A novel optical mm-wave generation scheme based on three parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators

We propose a novel optical mm-wave generation scheme based on three parallel Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) for the first time. First, the scheme is investigated theoretically, which suggests that it can be used for sextupling, 12-tupling, and 18-tupling mm-wave generation. Then simulation results are given, 60 GHz mm-wave is generated from 5 GHz, or 10 GHz RF oscillator based on frequency 12-tupling or sextupling, and 90 GHz mm-wave is generated from 5 GHz RF oscillator based on frequency 18-tupling. The optical sideband suppression ratio (OSSR) and the radio frequency spurious suppression ratio (RFSSR) are analyzed by simulation, in which several non-ideal factors are taken into consideration. Results indicate that all the three mm-wave generation methods are practical and very good performance can be obtained when the extinction ratio of the MZM is 30 dB, even if the extinction ratio of the MZM is 20 dB, the performance is still good, especially for the sextupling mm-wave generation method, whose performance is excellent and insensitive to the extinction ratio of MZM, the non-ideal RF driving voltage and the non-ideal DC bias. At last, we set up a RoF system by simulation to verify the transmission performance of the scheme. The BER performance and eye diagrams are given.     

An optical mm-wave generation scheme by frequency octupling using a nested MMI

A novel method of a filterless optical millimeter-wave (MMW) signal generation with frequency octupling via a nested multimode interference (MMI) coupler is proposed for Radio-over-fiber systems. By setting the DC bias voltage applied to the central arms of MMI-b and MMI-c accurately, the optical carrier can be completely suppressed. The OSSR can be as high as about 58 dB without optical filter and the radio frequency spurious suppression ratio (RFSSR) exceeds 32 dB, which is the best result as we know. Simulation results suggest that when the generated optical mm-wave signal is transmitted along the standard single-mode fiber, the eye diagram is still opened after being transmitted over a 50 km fiber.     

DSB optical mm-wave with signal only on optical carrier generated by embedded LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder modulator

We have investigated the generation of the 40-GHz double-sideband optical millimeter (mm)-wave with signal carried only by its optical carrier via an embedded LiNbO₃ Mach-Zehnder modulator (LN-MZM). Since the optical carrier and its two first-order sidebands are dominant and their powers are well balanced, the first-order harmonic in the photocurrent gets maximal. As the optical mm-wave signal is transmitted along the fiber, there is no code outline distortion because the signal is only modulated on the optical carrier. Although the first-order harmonic shows the periodical fading effect when the optical mm-wave signal is transmitted along the fiber, its degradation on the radio-over-fiber link can be avoided by adjusting the position of the fading nodes via varying the main MZM bias voltage, and the signal still keeps much good eye diagram even after 50-km fiber transmission. The experimental results prove our theory.     

A novel MI-insensitive and filterless frequency octupling scheme based on two parallel dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulators

A novel MI-insensitive and filterless frequency octupling scheme based on two parallel dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulators (DP-MZMs) is proposed. The proposed scheme is not sensitive to modulation index and relatively strong MMW signal with good radio frequency spurious suppression ratio (RFSSR) can be obtained without strict requirement on modulation index. Filterless feature makes the scheme quite suitable for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) applications. For verification, a 60 GHz millimeter wave with 44 dB RFSSR is generated from a 7.5 GHz radio frequency wave by simulation. Performance of the proposed scheme has been characterized under different conditions including DC-bias drifts of MZMs, different amplitudes of RF inputs and different extinction ratios of MZMs.     

A two-stage optical frequency comb generator based on Mach-Zehnder modulator and Re-circulating frequency shifter

We propose a novel scheme to generate optical frequency comb by using a two-stage generator based on Mach-Zehnder modulator and re-circulating frequency shifter. Based on the Mach-Zehnder modulator a light source including 2 flat and stable frequency spectrum lines is generated at the first stage, and the light source is then used as the seed light in the re-circulating frequency shifter loop at the second stage. The scheme can greatly reduce the accumulated noise of the system. Through theoretical analysis and simulation it is shown that the proposed theoretical model of the two-stage system is proved in good agreement with simulation results.     

A novel frequency sextupling scheme for optical mm-wave generation utilizing an integrated dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator

A novel scheme is proposed for frequency sextupling mm-wave generation based on a laser and an integrated dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) without optical filter. Theoretical analysis is presented to suppress the undesired optical sidebands for the high quality generation of frequency sextupling mm-wave signal. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated by simulations. Utilizing the integrated MZM consisted of two sub-MZMs with extinction ratio of 30 dB, the optical sideband suppression ratio (OSSR) is as high as 29.9 dB and the radio frequency spurious suppression ratio (RFSSR) exceeds 24 dB without any optical or electrical filter. The impact of the nonideal RF driven voltage and phase difference of RF driven signal applied to two sub-MZMs of the integrated MZM on OSSR and RFSSR is discussed and analyzed. After transmission over fiber, the generated optical mm-wave signal demonstrates good performance. Furthermore, the performance of two cases for the proposed scheme is also compared.     

Microwave generation analysis with higher order dispersion parameters in two cascaded Mach-Zehnder modulators

Dispersion is one of the major limiting factors for microwave/millimeter wave generation in microwave photonics. In this paper, we analyze the individual and combined effect of second order-, third order-, fourth order and fifth order dispersion parameter on microwave/millimeter wave generation. We have used the two cascaded Mach-Zehnder modulators in our proposed model, which have been not discussed earlier. Intensity at the output of photodetector versus modulation depth (β) with effects of dispersion parameters have been discussed and it has been found that output intensity of photodetector reduces when dispersion term up to fifth order are added.     

A novel optical SSB modulation scheme with interfering harmonics suppressed for ROF transmission link

A novel optical SSB modulation scheme for ROF transmission link is proposed in this paper, the scheme employs two parallel MZMs to generate an SSB signal with major high-order interfering harmonics well suppressed. The SSB signal generated by conventional modulation scheme is interfered by adjacent high-order harmonics, and such interference may cause distortion on the RF signal generated at the base station (BS). As major high-order interfering harmonics are well suppressed in the proposed scheme, the power of the generated RF signal can be avoided and the transmission performance of the ROF transmission link is largely improved.     

Design of millimeter-wave fiber-wireless downlink with remote local-oscillator delivery by using dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulators configured for optical single-sideband modulations

An optical fiber-wireless system operating in millimeter-wave (MMW) bands may include numerous optical remote access points (RAPs) of which the cost is critical to implement such systems in real market. In this paper, we design an optical fiber communication system for MMW optical fiber downlink transmission with remote MMW local-oscillator (LO) delivery for intermediate frequency (IF) fiber uplink transmission. The new design is based on two dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulators in parallel both configured for optical single-sideband modulations. By using the proposed design, a conventional RAP can be simplified in structure to reduce the cost. Our numerical results show that, with the proposed design, 1-Gbit/s binary-phase-shift-keying (BPSK) data at a 42-GHz sub-carrier frequency can be transmitted over a 20-km standard single-mode optical fiber followed by a wireless transmission of several kilometers. Moreover, a MMW LO at 37-GHz frequency can be remotely delivered over tens of kilometers of a standard single-mode fiber with acceptable deterioration in the LO phase noise for IF uplink fiber transmission.     

A full-duplex radio-over-fiber link with 12-tupling mm-wave generation and wavelength reuse for upstream signal

A full-duplex radio-over-fiber (RoF) link with a novel scheme to generate 60 GHz mm-waves from a 5 GHz RF signal source is investigated. In the RoF downlink, the required frequency of the RF oscillator is reduced greatly. Since the optical carrier is not modulated by downstream data, part of it is reused to carry upstream data and the upstream data is transmitted to the central station using optical single-sideband modulation. In this way, a single wavelength is used for both downstream and upstream transmissions. Based on this scheme, a full-duplex RoF link is built and its transmission performance is analyzed. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation show that the downstream signal cannot only eliminate code form distortion caused by time shift of the code edges, but also reduce the influence of the fading effect as the 60 GHz DSB optical mm-wave signal is transmitted along the fiber, and the upstream signal is immune to both fading effect and time shift of the code edges.     

64 GHz optical millimeter-wave generation by octupling 8 GHz local oscillator via a nested LiNbO3 modulator

A novel scheme to generate a 64 GHz optical millimeter (mm)-wave via a nested LiNbO₃ Mach-Zehnder modulator with an 8 GHz local oscillator is proposed and simulated. Since the frequency response of the modulator and the local oscillator frequency are greatly reduced, the bandwidth requirements of the optical and electrical components in the transmitter are significantly decreased. The simulation results show that the generated optical mm-wave signal maintains good performance even after being transmitted over 20 km standard single-mode fiber.     

Generation of radio signals using a novel Mach-Zehnder modulator with four arms

We have proposed and demonstrated a novel Mach-Zehnder modulation technique which employs a 1 × 4 multimode interference MMI coupler and four optical phase-modulator waveguides to generate optical single sideband (SSB) signals in radio-over-fiber (ROF) transmission link. It is shown that when the RF (radio frequency) modulation index is large, the optical SSB signal generated by conventional modulation scheme contains a significant part of undesired higher order harmonics, accordingly, much distortion in the RF signal was detected at the base station (BS). However, the main undesired higher order harmonics can be suppressed using our proposed modulation scheme and the performance of the transmission links were largely improved in single-channel and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) cases.     

A full-duplex radio-over-fiber system based on a novel double-sideband modulation and frequency quadrupling

We propose a novel radio-over-fiber system based on double-sideband (DSB) modulation and frequency quadrupling to reduce the system cost both at central office (CO) and base station (BS). In this system, by properly biasing the intensity modulator, the repetitive frequency of the optical millimeter-wave (mm-wave) is four times frequency of the local oscillator (LO) signal. Additionally, due to the single-sideband of the mm-wave carrying base data signal, our theoretical simulation shows that the generated mm-wave can be immunized the fading effect and the walk-off of signals.     

Generation of optical carrier suppression millimeter-wave signal using one dual-parallel MZM to overcome chromatic dispersion

In this paper, we have proposed a novel approach to generate optical carrier suppression (OCS) mm-wave with signal only carried by one first-order sideband using a dual-parallel MZM in radio-over-fiber (RoF) system, and the transmission performance was also investigated. As the optical mm-wave signal is transmitted along the fiber, there is no time shift of the data symbols resulting from the group velocity dispersion in the fiber because the signal is only modulated on one sideband. The simulation results showed that the eye diagram keeps open and clear even when the optical mm-wave signals are transmitted over 96-km and the power penalty is about 1-dB after fiber transmission distance of 60-km, which is quite consistent with our theoretical analysis. Furthermore, the proposed OCS optical mm-wave generation approach is also used in a full-duplex RoF link based on wavelength reuse at the base station for the uplink due to another pure sideband without carrying data. The bidirectional 2.5-Gbit/s data is successfully transmitted over 40-km standard single mode fiber with less than 0.5-dB power penalty in the simulation. Both the unidirectional RoF downlink and the full-duplex RoF system have good performance.     

High-repetitive frequency millimeter-wave signal generation using multi-cascaded external modulators based on carrier suppression technique

We have numerically and experimentally investigated how to generate high-repetitive frequency millimeter (mm)-wave using multi-cascaded intensity modulators based on optical carrier suppression (OCS) scheme. We have found the rule how to generate the high-repetitive frequency mm-wave by adjusting the repetitive frequency of the radio-frequency (RF) signals and the phase relation between the RF signals on the intensity modulators. Based on this rule, we have experimentally demonstrated to generate over 80 GHz optical mm-wave.     

Performance limits of pico-cell systems using radio-over-fiber techniques with an electroabsorption modulator

We investigate the performance limits of a pico-cell system using the radio- over-fiber technique with an electroabsorption modulator (EAM) in a 2.4 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. To understand the performance limits of the system using an EAM as the optical transceiver, we vary the optical modulation index (OMI) of the transmitter for different bias voltages to the EAM. Power margins in the links are found to estimate a possible service range, and packet loss rates (PLRs) in the pico-cell system are measured to evaluate the transmission performance. The total service range can be extended up to 3 m by adjusting the OMI of the transmitter for different applied bias voltages to the EAM.     

Photonic analog-to-digital conversion using multiple comparators and Mach-Zehnder modulators with identical half-wave voltages

A novel photonic analog-to-digital conversion scheme using Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) with identical half-wave voltages and multiple comparators with improved bit resolution is proposed and demonstrated. Compared with the scheme using MZMs with geometrically scaled half-wave voltages, the proposed scheme has the advantage of using MZMs with identical half-wave voltages which simplify significantly the implementation. The bit resolution is improved based on the use of multiple comparators in each MZM channel, with the digital coding realized based on the symmetrical number system theory. A proof-of-concept experiment is implemented. An analog-to-digital converter with a 4-bit resolution using two MZMs and nine comparators is demonstrated.     

Optical mm-wave generation by using external modulator based on optical carrier suppression

In this paper, we have theoretically investigated the transmission performance of the optical millimeter (mm)-wave generated by using an external modulator based on optical carrier suppression for the first time. According to our theory, the data signals carried by the optical mm-wave are transmitted in the dispersion fiber without fading but are degraded greatly because of the time shift of the code edges, which still limits the transmission distance. The experimental results agree well with our theory.     

Transmission performance of the optical mm-wave generated by double-sideband intensity-modulation

We have theoretically investigated the transmission of the optical mm-wave generated by the double-sideband (DSB) intensity-modulation. According to our analysis and simulation, the data signals, carried by DSB optical mm-wave after transmission along fiber, are degraded greatly because of the fading effect and the time shift of the codes caused by the chromatic dispersion in fiber, and these effects limit the transmission distance of the signals. Our theory is confirmed by the experimental results.     

Generation and transmission of the double-sideband optical millimeter-wave with signal carried only by optical carrier

In this paper, we have proposed a new scheme to generate double-sideband (DSB) optical millimeter-wave (mm-wave) with signal carried only by optical carrier, and its transmission performance is investigated. The theoretical and numerical results show that the DSB optical mm-wave signal generated by our scheme suffers only from the fading effect, the time shift of the sidebands has little influence on its transmission performance. The signal demodulated from the harmonic photocurrent shows a clear and open eye diagram and has good performance even if the transmission distance is very close to but not just at the fading nodes. The theoretical results are in good agreement with our numerical simulation.