Maximum dynamic range operation of a microwave external modulation fiber-optic link

Author

Ackerman, Edward ; Wanuga, Stephen ; Kasemset, Dumrong ; Daryoush, Afshin S. ; Samant, Naranjan R.

Author_Institution

GE Aerosp. Electron. Lab., Gen. Electr. Co., Syracuse, NY, USA

Volume

41

Issue

8

fYear

1993

fDate

8/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1299

Lastpage

1306

Abstract

We fully analyze the analog performance of an external modulation fiber-optic link. We express relevant figures of merit-including gain, noise figure, third-order intermodulation distortion, AM compression, and dynamic range-in terms of the microwave scattering matrices of the modulator and detector circuits, and we predict the modulator bias condition promoting optimum link performance. Our predictions match the measured gain, noise figure, and dynamic range of an experimental 870-930 MHz external modulation fiber-optic link. Maximum spurious-free dynamic range-77 dB·MHz^2/3 (117 db·Hz^2/3)-occurs when the modulator is biased at its halfwave voltage, where the optical throughput is nearly pinched off

Keywords

S-parameters; interference (signal); intermodulation; microwave links; optical links; optical modulation; 870 to 930 MHz; AM compression; IMD; analog performance; detector circuits; fiber-optic link; figures of merit; gain; maximum dynamic range operation; microwave external modulation; microwave scattering matrices; modulator bias condition; modulator circuits; noise figure; optimum link performance; third-order intermodulation distortion; Detectors; Distortion measurement; Dynamic range; Gain measurement; Intermodulation distortion; Microwave circuits; Noise figure; Optical scattering; Performance analysis; Performance gain;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.241670

Filename

241670