Reconfigurable WDM-OFDM-PON employing wavelength selective switching with SSB and direct detection optical OFDM

A reconfigurable WDM-OFDM-PON employing a WSS as a remote node is proposed. The system, which employs an optical comb source at the transmitter, is shown to support both spectrally efficient SSB-OFDM and high bit rate DDO-OFDM. Transmission over 30 km of SSMF is performed and we show that DDO-OFDM with a virtual carrier offers three times the data rate for similar receiver sensitivities and the same DAC. A raw data rate of 31.25 Gb/s/λ is achieved in the case where DDO-OFDM is employed.