Optical beat noise reduction in WDM-SCM access networks using modulated optical pulse train

We proposed a new method to suppress the optical beat interference (OBI) in wavelength-division-multiplexing/subcarrier-multiple-access network. The proposed scheme uses the modulated optical pulse train that has broad bandwidth in frequency domain. Since the OBI noise is inversely proportional to the optical bandwidth of beating optical signals, the generated OBI noise by beating of optical pulse train signals from several optical network units (ONUs) spreads over wide frequency range. In addition, the chance of optical beating is low because optical pulse trains from different ONU have different pulse timing. We have demonstrated the proposed idea experimentally. In beating experiment, the carrier-to-noise ratio was obtained over 30 dBc regardless of optical beating. In addition, 6-Ms/s 16 quadrature amplitude modulator data at 0.7 GHz was successfully transmitted up to 20 km with an average error-vector-magnitude of 4.5% in presence of optical beating.