Photonic circuit for high order USB and LSB separation for remote heterodyning: analysis and simulation

A novel photonic integrated circuit is proposed that, using an RF source, generates at its output ports the same magnitude but opposite sign high order single optical side bands of a suppressed optical carrier. A single stage parallel Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM) and a two-stage series parallel MZM architecture are described and their relative merits discussed. A transfer matrix method is used to describe the operation of the circuits. The theoretical analysis is validated by computer simulation. As an illustration of a prospective application, it is shown how the circuit may be used as a key element of an optical transmission system to transport radio signals over fibre for wireless access; generating remotely a mm-wave carrier modulated by digital IQ data. A detailed calculation of symbol error rate is presented to characterise the system performance. The circuit may be fabricated in any integration platform offering a suitable phase modulator circuit element such as LiNbO(3), Silicon, and III-V or hybrid technology.