Wide dynamic range 10-Gb/s DPSK packet receiver using optical-limiting amplifiers

We demonstrate a method to extend the dynamic range (DR) of 10-Gb/s differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) receivers in presence of burst-mode data. We achieve a DR of 25 dB by operating linear optical amplifiers in saturation and benefiting from fast optical-limiting amplification. A fixed decision threshold as enabled by DPSK receivers with balanced detection eliminates the need for guard times and removes inherent sensitivity penalty associated with the adaptive threshold as in conventional on-off keying receivers.