Suppression of Even-Order Photodiode Nonlinearities in Multioctave Photonic Links

A balanced photonic receiver is demonstrated to suppress photodiode-generated even-order nonlinearities in a photonic link. This result is especially important for multioctave analog applications. Experimental results are presented for a high-frequency (2-30 MHz) link exhibiting 33-dB suppression of the second harmonic, resulting in an output intercept point of 99 dBm due to second-order intermodulation distortion at 26-mA average photocurrent.