High-fidelity sub-petabit-per-second self-homodyne fronthaul using broadband electro-optic combs

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 6621 - 12
• Main Authors: Zhang, Chenbo, Zhu, Yixiao, Lin, Jingjing, He, Bibo, Liu, Rongwei, Xu, Yicheng, Chen, Nuo, He, Xuanjian, Tao, Jinming, Zhang, Zhike, Chu, Tao, Yi, Lilin, Zhuge, Qunbi, Hu, Weiwei, Chen, Zhangyuan, Hu, Weisheng, Xie, Xiaopeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.08.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/166/987; 639/624/1075/1081; 639/624/1075/187; 639/624/1075/401; 639/624/1111/1112; Accuracy; Bandwidths; Broadband; Channels; Computer architecture; Format; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lead; multidisciplinary; Optics; Quadratures; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Wireless networks
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51103-4

With the exponential growth in data density and user ends of wireless networks, fronthaul is tasked with supporting aggregate bandwidths exceeding thousands of gigahertz while accommodating high-order modulation formats. However, it must address the bandwidth and noise limitations imposed by optical links and devices in a cost-efficient manner. Here we demonstrate a high-fidelity fronthaul system enabled by self-homodyne digital-analog radio-over-fiber superchannels, using a broadband electro-optic comb and uncoupled multicore fiber. This self-homodyne superchannel architecture not only offers capacity boosting but also supports carrier-recovery-free reception. Our approach achieves a record-breaking 15,000 GHz aggregated wireless bandwidth, corresponding to a 0.879 Pb/s common public radio interface (CPRI) equivalent data rate. Higher-order formats up to 1,048,576 quadrature-amplitude-modulated (QAM) are showcased at a 100 Tb/s class data rate. Furthermore, we employ a packaged on-chip electro-optic comb as the sole optical source to reduce the cost, supporting a data rate of 100.5 Tb/s with the 1024-QAM format. These demonstrations propel fronthaul into the era of Pb/s-level capacity and exhibit the promising potential of integrated-photonics implementation, pushing the boundaries to new heights in terms of capacity, fidelity, and cost. Here the authors propose a self-homodyne fronthaul architecture, utilizing DA-RoF super channels and multicore fiber, paving the way for the Pb/s era in fronthaul transmission, enabling ultra-highspeed Internet access. The remarkable data speeds reaching 0.879 Pb/s and the 256-QAM format make it possible for 150,000 5G channels to be accessed simultaneously.