Chirp-inducing mechanisms in Mach-Zehnder modulators and their effect on 10 Gb/s NRZ transmission studied using tunable-chirp single drive devices

• Published in: Journal of lightwave technology Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 605 - 611
• Main Authors: Bravetti, P., Ghislotti, G., Balsamo, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.02.2004; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Arm; Chirp; Chirp modulation; Circuit properties; Devices; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Integrated optics. Optical fibers and wave guides; Interferometers; Modulation; Modulators; Optical and optoelectronic circuits; Optical fiber communication; Optical fiber dispersion; Optical interferometry; Optical modulation; Optical signal processing; Optical transmitters; Phase modulation; Radio frequencies; Radio frequency; Splitting; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments); Unbalance; Chirp; Wave propagation; Optical transmission; Dispersive medium; Mach Zehnder interferometer; Optical modulator
• ISSN: 0733-8724; 1558-2213
• DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2003.822676

We study the effects of different mechanisms inducing chirp in single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZM). In particular, we compare the effect of optical power splitting ratio unbalance with radio frequency modulation unbalance on the two interferometer arms. The better transmission performances of optically unbalanced modulators are ascribed to the different shape of time resolved chirp factor. Finally, we demonstrate error-free uncompensated transmission over 130-km fiber span.