Experimental Analysis of a Self-Coherent M-QAM Receiver by Means of Recurrent Optical Spectrum Slicing and Direct Detection

High order modulation formats constitute the most prominent way for increasing spectral efficiency in transmission systems. Coherent transceivers that support such higher order formats require heavy digital signal processing (DSP), which increases the power consumption of coherent pluggables, well above the intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) counterparts. Self-coherent or phase retrieval methods have emerged as potential solutions, trying to combine the merits of coherent technology with the simplicity of direct detection. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate the reception of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation formats based on direct detection aided by the recurrent optical spectrum slicing (ROSS) photonic accelerator, utilizing minimal DSP and low modulator driving voltages. We experimentally demonstrate 32 Gbaud QAM-4/16 for 25 km, 50 km and 75 km in the C-band aided by a linear digital equalization and the use of programmable photonics as recurrent optical spectrum slicers. We showcase successful detection with driving swings below V{\pi}/3 in contrast to the full swing required by conventional coherent transceivers. We further improve the system performance utilizing geometric constellation shaping. Finally, we explore the potential power consumption improvement for the next-generation 1.6T pluggables, showcasing over 40% reduction with respect to the most lightweight state of the art coherent solutions reported in literature