A key figure of merit for analog optical links for radio-over-fiber is the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR). In most links, shot noise associated with the residual optical carrier dominates SFDR. Class AB techniques have been used previously in order to improve the shot-noise limited SFDR for intensity-modulated links, but this has been for Mach- Zehnder modulators. In order to approach the theoretical improvement of 12 dB in SFDR for the class B scheme, an ideal linear static characteristic for the modulator is required; hence we propose the use of ring-resonator modulators which have been proven to approach quasi-linear voltage-light characteristics.

Date Published: 7 February 2015
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9387, Broadband Access Communication Technologies IX, 938709 (7 February 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2078717

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9387:
Broadband Access Communication Technologies IX
Benjamin B. Dingel; Katsutoshi Tsukamoto, Editor(s)