WDM up-conversion employing frequency quadrupling in optical modulator

Abstract

This work presents an optical up-conversion system with frequency quadrupling for wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) communication systems using a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator without optical filtering. Four-channel 1.25-Gb/s wired fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) and wireless radio-over-fiber (RoF) signals are generated and transmitted simultaneously. Moreover, the decline in receiver sensitivities due to Mach-Zehnder modulator bias drifts is also investigated. Receiver power penalties of the 20-GHz up-converted WDM signals and baseband (BB) FTTx signals are less than 1 dB when bias deviation voltage is less the 20% of the half-wave voltage. After transmission over a 50-km SSMF, the receiver power penalties of both the BB and 20-GHz RF OOK signals are less than 1 dB. Notably, 60-GHz optical up-conversion can be achieved using 15-GHz radio frequency (RF) components and equipment. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America