Flat optical frequency comb generation using polarization modulator and frequency shifter with double recirculating frequency shifting loops

A scheme to generate ultra-flat and stable optical frequency comb (OFC) based on multi-wavelength optical seed source and polarization-modulator-based complementary frequency shifter (PCFS) has been proposed and demonstrated. The OFC generation scheme includes two stages: 5-carrier light source is generated by utilizing a polarization modulator at the first stage, and the light source is then used as the seed light in the PCFS at the second stage. Compared with the previous flat OFC generator based on a recirculation frequency shifter, the proposed scheme can greatly reduce the recirculation times, and such a property makes the accumulated noise of the system enormously decrease. In order to achieve the frequency comb with the best flatness, the optical amplifier gain, filter stop-band attenuation and modulator drive voltage are optimized. Experiment simulations show that high-quality OFC with hundreds of frequency lines and power fluctuation within 2 dB can be achieved without direct-current bias control and wavelength-selective-switch.     

无滤波高倍频光载毫米波生成技术

提出了一种无滤波的高倍频光载毫米波生成方案.该方案未使用相关的光/电滤波器就可16倍频的毫米波信号.整个系统采用三平行的马赫-曾德尔调制器结构和单个马赫-曾德尔调制器级联,通过调整系统的参数可以很好地抑制所有冗余光边带,只留下高质量的8阶光边带,无需任何光/电滤波器就能够得到16倍频的高质量毫米波信号.另外,详细分析了系统的工作原理,并通过仿真验证了调制深度、消光比、移相器偏移以及调制器偏压对系统的影响.研究结果表明将2 Gbit/s的非归零码型数据与10 GHz的射频信号混频后作为马赫-曾德尔调制器的驱动信号,系统经过50 km光纤传输后的链路功率代价为1.0 dB,具有良好的传输性能.该方案对于无滤波的高倍频毫米波生成有一定的参考价值.     

一种提高基于循环频移器的多载波光源光信噪比的方案

频率锁定多载波光源是实现太比特系统传输的关键器件之一, 目前已成为光纤通信领域的研究热点.基于循环频移技术产生的频率锁定 多载波光源因具有驱动电压低、串扰小、平坦度高的优点而受到重视, 但是其输出质量容易受到调制器固有的高阶谐波串扰的影响,特别是三阶谐波串扰. 为了减小三阶串扰的影响,本文提出了在I/Q调制器两支路上再加载另一频率为3f_m的射频信号的方案, 用其产生的一阶信号来抑制三阶串扰.通过理论分析与数值仿真,得到了载波数为24、 载波间最大功率差小于0.1 dB的多载波光源输出.与未采用三阶串扰抑制方案的结果比较, 光源输出有效光信噪比提高了2 dB. 结果表明,采用本文的改进方案,可以有效地提高多载波光源的输出平坦度和有效光信噪比.     

二次偏振调制测距系统中调制频率与测距精度的关系

本文在基于二次偏振调制激光测距系统的基础上, 对调制频率与激光测距系统精度的关系做了深入的理论推导和实验验证. 最终得出结论: 相位法激光测距系统的测量精度会随着调制频率的增大而提高, 且精度的提高程度正比于调制频率的不确定度Δf与测程范围内半波长数N值的比值. 并通过选取合适的调制频率来提高系统的测距精度, 提高后的测距精度可达10^-7.     

Investigation of high-speed optical FSK generation scheme based on carrier suppression and phase modulation

We propose and numerically investigate a novel high-speed (40-Gb/s and above) optical frequency shift-keying (FSK) transmitter scheme. By optical carrier-suppressed modulation and differential phase-shift-keying (DPSK) to intensity modulation (IM) conversion, only one light source is needed in the proposed scheme to generate high-speed optical FSK signals. By using a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) as phase modulator and an additional delay interferometer (DI) cascaded after the carrier-suppressed MZM to suppress the remaining carrier, the performance of our scheme can compete with the double-light-source counterparts. The transmission performances of the FSK signal generated with the proposed scheme as well as detuning and bandwidth tolerance of the demodulation filter are also carefully investigated. Simulation results show that the proposed FSK generation scheme is very suitable for the next-generation optical access network and optical label switching network. A potential application of our scheme in high-speed passive optical network is proposed.     

Theoretical analysis of polarization control for the stable output of multi-carrier source based on a re-circulating frequency shifter

Fluctuating polarization state-of-light in the optical loop is an important factor that seriously influences the output performance of a multi-carrier source based on re-circulating frequency shifter (RFS). The reason for output spectrum instability when no polarization controller (PC) is present in the loop is analyzed theoretically. Numerical simulations for the output spectra of the multi-carrier source with and without PC are conducted, and the trajectories of the several frequency components polarization states on the Poincare sphere with and without PC are compared. The results show that the performance of multi-carrier source based on a RFS can be improved effectively by adjusting the PC in the configuration properly.     

基于双通道马赫曾德尔调制器调制边带滤波的微波光子移相器

提出了一种基于双通道马赫曾德尔调制器(DPMZM)调制边带滤波的微波光子移相器。在双通道马赫曾德尔调制器的结构中,在一路马赫曾德尔干涉仪上实现抑制光载波的双边带调制输出,而在另一路马赫曾德尔的相位调节臂上通过调节偏置电压实现光载波信号的光学移相,两路光信号经过干涉合路后由光纤布拉格光栅(FBG)滤除其中一个一阶边带,最后输入到光电探测器(PD)进行光电转换得到移相的微波信号。实验结果表明,基于DPMZM调制边带滤波的微波光子移相器具有传输特性稳定、输出幅度波动小的优点。该结构还具有相移调节响应速度快、应用频带宽以及移相范围大于360°等特点。     

64 GHz optical millimeter-wave generation by octupling 8 GHz local oscillator via a nested LiNbO3 modulator

A novel scheme to generate a 64 GHz optical millimeter (mm)-wave via a nested LiNbO₃ Mach-Zehnder modulator with an 8 GHz local oscillator is proposed and simulated. Since the frequency response of the modulator and the local oscillator frequency are greatly reduced, the bandwidth requirements of the optical and electrical components in the transmitter are significantly decreased. The simulation results show that the generated optical mm-wave signal maintains good performance even after being transmitted over 20 km standard single-mode fiber.     

Factors affecting the performance of a multi-tone carrier source based re-circulating frequency shifter

Generation of single-sideband (SSB) multi-carrier source based on a recirculating frequency shifter (RFS) is anal-ysed theoretically and realized experimentally.The effects of affecting factors originating from the deviation from the right operation bias voltage and unbalanced amplitude,and the phase of the radio frequency (RF) drive signals on the performance of the multi-tone source are discussed in detail.Based on the theoretical analysis,high-quality 50-tone out-put is successfully realized.Experiments under some implementation imperfections are also carried out.The imperfect and low-quality output results are in good agreement with theoretical analysis.     

Photon Generation Scheme of 32-Fold Millimeter-Wave Signal Based on Mach-Zehnder Modulator

This paper proposes a 32-tupling frequency millimeter-wave (MMW) filter-free system based on four Mach-Zehnder Modulators (MZM) connected in parallel and cascaded with a simple radio-fiber (RoF) link structure. The four MZMs are all at the maximum transmission point (MATP), and the radio frequency (RF) driving voltage phase difference between MZMs is π /2. The center carrier is suppressed by using an optical attenuator (OATT) and an optical phase shifter (OPS). Two parallel MZMs can generate ±8th order and ±12th order optical sidebands, and the ±4th order optical sidebands can be suppressed by adjusting the modulation index m of the MZM, using cascaded two dual-parallel MZMS(DPMZM) and the phase difference of the RF signal source is π/4 to generate ±16th order optical sidebands. The theoretical analysis and simulation experiments are performed for the scheme proposed in this paper. The results show that the simulated and theoretical values of the optical sideband suppression ratio (OSSR) for ±16th order optical sideband signals are 60.02 and 59.96 dB, respectively, and the simulated and theoretical values of the RF sideband suppression ratio (RFSSR) for the 32-tupling MMW signal are 56.34 and 53.94 dB, respectively.     

Evaluation of a simplified Doppler frequency shifter

Mechanical Doppler frequency shifting of a millimeter or submillimeter wave signal provides a means to implement a sensitive and highly coherent heterodyne receiver in a laboratory system. The rotary shifter, which we have previously described, is a precision-machined device suitable for use down to submillimeter wavelengths. We found at 140GHz, however, that the coherence of such a system is not affected by mechanical imprecision of the frequency shifter, and that the system dynamic range is only moderately affected by mechanical imprecision and by certain design simplifications. We have therefore built several versions of simpler and less precise Doppler frequency shifters and report here on their performance at 140GHz.     

A novel frequency sextupling scheme for optical mm-wave generation utilizing an integrated dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator

A novel scheme is proposed for frequency sextupling mm-wave generation based on a laser and an integrated dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) without optical filter. Theoretical analysis is presented to suppress the undesired optical sidebands for the high quality generation of frequency sextupling mm-wave signal. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated by simulations. Utilizing the integrated MZM consisted of two sub-MZMs with extinction ratio of 30 dB, the optical sideband suppression ratio (OSSR) is as high as 29.9 dB and the radio frequency spurious suppression ratio (RFSSR) exceeds 24 dB without any optical or electrical filter. The impact of the nonideal RF driven voltage and phase difference of RF driven signal applied to two sub-MZMs of the integrated MZM on OSSR and RFSSR is discussed and analyzed. After transmission over fiber, the generated optical mm-wave signal demonstrates good performance. Furthermore, the performance of two cases for the proposed scheme is also compared.     

Generation of stable and high-quality frequency-locked carriers based on improved re-circulating frequency shifter

An optical multicarrier generator based on the improved re-circulating frequency shifter (RFS) to generate a larger number of frequency-locked carriers with high-quality has been studied. By eliminating the third-order crosstalk components, the output carrier's number and optical signal-to-noise-ratio (OSNR) of the generator have been improved significantly. In addition, the maximum output OSNR and optimal radio-frequency drive voltages in the cases of different desired carrier numbers have been obtained. Using the improved configuration, 130-tone with high-quality (tone-to-noise ratio ～20 dB and superior flatness <3 dB) where the drive voltage is only around 0.5Vπ can be achieved. The simulation results show a good agreement with the theoretical analysis. The multicarrier generator based on the improved RFS has the potential application in the terabit superchannel optical transmission.     

Photonic instantaneous measurement of microwave frequency using fiber Bragg grating

A photonic approach to realizing instantaneous measurement of microwave frequency based on optical monitoring using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is proposed and demonstrated. In the approach, a frequency-unknown microwave signal is modulated on an optical carrier in a Mach-Zehnder modulator biased at the minimum transmission point. After detecting the transmission and reflection optical powers at the output of the FBG, the microwave frequency can be determined according to the value of transmission-to-reflection power ratio, due to the fixed relationship between the microwave frequency and the power ratio. A proof-of-concept experiment has been performed, which demonstrates that a measurement resolution of ±0.08 GHz over a 10 GHz measurement bandwidth is achieved. The measurement performance in terms of resolution is better than previously reported results.     

Tunable asymmetrical Fano resonance and bistability in a microcavity-resonator-coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometer

We propose a simple microresonator scheme for a Mach-Zehnder interferometer in which a microresonator is side coupled to one arm and a phase shifter is introduced into the other arm, to produce an asymmetric Fano-resonance line shape. In this system, a phase shifter is used to control the variation of the asymmetric line shape, with another reverse resonance next to a resonance minimum over a very narrow frequency range, which results from the interference between a direct channel and a high-Q resonance indirect channel. We also theoretically investigate the novel bistability characteristic based on these shapes.     

Switchable instantaneous frequency measurement by optical power monitoring based on DP-QPSK modulator

We propose and analyze an instantaneous frequency measurement system by using optical power monitoring technique with improved resolution. The primary component adopted in the proposal is a dual-polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) modulator which is used to modulate the microwave signal that has a designed time delay and phase shifting. The generated optical signal is sent to polarization beam splitter (PBS) in DP-QPSK modulator. Owing to the complementary transmission nature of polarization interference introduced by PBS, the frequency information is converted into the optical power and the relationship between the amplitude comparison function (ACF) and microwave frequency to be measured is established. Thus, the frequency of the microwave signal can be easily measured through monitoring the optical powers of the two output ports of the PBS. Furthermore, by adjusting the direct current (DC) biases of the DP-QPSK modulator instead of changing the electrical delay, the measurement range and resolution can be switched. In this paper, the basic principle of the instantaneous frequency measurement system is derived in detail, and simulation has been performed to investigate the resolution, the measurement range, and the influence of imperfection devices. The proposed scheme is wavelength-independent and its measurement range is switchable, which can avoid the laser wavelength drifting problem and thus greatly increasing the system flexibility.     

Photonic microwave phase shifter/modulator based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror incorporating a Mach-Zehnder interferometer

We realize a novel photonic microwave phase shifter/modulator based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror incorporating a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A near-linear phase shifter exceeding 180 degrees and a phase modulation with 2.5 Gbit/s baseband signal are obtained for a 10 GHz microwave signal by this proposed device.     

Electro-optic polymer frequency shifter activated by input optical pulses

We demonstrate electro-optic frequency shifting of 1.55-microm optical pulses by as much as 86 GHz in a polymer traveling-wave phase modulator. The optical pulses were modulated with the linear region of quasi-sinusoidal microwave pulses. In the implemented configuration the electro-optic frequency shifter does not require synchronization with the source of the optical pulses, making it transparent to the optical-pulse repetition rate and increasing its utility. Electro-optic frequency conversion has a number of advantages compared with other methods of all-optical frequency conversion, including no need for a second optical source, high conversion efficiency, and simple control of the output frequency.     

Mach-Zehnder电光波导调制器啁啾的研究

在光纤通信系统中,调制器的啁啾参数是衡量调制器性能的重要参数之一.为了深入研究铌酸锂M-Z结构外调制的机理,导出了Mach-Zehnder结构外调制方式调制器的啁啾参数表达式,研究表明该结构调制器频率啁啾不为零,而且调制器的直流偏置漂移对啁啾的影响很小.详细讨论了影响啁啾参数的因素,分析了直流消光比、外加信号以及直流偏置漂移对器件啁啾参数的影响.分析结果表明,利用负啁啾可以改善系统的色散特性.     

LiNbO3马赫曾德尔调制器任意偏置工作点锁定技术的研究

在传统LiNbO3马赫曾德尔调制器偏置控制理论的基础上,提出了一种基于快速傅里叶变换(FFT)算法和低频小信号扰动的谐波响应反馈控制方法,实现了一种与调制器输入光功率及插入损耗无关、任意工作点可偏置并锁定的精密光电控制系统。利用比例积分微分（PID）控制方法,实现了任意工作点偏移小于0.5°的控制精度,实验结果亦证明该控制系统能够实现强度调制器任意工作点的偏置及锁定。这些结果对于将LiNbO3强度调制器稳定在最佳工作点并实现高速长距光纤通信系统是很有帮助的。