Analyses of numerical and experimental results for optical signal generation using heterodyne scheme

Abstract

In this paper, we have proposed a heterodyne technique to generate an optical millimeter-wave signal for ultra-wideband communication. First, we have investigated the characteristics of semiconductor lasers locked to another semiconductor under the RF modulation having many sidebands. The RF-modulated master laser is represented by a series of Bessel functions. This model is then inserted into Lang's rate equations. By numerically solving the resulting rate equations, we have determined the locked laser output characteristics as well as the RF spectrum of the beat signals. The result is that the unselected sidebands can produce undesired beat signals whose power may be comparable to that of the desired beat signal. Furthermore, their strength is affected by the injected ML light power. With reduced ML light, undesired beat signals and the injection-locking bandwidth can be suppressed. Second, we have experimented a new technique for generating millimeter-wave signals from a semiconductor laser. A 32 GHz signal is generated using a multisection semiconductor laser operated under a continuous wave by injecting optical pulses at a repetition rate equal to the fourth subharmonic (8 GHz). The generated millimeter-wave signal exhibits a large subharmonic suppression ratio, a large frequency detuning range, low levels of phase-noise and a large locking range. These simulation results are confirmed by experimental results. The high-frequency signal can be used in the field of ultra-wideband communication employing local multipoint distribution system (LMDS), wireless local loop (WLL) and mobile broadband system (MBS).