All-optical single-sideband frequency upconversion utilizing the XPM effect in an SOA-MZI

• Published in: Optics express 2016-09, Vol.24 (18), p.20309-20317
• Main Authors: Kim, Doo-Ho, Lee, Joo-Young, Choi, Hyung-June, Song, Jong-In
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.24.020309

An all-optical single sideband (OSSB) frequency upconverter based on the cross-phase modulation (XPM) effect is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to overcome the power fading problem caused by the chromatic dispersion of fiber in radio-over-fiber systems. The OSSB frequency upconverter consists of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and a semiconductor optical amplifier Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) and does not require an extra delay line used for phase noise compensation. The generated OSSB radio frequency (RF) signal transmitted over single-mode fibers up to 20 km shows a flat electrical RF power response as a function of the fiber length. The upconverted electrical RF signal at 48 GHz shows negligible degradation of the phase noise even without an extra delay line. The measured phase noise of the upconverted RF signal (48 GHz) is -74.72 dBc/Hz at an offset frequency of 10 kHz. The spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) measured by a two-tone test to estimate the linearity of the OSSB frequency upconverter is 72.5 dB·Hz .