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Changing phases of fiber optic communication

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Abstract

Optical communication systems have evolved over the years from simple intensity modulation and direct detection systems to those involving modulation of amplitude, phase, polarization and transverse modal profile. This article provides a brief tutorial review of the different modulation schemes used in the state-of-the-art optical communication systems and the futuristic trends in this direction to improve the data rates and spectral efficiency. The additional challenges with the advanced modulation schemes are discussed and some experimental results related to the demonstration of high-speed communication with such advanced modulation schemes are presented.

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Acknowledgements

I place my sincere acknowledgements to my students who have carried out several parts of this work – Sidharth Varughese Jacob, Vinod Bajaj, Lakshmi Narayanan Venkatasubramani and Smaranika Swain and my collaborators Profs David Koilpillai, Srikrishna Bhashyam and Liam Barry.

Funding

We sincerely acknowledge our funding agencies- Office of Principal Scientific Advisor Govt. of India, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Vajra Scheme of Govt. of India, Visweswaraya PhD Fellowship, Ministry of Human Resources Development and Sterlite Technologies Limited.

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Correspondence to Deepa Venkitesh.

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Venkitesh, D. Changing phases of fiber optic communication. J Opt 51, 782–793 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-021-00781-0

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