Linearized modulator for suboctave-bandpass optical analog links

Abstract

The spurious-free dynamic range of a suboctave externally modulated optical analog link can be improved (to >140 dB Hz/sup 4/5/) with modest received optical power and little noise figure penalty by using a simple linearized modulator. Its design consists of two standard Mach-Zehnder interferometric modulators in series, and so can operate at microwave frequencies. This paper develops standardized measures of linearized modulator performance, and uses them to evaluate the modulator; link examples are also given. A simple experiment verifies the basic theoretical predictions.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>