Abstract
The radio-over-fiber (RoF) technique has gained a lot of interest recently, as the millimeter-wave signals can be generated and delivered in the optical domain with the advantages of low attenuation, high capacity, and being free from electromagnetic noise interference (EMI). In this paper, we propose and experimentally prove a self-start multi-wavelength laser source based on a distributed feedback laser diode (DFB-LD) for the RoF transport system. The self-start multi-wavelength laser source generates stable laser power with less than 0.18 dB power fluctuation and exhibits good stability. In order to estimate the transmission performance, data is externally modulated onto the multi-wavelength by a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) and transmitted through single-mode fiber (SMF). The experimental result proves that the proposed RoF transport system achieves error-free transmission and clear eye diagrams.
Highlights
Optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) have attracted much attention owing to the characteristics of high-quality factors, extremely low noise, excellent performance even at higher frequencies, and other characteristics that are not achieved with electronic oscillators
A self-start multi-wavelength laser source based on the OEO structure is proposed and proven in this paper
This proposed multi-wavelength laser source could be packaged in a smaller module using optical waveguide techniques to reduce power loss and simplify the complexity of OEO devices [24]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The radio-over-fiber (RoF) technique, which can generate and deliver millimeter-wave signals in the optical domain, is a good candidate for next-generation communication systems due to the advantages of fiber such as high capacity, low attenuation, lightweight, and being free from electromagnetic noise interference (EMI) [14,15,16,17,18]. In the RoF transmission system, the desired signal can be optically upconverted to a higher frequency band by means of selecting the specific wavelength. Conventional multi-wavelength schemes use an array of laser sources, external modulators, and local oscillators. In [19,20,21], semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) and erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are utilized as gain mediums to generate multi-wavelengths. Optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) have attracted much attention owing to the characteristics of high-quality factors, extremely low noise, excellent performance even at higher frequencies, and other characteristics that are not achieved with electronic oscillators. The system performance is verified using clear eye diagrams and error-free signal transmission
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