In this Optisystem video, we will be looking at the ideal multiplexer and its properties. We will demonstrate the multiplexer by multiplexing two modulated signals together. We will then observe the output and observe the effects of changing various parameters of the multiplexer.
About The Component
The ideal mux multiplexes a user-defined number of input WDM signal channels. This model is equivalent to an ideal adder since there is no power splitting and filtering. In this example, we will use an electric pulse as our data signal and a CW laser as our carrier signal and will be modulating them together. Using the ideal mux, we will multiplex two modulated signals together and view the signals in the optical spectrum analyzer and the WDM analyzer.
Running our current setup with the ideal mux having its default values, we can check the WDM analyzer and optical spectrum analyzer, and we see that there are 2 channels at different frequencies present as we would expect. Double-clicking on the ideal mux block opens up the properties of the block. Changing the value of loss changes the insertion loss of the multiplexer. A higher value of loss will result in the output signals having lower power. Calculating the project with a loss of 5 dB causes the signal power to decrease, as seen in the WDM analyzer.
Clicking back on the ideal mux, we can also change the number of input ports. Changing it to 3 will add another input port. We can connect that multiplexer port to another modulator so that we will now be multiplexing 3 signals together. We will also make sure to change the frequency of our third CW laser so that it does not interfere with the other CW laser. Now when we calculate the program and check the visualizers, we can see that 3 signals are present.