A Two-Level Jitter Compensation Algorithm for Optical Communication Based on PPM and SPD

Pulse position modulation (PPM) combined with single-photon detectors (SPDs) is the predominant approach in deep-space optical communications. However, the performance of PPM-SPD systems is significantly degraded by detector jitter and synchronization error. This work investigates the impact of detector jitter and synchronization errors, and proposes a novel algorithm that jointly compensates for both impairments. The proposed algorithm achieves a gain of 0.43 dB over the uncompensated case, assuming a detector jitter standard deviation of 0.2 slot width and a bit-error rate (BER) of 10⁻⁶. It outperforms the finite-bin Poisson approximation method by 0.23 dB.