OPTICAL FREQUENCY-MODULATION LINKS - THEORY AND EXPERIMENTS

In this paper, the first theoretical analysis and experimental realiza tion of an optical frequency modulation coherent detection (FMCD) link working at microwave frequencies is reported, Advantages over convent ional optical intensity modulation direct detection (IMDD) links in te rms of reduced effects of fiber nonlinearity, facilitation of multicha nnel operation, and bandwidth/signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) tradeoffs ar e identified, A detailed theoretical analysis of the SNR of FMCD links is carried out and compared to that for IMDD links, In the experiment al FMCD link, a novel source laser tuning technique, based on the quan tum confined Stark effect, is used, The experimental results are prese nted and compared with the predictions of the theoretical analysis.