Performance analysis of RF-pilot phase noise compensation techniques in coherent optical OFDM systems

In coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) systems, phase noise has an important impact on the system performance. They are highly sensitive to phase noise induced by transmitter laser and local oscillator laser. We explain different kinds of phase noise effects on the OFDM signals and analyze the phase noise effect induced by transmitter laser and local oscillator. We analyze the standard RF-pilot (RFP) phase noise compensation method and explain its drawbacks. We provide two extended RFP schemes that overcome the drawbacks of the standard RFP scheme and enhance the performance of CO-OFDM systems. Furthermore, the phase noise effects for various laser linewidths and the effect of the received optical power (ROP) on the system performance are quantified. A CO-OFDM transmission system with 16-QAM is simulated with VPItransmissionMaker™ V8.5.