Single- and Multiband OFDM Photonic Wireless Links in the 75−110 GHz Band Employing Optical Combs

The photonic generation of electrical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulated wireless signals in the 75-110 GHz band is experimentally demonstrated employing in-phase/quadrature electrooptical modulation and optical heterodyn upconversion. The wireless transmission of 16-quadrature-amplitude-modulation OFDM signals is demonstrated with a bit error rate performance within the forward error correction limits. Signals of 19.1 Gb/s in 6.3-GHz bandwidth are transmitted over up to 1.3-m wireless distance. Optical comb generation is further employed to support different channels, allowing the cost and energy efficiency of the system to be increased and supporting different users in the system. Four channels at 9.6 Gb/s/ch in 14.4-GHz bandwidth are generated and transmitted over up to 1.3-m wireless distance. The transmission of a 9.6-Gb/s single-channel signal occupying 3.2-GHz bandwidth over 22.8 km of standard single-mode fiber and 0.6 m of wireless distance is also demonstrated in the multiband system.