39-GHz Millimeter-Wave Carrier Generation in Dual-Mode Colorless Laser Diode for OFDM-MMWoF Transmission

Abstract

By using a nully biased MZM to modulate an incoming single-mode light into a double sideband (CCA-DSB or CCS-DSB) master with preserved or suppressed central carrier, the directly OFDM encoded dual-mode colorless laser diode is performed for a successful fusion between wired and wireless links to establish a 5G-based MMWoF system. The dual-mode L-band optical carrier successfully delivers a 36-Gb/s OFDM data with a BER of $3.2 \times 10^{-3}$ , while the stabilized 39-GHz mm-wave carrier can provide wireless 4-Gb/s 16-QAM OFDM data with 16.6-dB SNR. The in-situ 39-GHz mm-wave carrier can be synthesized by optically heterodyne mixing the dual-mode carrier at remote node. When injection-locking with the CCS-DSB master, the dual-mode slave colorless laser diode improves its central carrier suppression ratio and RIN to 38 dB and −104 dBc/Hz, respectively. In comparison, the dual-DFBLD master injection-locking mixed mm-wave carrier is relatively unstable due to the individual DFBLDs at free-running condition. With the CCS-DSB master, the mm-wave carrier self-beat from the dual-mode optical carrier exhibits a narrow linewidth of <3 kHz with high purity and stability. Such a dual-mode colorless laser diode-based MMWoF link is capable of fusing the fiber wired and the 5G wireless links demanded in the near future.