Highly Pure 160-GHz Two-Tone Lightwave Generation using High Extinction-Ratio Optical Intensity Modulator and Delay Interferometer

摘要

Quadruple two-tone lightwave of driving RF signal can be generated with a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) operated at full-bias condition and an optical rejection filter to remove the output optical carrier. Recently, we reported that highly balanced operation of a high extinction-ratio MZM (HER-MZM) both optically and electrically is effective to suppress undesired even order optical sidebands for double sideband suppressed carrier modulation. In this report, we demonstrate highly pure quadruple two-tone lightwave generation with a highly balanced HER-MZM and a delay interferometer (DI). The highly balanced operation effectively suppresses undesired odd order sidebands, and the DI is effective to suppress 4th order sidebands. In 160-GHz two-tone lightwave generation experiment, the undesired sideband was suppressed by more than 39 dB.