Analysis of CNR penalty of radio-over-fiber systems including the effects of phase noise from laser and RF oscillator

The effect of phase noises from a laser and an oscillator on radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems is analyzed and discussed with a power spectral density (PSD) function. A Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and a phase shifter are employed to externally generate an optical single sideband (OSSB) signal since the OSSB signal is tolerable for power degradation due to a chromatic fiber-dispersion effect. It is shown that a carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) penalty is deeply related to the bandwidth of a receiver filter and the phase noise from a radio frequency (RF) signal oscillator rather than that from a laser in a small differential-delay environment and a direct detection scheme. The CNR penalty due to the increment of the laser linewidth from 10 to 624 MHz is almost 1.1 dB, while the increase of the RF-oscillator linewidth from 1 to 100 Hz results in about a 20-dB penalty at a 30-GHz 10-km transmission in a standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) with a fiber chromatic dispersion of 17 ps/km·nm.