D-band mm-wave SSB vector signal generation based on cascaded intensity modulators

We proposed and experimentally demonstrated a novel and simple method to realize D-band millimeter-wave (mm-wave) single-sideband (SSB) vector signal generation using cascaded one single-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and one push-pull MZM. After the first MZM driven by a radio frequency (RF) signal of 20-GHz, an optical frequency comb (OFC) with six flat carriers was successfully generated. Using the subsequent push-pull MZM driven by 10-GHz SSB vector signals and a photodiode (PD) for detection, we finally generated D-band SSB vector mm-wave signals at frequencies of 130-GHz and 150-GHz, respectively. The experimental results are well consistent with theoretical and simulation analysis. Based on the proposed scheme, 4-Gbaud generated D-band quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) and 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) mm-wave signals were transmitted over 10-km/25-km single-mode-fiber (SMF) and 1-m wireless links. The bit-error-rate (BER) performance can reach less than 7% hard-decision forward-error-correction (FEC) threshold of 3.8  ×  10 −3 .