Impact of the Combined Effect of RIN and Intermodulation Distortion on OSSB/SCM Systems

This paper investigates both theoretically and numerically the performance limitations due to the combined effect of relative intensity noise (RIN) and intermodulation distortion of broadband optical single sideband/subcarrier multiplexing (OSSB/SCM) systems. The analysis includes intermodulation distortion combined with RIN introduced by the laser source and by optical preamplification. System performance is evaluated in terms of bit error rate for SCM systems using optically preamplified receivers, and a comparison is made between different modulation schemes applied to the individual channels. The authors demonstrate that depending on optical carrier suppression factor, modulation index, modulation format, fiber length, channel spacing, optical input power, and carrier frequency, the system performance may be predominantly affect by the RIN or by the intermodulation distortion