is optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the second optical fiber connector;
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 be optically coupled to the optical power supply. 108. The system of claim 107, wherein the optical cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to an optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and an optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. 107. The optical cable assembly of any one of claims 102 to 106 comprising the first optical link and the second optical link, the optical cable assembly comprising:
a first fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port, and a receiver fiber port;
a second fiber optic connector comprising an optical power supply fiber port, a transmitter fiber port, and a receiver fiber port;
a third optical fiber connector comprising a first optical power supply fiber port and a second optical power supply fiber port;
contains;
The optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector is optically coupled to the first optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector, and the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector is coupled to the first optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector. 2 optical power supply optically coupled to the fiber port;
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 power supply. which is configured to be optically coupled to the system. 110. The optical cable assembly of claim 109, wherein the optical cable assembly includes a first optical fiber optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector and the first optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector. system. 111. The optical cable assembly of claim 110, wherein the optical cable assembly includes a second optical fiber optically coupled to the optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector and the second optical power supply fiber port of the third fiber optic connector. system. 112. The system of claim 111, wherein the optical 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. 113. The system of claim 112, wherein the optical 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 optical cable assembly of claim 113, wherein the optical cable assembly comprises an optical fiber guide module comprising a first port, a second port, and a third port;
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, and the third optical fiber extends through the first port and the third port. 2 port, wherein the fourth optical fiber extends through the first port and the second port. 115. The system of claim 114, wherein the first, third and fourth optical fibers extend from the first port of the fiber guide module to the first fiber optic connector. 116. The system of claim 115, wherein the second, third and fourth optical fibers extend from the second port of the fiber guide module to the second fiber optic connector. 117. The system of claim 116, wherein the first and second optical fibers extend from a third port of the fiber guide module to the third fiber optic connector. 118. The method of any one of claims 114 to 117, wherein the optical fiber guide module is configured such that each optical fiber in the optical fiber guide module exceeds a predetermined value to prevent excessive loss of optical light due to bending or damage to the optical fiber. and limiting the bending of the optical fibers passing through the optical fiber guide module to have a large bending radius. 110. The method of claim 109, wherein the first optical transmitter receives power supply light from the optical power supply through an optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector, and the first fixed polarization is responsive to the first data signal. modulate light in the optical fiber to generate a first modulated optical signal, and transmit the first modulated optical signal to a transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. 120. The method of claim 119, wherein the second optical transmitter receives power supply light from the optical power supply through an optical power supply fiber port of the second optical fiber connector, modulates the power supply light, and modulates the second modulated optical signal. and transmit the second modulated optical signal to a transmitter fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. 121. The method of any one of claims 109-120, comprising the optical power supply, the optical power supply being optically coupled to the third fiber optic connector and the first optical power supply fiber port having a plurality of optical frame templates. and provide a second sequence of optical frame templates to the first sequence and the second optical power supply fiber port. 122. The system of claim 121, wherein the first optical transmitter is configured to receive the first sequence of optical frame templates from the optical power supply through an optical power supply fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. 123. The apparatus of claim 122, wherein the first optical transmitter modulates the first sequence of optical frame templates in response to the first data signal to generate a first sequence of loaded optical frames, 1 sequence to a transmitter fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. 124. The system of claim 123, wherein the second optical transmitter is configured to receive the second sequence of optical frame templates from the optical power supply through an optical power supply fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. 125. The optical fiber connector of claim 124, wherein the second optical transmitter modulates the second sequence of optical frame templates to generate a second sequence of loaded optical frames, and converts the second sequence of loaded optical frames to the second fiber optic connector. Wherein the system is configured to transmit to the transmitter fiber port of the system. 126. The apparatus of claim 125, wherein the first data processing device is configured to receive the second sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted from the second photonic integrated circuit through a receiver fiber port of the first fiber optic connector. person, system. 127. The apparatus of claim 126, wherein the second data processing device is configured to receive the first sequence of loaded optical frames transmitted from the first photonic integrated circuit through a receiver fiber port of the second fiber optic connector. person, system.

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