Xi Chen

Bio: Xi Chen is an academic researcher from Bell Labs. The author has contributed to research in topics: Quadrature amplitude modulation & Transmission (telecommunications). The author has an hindex of 32, co-authored 175 publications receiving 3793 citations. Previous affiliations of Xi Chen include Alcatel-Lucent & Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators operating at CMOS-compatible voltages

Abstract: Electro-optic modulators translate high-speed electronic signals into the optical domain and are critical components in modern telecommunication networks1,2 and microwave-photonic systems3,4. They are also expected to be building blocks for emerging applications such as quantum photonics5,6 and non-reciprocal optics7,8. All of these applications require chip-scale electro-optic modulators that operate at voltages compatible with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology, have ultra-high electro-optic bandwidths and feature very low optical losses. Integrated modulator platforms based on materials such as silicon, indium phosphide or polymers have not yet been able to meet these requirements simultaneously because of the intrinsic limitations of the materials used. On the other hand, lithium niobate electro-optic modulators, the workhorse of the optoelectronic industry for decades9, have been challenging to integrate on-chip because of difficulties in microstructuring lithium niobate. The current generation of lithium niobate modulators are bulky, expensive, limited in bandwidth and require high drive voltages, and thus are unable to reach the full potential of the material. Here we overcome these limitations and demonstrate monolithically integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators that feature a CMOS-compatible drive voltage, support data rates up to 210 gigabits per second and show an on-chip optical loss of less than 0.5 decibels. We achieve this by engineering the microwave and photonic circuits to achieve high electro-optical efficiencies, ultra-low optical losses and group-velocity matching simultaneously. Our scalable modulator devices could provide cost-effective, low-power and ultra-high-speed solutions for next-generation optical communication networks and microwave photonic systems. Furthermore, our approach could lead to large-scale ultra-low-loss photonic circuits that are reconfigurable on a picosecond timescale, enabling a wide range of quantum and classical applications5,10,11 including feed-forward photonic quantum computation. Chip-scale lithium niobate electro-optic modulators that rapidly convert electrical to optical signals and use CMOS-compatible voltages could prove useful in optical communication networks, microwave photonic systems and photonic computation.

Closed-form expressions for nonlinear transmission performance of densely spaced coherent optical OFDM systems.

Abstract: There has been a trend of migration to high spectral efficiency transmission in optical fiber communications for which the frequency guard band between neighboring wavelength channels continues to shrink. In this paper, we derive closed-form analytical expressions for nonlinear system performance of densely spaced coherent optical OFDM (CO-OFDM) systems. The closed-form solutions include the results for the achievable Q factor, optimum launch power density, nonlinear threshold of launch power density, and information spectral efficiency limit. These analytical results clearly identify their dependence on system parameters including fiber dispersion, number of spans, dispersion compensation ratio, and overall bandwidth. The closed-form solution is further substantiated by numerical simulations using distributed nonlinear Schrodinger equation.

Dual-LP 11 mode 4x4 MIMO-OFDM transmission over a two-mode fiber

Abstract: We report successful transmission of dual-LP11 mode (LP11a and LP11b), dual-polarization coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) signals over two-mode fibers (TMF) using all-fiber mode converters. Mode converters based on mechanically induced long-period grating with better than 20 dB extinction ratios are realized and used for interfacing single-mode fiber transmitters and receivers to the TMF. We demonstrate that by using 4x4 MIMO-OFDM processing, the random coupling of the two LP11 spatial modes can be successfully tracked and equalized with a one-tap frequency-domain equalizer. We achieve successful transmission of a 35.3-Gb/s CO-OFDM signal over 26-km two-mode fiber with less than 3 dB penalty.

Kramers–Kronig Receivers for 100-km Datacenter Interconnects

Abstract: In this paper, we review in detail experimental demonstrations of Kramers–Kronig (KK) based direct detection systems with high per-carrier interface rates, high spectral efficiencies, and ∼100-km reach Two realizations of KK-based receivers are summarized, including single-polarization and dual-polarization versions Critical aspects of the KK receiver such as the carrier-to-signal power ratio and receiver bandwidth limitations are discussed We show 220-Gb/s single-diode detection and 4 × 240-Gb/s dual polarization (dual-diode) detection in a WDM system at 53 bits/s/Hz spectral efficiency

Reception of mode and polarization multiplexed 107-Gb/s CO-OFDM signal over a two-mode fiber

Abstract: We demonstrate a method of LP 01 /LP 11 dual-mode and dual-polarization coherent OFDM detection at 107 Gb/s. Successful reception is achieved over a 4.5-km two-mode fiber with a grating-based mode converter as a mode-selective element.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Terabit free-space data transmission employing orbital angular momentum multiplexing

Abstract: Researchers demonstrate the ability to multiplex and transfer data between twisted beams of light with different amounts of orbital angular momentum — a development that provides new opportunities for increasing the data capacity of free-space optical communications links.

Space-division multiplexing in optical fibres

Abstract: This Review summarizes the simultaneous transmission of several independent spatial channels of light along optical fibres to expand the data-carrying capacity of optical communications. Recent results achieved in both multicore and multimode optical fibres are documented.

Integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators operating at CMOS-compatible voltages

Abstract: Electro-optic modulators translate high-speed electronic signals into the optical domain and are critical components in modern telecommunication networks1,2 and microwave-photonic systems3,4. They are also expected to be building blocks for emerging applications such as quantum photonics5,6 and non-reciprocal optics7,8. All of these applications require chip-scale electro-optic modulators that operate at voltages compatible with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology, have ultra-high electro-optic bandwidths and feature very low optical losses. Integrated modulator platforms based on materials such as silicon, indium phosphide or polymers have not yet been able to meet these requirements simultaneously because of the intrinsic limitations of the materials used. On the other hand, lithium niobate electro-optic modulators, the workhorse of the optoelectronic industry for decades9, have been challenging to integrate on-chip because of difficulties in microstructuring lithium niobate. The current generation of lithium niobate modulators are bulky, expensive, limited in bandwidth and require high drive voltages, and thus are unable to reach the full potential of the material. Here we overcome these limitations and demonstrate monolithically integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators that feature a CMOS-compatible drive voltage, support data rates up to 210 gigabits per second and show an on-chip optical loss of less than 0.5 decibels. We achieve this by engineering the microwave and photonic circuits to achieve high electro-optical efficiencies, ultra-low optical losses and group-velocity matching simultaneously. Our scalable modulator devices could provide cost-effective, low-power and ultra-high-speed solutions for next-generation optical communication networks and microwave photonic systems. Furthermore, our approach could lead to large-scale ultra-low-loss photonic circuits that are reconfigurable on a picosecond timescale, enabling a wide range of quantum and classical applications5,10,11 including feed-forward photonic quantum computation. Chip-scale lithium niobate electro-optic modulators that rapidly convert electrical to optical signals and use CMOS-compatible voltages could prove useful in optical communication networks, microwave photonic systems and photonic computation.

Mode-Division Multiplexing Over 96 km of Few-Mode Fiber Using Coherent 6 $\,\times\,$ 6 MIMO Processing

Abstract: We report simultaneous transmission of six spatial and polarization modes, each carrying 40 Gb/s quadrature-phase-shift-keyed channels over 96 km of a low-differential group delay few-mode fiber. The channels are successfully recovered by offline DSP based on coherent detection and multiple-input multiple-output processing. A penalty of ;28 dB.