Performance analysis of OTDM system in the presence of FEC using symmetric Mach–Zehnder switch

Optical time division multiplexing is an emerging and promising alternative for future high-speed photonic networks because of its ability to accommodate higher bit rate and flexible bandwidth. SMZ have been found to be the most suitable switching element than all the available de-multiplexing switches because of compact size, thermal stability, and low-power operation. In this paper, we simulate four channel OTDM systems (all-channel multiplexer and de-multiplexer) with a Mach–Zehnder modulator and an SMZ de-multiplexer to investigate the impact of FEC on the OTDM system. It is observed that the presence of FEC in OTDM transmission can greatly improve the system performance.