Sensitive 50- Omega coherent lightwave receiver utilizing a high-power local oscillator

The performance of a simple 50- Omega balanced receiver suitable for use in multigigabit heterodyne coherent lightwave systems is described. A high-power, tunable, distributed-Bragg-reflector laser is used as a local oscillator, resulting in a thermal noise penalty of only 2.4 dB. Frequency-shift keying (FSK) system results at 1 and 4 Gb/s are reported.<
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