Dual-wavelength-modulation mm-wave system based on single-sideband signals

Due to their simplicity, dual-wavelength-modulation (dual-λ-mod) photonic transmitters are an attractive alternative to conventional heterodyne systems for mm-wave/THz signal generation. In contrast to what has been reported in the literature, the authors of this manuscript believe that dual-λ-mod systems based on DSB-C modulation are subjected to power fading, rendering them useless for high-speed mm-wave/THz communications. To solve this, we propose a dual-λ-mod system based on SSB-C modulation. Using a GS laser, a 60-GHz SSB-C dual-λ-mod system transmitting 2.5-GBd 16-QAM signals is demonstrated. A PD-input-power penalty of just 2.8 dB is measured with respect to the conventional heterodyne transmitter at a BER of 10
⁻³
for optical B2B and 10 km fiber transmission.