Alberto Bilenca

The recently introduced multichip differential phase-shift keying (MC-DPSK) optical transmission format, entailing the modulation of relative phases over a moving transmission window of D successive chip intervals, is analytically and numerically analyzed. The maximum-likelihood optimal MC-DPSK receiver is derived and synthesized using integrated-optic Mach-Zehnder delay interferometers, whose electrical outputs are interpreted as generalized Stokes' parameters. The MC-DPSK performance over a nonlinear fiber channel, limited by the combination of amplified spontaneous emission noise and self-phase modulation, is further derived and simulated, demonstrating that the lowest complexity three-chip binary-phase MC-DPSK receiver provides an ∼1-dB Q-factor advantage over conventional DPSK.