Terabit Optical Wireless-Fiber Communication With Kramer-Kronig Receiver—Part II

A high speed optical wireless-fiber solution was proposed in part I of this research with applications such as network backhaul and data center links. The proposed system is based on the utilization of state-of-the-art modulation and multiplexing techniques in optical fiber and optical wireless communications, including multicore fibers (MCFs) and coherent detection based on Kramer-Kronig (KK) receivers. In this letter, we analyze the performance of the proposed system and compare it with an intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) system. Superior performance of the KK receiver is shown for various modulation formats and optical amplification schemes. We also consider the eye-safety constraint for the optical power as a practical design factor. It is demonstrated that the position of optical amplifiers affects the multiplexing gain and achievable data rate when eye-safety constraint is imposed. Further important challenges for the practical deployment of the system are discussed.