Optical single-sideband OFDM transmission based on a two-segment EAM

Abstract

This paper presents a novel optical single-sideband (SSB) OFDM modulation scheme using a two-segment electro-absorption modulator (EAM). Differences in the chirp characteristics of two segments of the EAM make it possible to design driving signals capable of suppressing one of the optical sidebands, such that the optical OFDM signal does not suffer from frequency-selective power fading following dispersive fiber transmission. Our experiment results demonstrate optical OFDM transmissions at 13.5-Gbps over a 0 ∼ 200-km IM/DD system without the need for dispersion compensation and distance-dependent bit- and power-loading.