Transmission performance of quadruple frequency optical millimeter-wave with single and dual carrier data modulations

We have demonstrated generation and transmission of the 40GHz dual-tone optical millimeter (mm)-wave by quadrupling the 10GHz radio frequency local oscillator via a single dual-electrode 10GHz Mach-Zehnder modulator. The transmission performance of two different data modulation formats are discussed based on the transmission function of the dispersive fiber theoretically and then verified by simulation. Conclusion is given that, the transmission distance with dual tone data modulation is limited because of the sidebands walk off effect caused by the fiber dispersion. The bit walk off effect can be eliminated and transmission distance can be extended greatly for single tone data modulation.