Consistent with the present disclosure, an
encoder circuit is provided at a transmit side of an
optical fiber link that maps an input sequence of bits of
fixed length k a sequence of symbols of a codeword of length n, such that the symbols of the codeword define a predetermined transmission probability distribution. Preferably, each symbol of the codeword is generated during a corresponding
clock cycle, such that after n
clock cycles, a complete codeword corresponding to the input bit sequence is output. On a receive end of the link, a decoder is provided that outputs the k-bit sequence every n
clock cycles. Accordingly, buffers need not be provided at the output of the
encoder and the input of the decoder, such that
processing of the input sequence, codewords, and output sequence may be achieved efficiently without large buffers and complicated circuitry. Moreover, the input sequence, with any binary alphabet may be matched to a desired output distribution with any arbitrary alphabet. Accordingly, probabilistic
constellation shaping may be achieved over constellations of arbitrary size. In addition, relatively long codewords, may be encoded and decoded with the apparatus and method disclosed herein. Accordingly, for a fixed SNR a higher SE (more bits per symbol) can be achieved. Alternatively, for a fixed SE, a lower SNR may be sufficient. Moreover, the resulting SE may be finely tailored to a particular
optical link SNR to provide
data transmission rates that are higher than the low order modulation formats that would otherwise be employed for optical signals carried by such links.