A novel MI-insensitive and filterless frequency octupling scheme based on two parallel dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulators

• Published in: Optik (Stuttgart) Vol. 125; no. 23; pp. 6887 - 6890
• Main Authors: Liu, Jing, Wen, Aijun, Zhang, Huixing, Hu, Xiaomei, Yu, Qingwei, Wu, Zhongying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier GmbH 01.12.2014
• Subjects: Amplitudes; Frequency octupling; Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM); Modulation; Modulators; Noise levels; Optical millimeter-wave generation; Performance indices; Radio frequencies; Radio-over-fiber (RoF); Simulation; Wavelength division multiplexing; Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM); Radio-over-fiber (RoF); Optical millimeter-wave generation; Frequency octupling
• ISSN: 0030-4026; 1618-1336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2014.08.122

A novel MI-insensitive and filterless frequency octupling scheme based on two parallel dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulators (DP-MZMs) is proposed. The proposed scheme is not sensitive to modulation index and relatively strong MMW signal with good radio frequency spurious suppression ratio (RFSSR) can be obtained without strict requirement on modulation index. Filterless feature makes the scheme quite suitable for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) applications. For verification, a 60GHz millimeter wave with 44dB RFSSR is generated from a 7.5GHz radio frequency wave by simulation. Performance of the proposed scheme has been characterized under different conditions including DC-bias drifts of MZMs, different amplitudes of RF inputs and different extinction ratios of MZMs.