Optimal Configuration Mitigating Rayleigh-Backscattering-Induced Distortion in Radioastronomic Optical Fiber Systems

In the context of Radioastronomic applications where the Analog Radio-over-Fiber technology is used for the antenna downlink, detrimental nonlinearity effects arise because of the interference between the forward signal generated by the laser and the Rayleigh backscattered one which is re-forwarded...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of lightwave technology 2022-10, Vol.40 (20), p.6785-6795
Main Authors: Nanni, Jacopo, Giovannini, Andrea, Lenzi, Enrico, Rusticelli, Simone, Wayth, Randall, Perini, Federico, Monari, Jader, Tartarini, Giovanni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Backscattering
dithering
Energy consumption
Fiber technology
Frequency modulation
Laser feedback
Laser modes
Lasers
Nonlinearities
Nonlinearity
Optical feedback
Optical fibers
Optical transmitters
Power lasers
Radio
Radio frequency
radioastronomy
Rayleigh backscattering
RoF
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Summary:In the context of Radioastronomic applications where the Analog Radio-over-Fiber technology is used for the antenna downlink, detrimental nonlinearity effects arise because of the interference between the forward signal generated by the laser and the Rayleigh backscattered one which is re-forwarded by the laser itself toward the photodetector. The adoption of the so called dithering technique, which involves the direct modulation of the laser with a sinusoidal tone and takes advantage of the laser chirping phenomenon, has been proved to reduce such Rayleigh Back Scattering - induced nonlinearities. The frequency and the amplitude of the dithering tone should both be as low as possible, in order to avoid undesired collateral effects on the received spectrum as well as keep at low levels the global energy consumption. Through a comprehensive analysis of dithered Radio over Fiber systems, it is demonstrated that a progressive reduction of the dithering tone frequency affects in a peculiar fashion both the chirping characteristics of the field emitted by the laser and the spectrum pattern of the received signal at the fiber end. Accounting for the concurrent effects caused by such phenomena, optimal operating conditions are identified for the implementation of the dithering tone technique in radioastronomic systems.
ISSN:0733-8724
1558-2213
DOI:10.1109/JLT.2022.3187175