Sampling rate influence in up and down mixing of QPSK and OFDM signals using an SOA-MZI in a differential configuration

• Published in: Electronics letters 2018-08, Vol.54 (16), p.990-991
• Main Authors: Termos, H, Rampone, T, Sharaiha, A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: data bit rates; differential configuration; down frequency conversions; Engineering Sciences; EVM; frequency 0.5 GHz to 39.5 GHz; lower aliased noise power; Mach‐Zehnder interferometers; microwave frequency convertors; microwave mixers; microwave photonics; OFDM modulation; OFDM signal downmixing; OFDM signal upmixing; Optical communication; optical modulation; optical transmission quality; Optics; Photonic; QPSK signal downmixing; QPSK signal upmixing; quadrature phase shift keying; sampling mixer; sampling rate influence; semiconductor optical amplifiers; semiconductor optical amplifier‐Mach‐Zehnder interferometer; signal level; SOA‐MZI; UHF frequency convertors; UHF mixers; up frequency conversions
• ISSN: 0013-5194; 1350-911X; 1350-911X
• DOI: 10.1049/el.2018.1321

Up and down frequency conversions in the range of 0.5–39.5 GHz are performed by using a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier–Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) in a differential configuration as a sampling mixer. The authors show that increasing the sampling frequency by a ratio of 2.5 (from 7.8 to 19.5 GHz) improves the efficiency and the quality of the optical transmission of QPSK and OFDM signals due to a better signal level and a lower aliased noise power when the sampling rate is higher. At the high sampling rate, the obtained EVM is sufficiently low for allowing data bit rates higher than 1 Gbit/s and 245 Mbit/s, respectively, for QPSK and OFDM modulated data.