Filterless radio-over-fiber system that generates 80 and 160 GHz millimeter waves based on two MZMs.

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we propose a radio-over-fiber system with no filters and generate 80 and 160 GHz millimeter (mm) waves via two Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs). The two MZMs, biased at the maximum transmission point, are used to suppress odd-order sidebands. By controlling the phase difference between the RF driving signal of the two MZMs, the $\pm({4}{n - 2})$-order is canceled. By adjusting the optical attenuator and phase shifter, the 0-order sideband is canceled, so only the $\pm 4{n}$-order sidebands are left. The simulation results show that using a 10 GHz RF signal to drive the MZMs, we obtain an 80 GHz mm wave signal with a 36.59 dB optical sideband suppression ratio (OSSR), a 30.27 dB radio frequency sideband suppression ratio (RFSSR), and a 160 GHz mm wave signal with a 30.34 dB OSSR and 24.77 dB RFSSR. The results are consistent with the theoretical analysis. Because no optical filter is employed and only two MZMs are used, the system exhibits a simple structure, good performance and is low cost.