Scheme for a WDM-PON with colorless optical network units based on a flat optical frequency comb.

A new, to the best of our knowledge, scheme for a wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) based on a flat optical frequency comb (OFC) is proposed. Using an OFC as the optical source of the system can realize the colorlessness of optical network units (ONUs), and the direct detection of the downlink data further simplifies the ONU structure. The coherent demodulation of the uplink data improves the system performance due to the coherence of the comb lines.