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Apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed that provide for an agile coherent optical modem that can generate agile RF waveforms and data rates on a generic opto-electronic hardware platform. An “agile coherent optical modem” [ACOM] approach to optical communications by employing

Apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed that provide for an agile coherent optical modem that can generate agile RF waveforms and data rates on a generic opto-electronic hardware platform. An “agile coherent optical modem” [ACOM] approach to optical communications by employing a software configurable and adaptive technologies to the transport system. The ACOM generate agile RF waveforms and data rates on a generic opto-electronic hardware platform. By employing advanced communication techniques to the optical domain such as wavelength agility, waveform agility, and symbol rate agility, it is possible to enable robust optical communications. The ACOM allows for the transport capacity of a communications link to be varied, thereby accommodating variations in transport conditions, range, opacity, etc.

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The invention claimed is: 1. An agile coherent optical system comprising: an agile optical transmitter including a client interface configured to receive electrical signals; a signal processing unit configured to process the electrical signals and produce electrical RF signals as waveforms having b

The invention claimed is: 1. An agile coherent optical system comprising: an agile optical transmitter including a client interface configured to receive electrical signals; a signal processing unit configured to process the electrical signals and produce electrical RF signals as waveforms having both amplitude and phase characteristics; and an optical transport unit receiving the electrical RF signals and including a vector modulator capable of transporting information as optical signals having waveforms and data rates corresponding to the electrical RF signals provided by the signal processing unit, while preserving the amplitude and phase characteristics of the electrical RF signals; and, an agile optical receiver including an optical transport unit including a polarization diversity coherent receiver capable of receiving information as an optical signal having waveforms and data rates from the agile optical transmitter and producing electrical RF signals preserving the amplitude and phase characteristics of the waveform, wherein the polarization diversity coherent receiver includes: a polarization controller having an output; an adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer having an input connected to the output of the polarization controller and having first and second outputs; a first balanced receiver including an input connected to the first output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer; a second balanced receiver including an input connected to the second output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer; a local oscillator having an output; a splitter having an input connected to the output of the local oscillator, having a first output connected to the input of the first balanced receiver, and having a second output connected to the input of the second balanced receiver; a signal processing unit configured to process the electrical RF signals from the optical transport unit and produce electrical signals containing the information carried by the waveforms; and, a client interface configured to receive and transmit the electrical signals from the signal processing unit. 2. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile coherent optical system is at least part of a WDM system. 3. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile coherent optical system is at least part of a free-space optical transport system. 4. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile coherent optical system is at least part of an optical fiber optical transport system. 5. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile coherent optical system operates at data rates of up to 160 gigabits per second. 6. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile coherent optical system operates at data rates of up to 10 gigabits per second. 7. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile coherent optical system is at least a part of an optical transport system including at least one of an optical amplifier, an optical switch, and an optical add-drop multiplexer. 8. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile coherent optical system is at least a part of a hybrid fiber-free-space optical transport system. 9. The agile coherent optical system of claim 8, wherein the optical transport system includes wavelength translation of optical signals being transported from the agile optical transmitter to the agile optical receiver. 10. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein at least part of one of the agile optical transmitter and agile optical receiver is integrated on a common substrate. 11. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein the agile optical receiver is integrated as a transceiver. 12. The agile coherent optical system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the agile optical transmitters are provided in a common module. 13. An agile coherent optical modem comprising: an agile optical transmitter including a client interface configured to receive electrical signals; a signal processing unit configured to process the electrical signals and produce electrical RF signals as waveforms having both amplitude and phase characteristics; and an optical transport unit receiving the electrical RF signals and including a vector modulator capable of transporting information as optical signals having waveforms and data rates corresponding to the electrical RF signals provided by the signal processing unit, while preserving the amplitude and phase characteristics of the electrical RF signals; and, an agile optical receiver including an optical transport unit including a polarization diversity coherent receiver capable of receiving information as an optical signal having waveforms and data rates from the agile optical transmitter and producing electrical RF signals preserving the amplitude and phase characteristics of the waveform, wherein the polarization diversity coherent receiver includes: a polarization controller having an output; an adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer having an input connected to the output of the polarization controller and having first and second outputs; a first balanced receiver including an input connected to the first output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer; a second balanced receiver including an input connected to the second output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer; a local oscillator having an output; a splitter having an input connected to the output of the local oscillator, having a first output connected to the input of the first balanced receiver, and having a second output connected to the input of the second balanced receiver; a signal processing unit configured to process the electrical RF signals from the optical transport unit and produce electrical signals containing the information carried by the waveforms; and, a client interface configured to receive and transmit the electrical signals from the signal processing unit wherein the agile optical transmitter and agile optical receiver communicate via at least one microprocessor. 14. The agile coherent optical modem of claim 13, wherein the optical transport unit in the agile coherent optical transmitter includes a vector modulator. 15. The agile coherent optical modem of claim 13, wherein the optical transport unit in the agile coherent optical receiver includes a receiver capable of both direct and coherent detection. 16. The agile coherent optical modem of claim 13, wherein the optical transport unit in the agile coherent optical transmitter includes a tunable laser. 17. The agile coherent optical modem of claim 13, wherein at least one of the signal processing units is software reconfigurable in service. 18. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical transport unit in the agile optical transmitter includes a tunable laser. 19. The system of claim 1, wherein the polarization diversity coherent receiver in the optical transport unit of the agile optical receiver includes a local oscillator. 20. The system of claim 1, wherein: the polarization controller has an input for receiving the optical signal having waveforms and data rates from the agile optical transmitter; and the local oscillator is phase locked to the signal at the input of the polarization controller. 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the local oscillator receives a locking error signal from the signal processing unit of the agile optical receiver. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein: the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer can be in a first state so that a signal received at the input of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is passed to both the first and second outputs of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer; and the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer can be in a second state so that a signal received at the input of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is passed to only the first output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer. 23. The system of claim 22, wherein: when the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is in the first state, the splitter connected to the local oscillator passes a signal from the local oscillator to both the first and second outputs of the splitter; and when the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is in the second state, the splitter connected to the local oscillator passes a signal from the local oscillator to only the first output of the splitter. 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer includes a second input, and when the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is in the second state, a signal received at the second input of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is passed to only the second output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer. 25. The system of claim 20, further comprising: a polarization-beam splitter having an input connected to the output of the polarization controller, having a first output connected to the input of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and having a second output connected to an orthogonal polarization receiver. 26. The system of claim 13, wherein: the polarization controller has an input for receiving the optical signal having waveforms and data rates from the agile optical transmitter; and the local oscillator is phase locked to the signal at the input of the polarization controller. 27. The system of claim 26, wherein the local oscillator receives a locking error signal from the signal processing unit of the agile optical receiver. 28. The system of claim 27, wherein: the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer can be in a first state so that a signal received at the input of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is passed to both the first and second outputs of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer; and the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer can be in a second state so that a signal received at the input of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is passed to only the first output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer. 29. The system of claim 28, wherein: when the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is in the first state, the splitter connected to the local oscillator passes a signal from the local oscillator to both the first and second outputs of the splitter; and when the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is in the second state, the splitter connected to the local oscillator passes a signal from the local oscillator to only the first output of the splitter. 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer includes a second input, and when the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is in the second state, a signal received at the second input of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is passed to only the second output of the adjustable Mach-Zehnder interferometer. 31. The system of claim 26, further comprising: a polarization-beam splitter having an input connected to the output of the polarization controller, having a first output connected to the input of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and having a second output connected to an orthogonal polarization receiver.