Optical carrier-suppressed single sideband (O-CS-SSB) Modulation using a hyperfine blocking filter based on a virtually imaged phased-array (VIPA)

Using a hyperfine blocking filter based on a virtually imaged phased-array as the spectral disperser, we present a novel scheme of optical carrier-suppressed single sideband (SSB) modulation. Our experiments demonstrate sideband suppression of /spl sim/28 dB at only a 2.9-GHz offset for single subcarrier amplitude modulated at 622 Mb/s. Furthermore, the hyperfine blocking filter can be tuned for simultaneous optical SSB and strong carrier suppression to /spl sim/30 dB lower in optical power than the unsuppressed sideband.