Title :
BER characteristics of π/4 DQPSK microwave subcarrier signals on optical fiber using Mach-Zehnder modulator nonlinear upconversion
Author :
Young, Tom ; Conradi, Jan ; Tinga, Wayne R.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Alberta Univ., Edmonton, Alta., Canada
Abstract :
The nonlinear transfer characteristic of a Mach-Zehnder modulator is utilized to up-convert an unmodulated electrical input signal at 4.1 GHz and a /spl pi//4 DQPSK modulated signal at 5.1 GHz to produce an unmodulated optical subcarrier at 16.4 GHz and a /spl pi//4 DQPSK modulated optical subcarrier at 17.4 GHz. Using a dc biased laser source at 1551 nm, the up-converted 50 Mb/s /spl pi//4 DQPSK optical subcarrier at 17.4 GHz is transmitted over up to 50 km of standard single-mode fiber and its BER is measured. The experiment demonstrates that the BER performance is degraded by less than 1 dB (electrical) by the optical up-conversion scheme.
Keywords :
differential phase shift keying; electro-optical modulation; optical fibre communication; optical frequency conversion; personal communication networks; quadrature phase shift keying; /spl pi//4 DQPSK microwave subcarrier signals; /spl pi//4 DQPSK modulated optical subcarrier; /spl pi//4 DQPSK modulated signal; 1551 nm; 16.4 GHz; 17.4 GHz; 4.1 GHz; 5.1 GHz; 50 Mbit/s; 50 km; BER characteristics; BER performance; DQPSK optical subcarrier; Mach-Zehnder modulator nonlinear upconversion; dc biased laser source; nonlinear transfer characteristic; optical fiber; optical up-conversion scheme; standard single-mode fiber; unmodulated electrical input signal upconversion; unmodulated optical subcarrier; Base stations; Bit error rate; Erbium-doped fiber amplifier; Fiber nonlinear optics; Nonlinear optics; Optical attenuators; Optical fiber communication; Optical fibers; Optical modulation; Stimulated emission;
Journal_Title :
Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE
