Theoretical and Experimental Comparison of Directly and Externally Modulated Fiber-Optic Links

摘要

Analytic models of directly and externally modulated fiber-optic links have been derived and experimentally confirmed. The models have been employed to optimize the operating parameters of fiber-optic links. Experimental measurements on these optimized links indicated net incremental link power gains of +3 dB for direct modulation and +11 dB for external modulation. The implications of these optimizations on other measures of link performance, such as bandwidth and noise figure, are also presented. Reprints. (RH)