Spectrally Efficient WDM Nyquist Pulse-Shaped Subcarrier Modulation Using a Dual-Drive Mach–Zehnder Modulator and Direct Detection

High data transmission capacity is increasingly needed in short- and medium-haul optical communication links. Cost-effective wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) transceiver architectures, achieving high information spectral densities (ISDs) (
$>$
1 b/s/Hz) and using low-complexity direct detection receivers are attractive solutions for such links. In this paper, we assess the use of dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulators (DD-MZMs), and compare them with in-phase quadrature (
IQ
)-modulators for generating spectrally-efficient single sideband Nyquist pulse-shaped 16-QAM subcarrier (N-SCM) modulation format signals. The impact of the extinction ratio (ER) of a modulator on the optical sideband suppression ratio (OSSR) was investigated for the SSB signals in WDM systems, together with the resulting impact on inter-channel crosstalk penalties. First, in back-to-back operation, an
IQ
-modulator with an ER of 30 dB and a DD-MZM with an ER of 18 dB were experimentally compared in a 6
$\times$
25 Gb/s WDM system by varying the channel spacing. Following this comparison, 16 GHz-spaced 6
$\times$
25 Gb/s WDM signal transmission was experimentally demonstrated using the DD-MZM. The experiment was performed using a recirculating loop with uncompensated standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) and EDFA-only amplification. The maximum achievable transmission distances for single channel and WDM signals were found to be 565 and 242 km, respectively, at a net optical ISD of 1.5 b/s/Hz. This is the first experimental comparison of such modulator types for SSB N-SCM signal generation and the highest achieved ISD using a DD-MZM in direct-detection WDM transmission.