Wavelength-division-multiplexed Millimeter-waveband radio-on-fiber system using a supercontinuum light source

Abstract

We propose to use a supercontinuum (SC) for a low-phase-noise multiwavelength light source in wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) millimeter-waveband (mm-waveband) radio-on-fiber (RoF) systems. We demonstrate the generation of low-phase-noise 60-GHz-band RoF signal. We also demonstrate the generation of two-channel WDM 60-GHz-band RoF signals and the transmission of the signals over a 25-km standard single-mode fiber (SMF) using photonic upconversion. The single multiwavelength light source can be shared with a number of users and simplifies the system configuration, which would allow the realization of high-reliability as well as low-cost RoF systems. Finally, the RoF network capacity with a single SC light source is estimated to be over 10 000 channels when the spectrum of the SC light source is fully utilized.