Performance of 20 Gb/s quaternary intensity modulation based on binary or duobinary modulation in two quadratures with unequal amplitudes

2times10 Gb/s quaternary intensity modulation signals (4-IM) can be generated by combining two modulation signals with unequal amplitudes in quadrature phases or orthogonal polarizations. Two 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) amplitude-shift keying (ASK) signals and a quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulator allow to generate 4-IM with the same bandwidth as an NRZ-ASK signal (QASK). Measured sensitivity at a bit error rate (BER) of 10
^-9
and chromatic dispersion (CD) tolerance are -21.6 dBm and ~+130 ps/nm, respectively. Two duobinary 10-Gb/s data streams and a QPSK modulator allow to generate a 9-constellation point quaternary intensity signal (QDB), with the same bandwidth as a duobinary signal. A stub filter with frequency response dip at 5 GHz was used to generate the duobinary signals. Detected as a 4-IM, this scheme features a sensitivity and a CD tolerance of -21.2 dBm and ~+140 ps/nm, respectively. By combining the two duobinary 10-Gb/s data streams with unequal amplitudes in orthogonal polarizations, a 9-constellation point quaternary intensity signal was also obtained (QPolDB). Sensitivity and CD tolerance were -20.5 dBm and ~+340 ps/nm, respectively. They became -18.4 dBm and ~+530 ps/nm, respectively, when the frequency response dip of the stub filter was changed to 6 GHz. A polarization and phase-insensitive direct detection receiver with a single photodiode has been used to detect all generated quaternary signals as 4-IM signals