Real-Time Eye Diagram Monitoring for Optical Signals Based on Optical Sampling

A real-time eye diagram monitoring method for optical signals is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on optical sampling. In the system, the optical signals under test are directly sampled by an optical sampling pulse train with a narrow pulse width and a high repetition frequency. The sampling pulse train is achieved in a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), gated on-off by an electrical pulse. The sampled optical signals are then broadened and detected by a photodetector (PD). A low-speed electrical analog-to-digital converter (ADC) will then quantify the detected electrical signals. Combining with an algorithm based on the infinitesimal calculus, the quantified data is then used to achieve the eye diagram, according to which more time-domain parameters, such as period, time jitter, Q value, and bit error rate (BER) for the optical signals under test, are obtained. Thanks to the high repetition rate of the optical sampling pulse train, the eye diagram and the time-domain parameters of the optical signals are observed in real time. Experimental results show that a real time of about 350-μs eye diagram monitoring for a 2.5-Gb/s optical signal with a dynamic range from −10 to −22 dBm is achieved. In addition, time jitters are measured to range from 4.3 to 49.8 ps. Q values are estimated to range from 20.4 to 4.3, corresponding to BERs ranging from 2.3 × 10−92 to 8.5 × 10−6. The results are also verified by a commercial real-time oscilloscope.