Dual-Output Mach–Zehnder Modulator for Optical Access Networks

What is it about?

This paper employs dual-output Mach–Zehnder Modulator (MZM) for optical access networks without optical filters. Light waves generated from multiple laser sources are multiplexed and fed into dual-output MZM. Biasing the dual-output MZM at null point generates central carriers in one output port and first-order sidebands in another output port. Reflective semiconductor optical amplifier modulates both the central carriers and sidebands with wired and wireless data, respectively. The modulated optical signals are combined by polarization beam splitter and transmitted through 25-km single-mode fiber. The performance of the proposed scheme is proved by clear eye-diagrams and great bit error rate (BER) curves. Moreover, the power penalty at the BER of 10-9 is less than 1 dB for both wired and wireless signals. Therefore, the proposed system simultaneously transmits wired and wireless signals.

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Photo by Jordan Harrison on Unsplash

Photo by Jordan Harrison on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Unlike other schemes, we did not use optical filter to separate the central carrier from first-order sidebands due to optical filter affected by temperature.Moreover, the proposed system has advantages such as large capacity in a single wavelength, independent dual-service operation, and compatibility with WDM-PON or ROF systems.

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