US Patent 7894728 Sample timing control in an optical receiver

A method of compensating phase error between parallel digital signals of a received optical signal, in a coherent optical receiver. A phase differential between the digital signals is determined. A digital skew is imposed between the digital signals, an amount of skew imposed being an integer number of sample periods calculated to most nearly compensate the phase differential. The skewed digital signals are then digitally processed, in the frequency domain, to compensate a residual portion of the phase differential.