Photonic generation and distribution of a modulated 60 GHz signal using a directly modulated gain switched laser

We propose a simple and cost effective approach for the optical generation and downstream transmission of a data modulated 60 GHz signal using a gain switched laser (GSL). Gain switching is achieved by driving the laser with a 15 GHz local oscillator combined with a 1.25 Gbps on-off keyed (OOK) data stream. The system was tested over a 3 km length of fibre and a 2 m radio link and showed good performance. Simulations were also carried out for investigating the impact of optical suppression of unwanted subcarriers on the system performance. The simulations were also performed at up to 15 Gbps and showed the possibility of using the proposed architecture at these high bit rates.