1-20 GHz Directly Modulated Radio over MMF Link

Abstract

Directly modulated multimode-fiber (MMF) based radio-over-fiber links are demonstrated which support RF carrier frequencies up to 20GHz. This is believed to be the highest frequency yet reported for RF signal transmission using a directly modulated laser. The DFB laser diode introduces less than 1% excess EVM up to 16GHz, while both high-and low-bandwidth MMF links introduce very little penalty at carrier frequencies in excess of 20GHz for distances of 1000m and 575m, respectively.