Optical Single Sideband Modulator without Second-Order Sidebands

Erwin Hoi Wing Chan; Chongjia Huang; Chirappanath Albert

doi:10.1109/JPHOT.2018.2835810

Optical Single Sideband Modulator without Second-Order Sidebands

Erwin Hoi Wing Chan, Chongjia Huang, Chirappanath Albert

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An optical single sideband modulator without generating both the -2nd and +2nd order sidebands is presented. It is based on parallel operation of two dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (DDMZMs) where one is operated as a conventional single sideband (SSB) modulator and the other is operated as a single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) biased at the maximum transmission point. The 2nd order sidebands generated by the SSB modulator and the maximum-biased MZM can be cancelled by controlling the sideband amplitude and phase. Cancelling the 2nd order sidebands eliminates the second order harmonic component presented at the output of a long-reach fibre optic link. The new SSB modulator can be implemented using standard off-the-shelf components and has a wide bandwidth. Experimental results show > 20 dB 2nd order sidebands suppression for different modulation indexes and 22.6 dB reduction in the fibre optic link output second order harmonic component, compared to using a conventional SSB modulator formed by a DDMZM and a 90° hybrid coupler. Results also demonstrate the performance of the new SSB modulator is insensitive to the optical carrier frequency and the input RF signal frequency.

Original language	English
Article number	17799888
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
Journal	IEEE Photonics Journal
Volume	10
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOT.2018.2835810
Publication status	Published - Jun 2018

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title = "Optical Single Sideband Modulator without Second-Order Sidebands",

abstract = "An optical single sideband modulator without generating both the -2nd and +2nd order sidebands is presented. It is based on parallel operation of two dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (DDMZMs) where one is operated as a conventional single sideband (SSB) modulator and the other is operated as a single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) biased at the maximum transmission point. The 2nd order sidebands generated by the SSB modulator and the maximum-biased MZM can be cancelled by controlling the sideband amplitude and phase. Cancelling the 2nd order sidebands eliminates the second order harmonic component presented at the output of a long-reach fibre optic link. The new SSB modulator can be implemented using standard off-the-shelf components and has a wide bandwidth. Experimental results show > 20 dB 2nd order sidebands suppression for different modulation indexes and 22.6 dB reduction in the fibre optic link output second order harmonic component, compared to using a conventional SSB modulator formed by a DDMZM and a 90° hybrid coupler. Results also demonstrate the performance of the new SSB modulator is insensitive to the optical carrier frequency and the input RF signal frequency.",

keywords = "Amplitude modulation, Fiber optics links and subsystems, modulators, Optical attenuators, optical communications, Optical fibers, Optical filters, Optical modulation, radio frequency photonics",

author = "Chan, {Erwin Hoi Wing} and Chongjia Huang and Chirappanath Albert",

year = "2018",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1109/JPHOT.2018.2835810",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

pages = "1--10",

journal = "IEEE Photonics Journal",

issn = "1943-0655",

publisher = "IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers",

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AU - Chan, Erwin Hoi Wing

AU - Huang, Chongjia

AU - Albert, Chirappanath

PY - 2018/6

Y1 - 2018/6

N2 - An optical single sideband modulator without generating both the -2nd and +2nd order sidebands is presented. It is based on parallel operation of two dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (DDMZMs) where one is operated as a conventional single sideband (SSB) modulator and the other is operated as a single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) biased at the maximum transmission point. The 2nd order sidebands generated by the SSB modulator and the maximum-biased MZM can be cancelled by controlling the sideband amplitude and phase. Cancelling the 2nd order sidebands eliminates the second order harmonic component presented at the output of a long-reach fibre optic link. The new SSB modulator can be implemented using standard off-the-shelf components and has a wide bandwidth. Experimental results show > 20 dB 2nd order sidebands suppression for different modulation indexes and 22.6 dB reduction in the fibre optic link output second order harmonic component, compared to using a conventional SSB modulator formed by a DDMZM and a 90° hybrid coupler. Results also demonstrate the performance of the new SSB modulator is insensitive to the optical carrier frequency and the input RF signal frequency.

AB - An optical single sideband modulator without generating both the -2nd and +2nd order sidebands is presented. It is based on parallel operation of two dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (DDMZMs) where one is operated as a conventional single sideband (SSB) modulator and the other is operated as a single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) biased at the maximum transmission point. The 2nd order sidebands generated by the SSB modulator and the maximum-biased MZM can be cancelled by controlling the sideband amplitude and phase. Cancelling the 2nd order sidebands eliminates the second order harmonic component presented at the output of a long-reach fibre optic link. The new SSB modulator can be implemented using standard off-the-shelf components and has a wide bandwidth. Experimental results show > 20 dB 2nd order sidebands suppression for different modulation indexes and 22.6 dB reduction in the fibre optic link output second order harmonic component, compared to using a conventional SSB modulator formed by a DDMZM and a 90° hybrid coupler. Results also demonstrate the performance of the new SSB modulator is insensitive to the optical carrier frequency and the input RF signal frequency.

KW - Amplitude modulation

KW - Fiber optics links and subsystems

KW - modulators

KW - Optical attenuators

KW - optical communications

KW - Optical fibers

KW - Optical filters

KW - Optical modulation

KW - radio frequency photonics

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JF - IEEE Photonics Journal

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ER -

Optical Single Sideband Modulator without Second-Order Sidebands

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