Coherent optical vector modulation for fiber radio using electrooptic microchip lasers

Future communication systems will require high data rates and flexible modulation. Direct optical phase modulation of two microchip lasers by information-bearing signals allows for high-rate delivery via fiber to a basestation. At the basestation, the coherent optical signals are combined with a reference in a photodetector to produce a microwave/millimeter-wave carrier with arbitrary M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation, which can then be transmitted over a wireless channel. Rapid tuning of the microwave/millimeter-wave carrier, the modulation scheme, and the data rate is achievable through this method with no fixed oscillators at the basestation, thus providing for flexible architectures. Results show a high-quality carrier and, for 4- and 16-QAM, with data rates to 200 Mb/s. Extensions to higher data rates are discussed.