Chirp-inducing mechanisms in Mach-Zehnder modulators and their effect on 10 Gb/s NRZ transmission studied using tunable-chirp single drive devices

Author

Bravetti, P. ; Ghislotti, G. ; Balsamo, S.

Author_Institution

Avanex Corp., Milan, Italy

Volume

22

Issue

2

fYear

2004

Firstpage

605

Lastpage

611

Abstract

We study the effects of different mechanisms inducing chirp in single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZM). In particular, we compare the effect of optical power splitting ratio unbalance with radio frequency modulation unbalance on the two interferometer arms. The better transmission performances of optically unbalanced modulators are ascribed to the different shape of time resolved chirp factor. Finally, we demonstrate error-free uncompensated transmission over 130-km fiber span.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; chirp modulation; optical fibre communication; optical fibre dispersion; optical modulation; optical transmitters; optical tuning; 10 Gbit/s; 130 km; Mach-Zehnder modulators; RZ transmission; chirp-inducing mechanism; optical power splitting ratio unbalance; radio frequency modulation unbalance; time resolved chirp factor; tunable-chirp single-drive devices; Arm; Chirp modulation; Optical fiber communication; Optical fiber dispersion; Optical interferometry; Optical modulation; Optical signal processing; Optical transmitters; Phase modulation; Radio frequency;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2003.822676

Filename

1278505