Optimized NRZ / RZ-OOK over a 2-Channel Mode-Division Multiplexing for Interconnect and Metro Applications

The transmission performance of high-speed Mode-Division Multiplexing (MDM) system for metro and interconnect applications was presented in this paper. The network link is modelled to transmit two spatial signal mode channels (LP
⁰¹
and LP
11
) as signal carriers. A binary Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (OOK) modulation formats were adopted for this study. The two mode channels were recovered by direct detection (DD). A spatial receiver with two different aggregated bit rate of
$2\times 10$
Gb/s and
$2\times 20$
Gb/s at the operating wavelength of 1550 nm was designed. By optimizing the bias voltages of a dual-port dual derive Mach Zehnder modulator (DP-DD-MZ), the system's performance was optimized to extend the transmission distance. Thus, this extends the transmission reach compared to that of the conventional Mach Zehnder (C-MZM) modulator by 8 km and 7 km, at 10 Gb/s and 20 Gb/s, respectively. The proposed system can be used as an alternative candidate for a data center and metro communication network, due to its potentiality for enhancing the capacity of an optical communication system