Novel technique for nonlinearity postcompensation of Mach-Zehnder modulator in an analog-optical link

A novel technique for third-order distortion (TOD) suppression of a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) in an analog-optical link is proposed and demonstrated by a numerical simulation. The results with analog input signal are presented in spectrum domain for the evaluation of link performance. A novel simple time-domain linearization scheme results in 44.5 dB spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) improvement and allows optical modulation depths approaching π/2 radian. The peak-to-peak voltage of the modulated signal could then reach to Vπ with negligible impact of MZM distortion. The work presented here demonstrates that the performance of the analog-optical link increases significantly thanks to the proposed technique.