RF-assisted sub-carrier multiplexing for optical transmission at 100 Gbit/s and beyond

Summary form only given. We have developed a solution for 112 Gbit/s optical transmission based on RF-assisted sub-carrier multiplexing (SCM) combined with 16-QAM modulation, dual polarizations, and coherent detection. By taking advantage of radio frequency (RF) technologies and electronic integration, relatively low symbol rates can be used, simplifying A/D-converters and digital signal processing (DSP) hardware. In addition, the number and complexity of optical components can be reduced, enabling further cost savings. We present results of transmission tests over up to 824 km of field deployed fiber using a 112 Gbit/s dual sub-carrier system, demonstrating the feasibility of the developed solution. Furthermore, the scalability of the SCM architecture towards higher bitrates is discussed.