Dispersion-tolerant multiple WDM channel millimeter-wave signal generation using a single monolithic mode-locked semiconductor laser

This paper presents a scheme by which multiple wavelength-division-multiplexed millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals in the range of 30 GHz can be generated from a single monolithic semiconductor laser for applications in optically fed mm-wave networks or fiber radio networks. The mm-wave signals are generated using dual optical modes separated by a mm-wave frequency, obtained from spectrum slicing the output from a stable multimode hybrid mode-locked semiconductor laser. In this scheme, self-heterodyne detection at a high-speed photodetector achieves the photonic upconversion of low-data-rate signals to mm-wave frequencies without the need for electronic mixing. Experimental results show the generation of up to 14 WDM channels using a single laser. The phase noise of electrical signals generated by photonic upconversion of these signals is less than -94 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset frequency across the wavelengths. Also presented is the transmission of 155-Mb/s binary-phase-shift-keyed data signals at 30-GHz frequency over 10 km of single-mode fiber at different wavelengths using dual-mode signals. The results confirm that a bit-error rate of 10(-9) can be easily achieved. The dispersion tolerance of the dual-mode signals is evaluated using simulation and an analytical model and compared with other mm-wave signal generation techniques.