All-Optical Frequency Up-Converter Utilizing Cross Polarization Modulation in an SOA for 60-GHz-Band Radio-Over-Fiber Systems

A broadband all-optical frequency up-converter using cross polarization modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Error-free transmission of 1.25 Gb/s pseudorandom bit sequence data with an optical RF signal (f
_RF
=60 GHz) was achieved. The receiver sensitivities at a bit error rate of 10
^-9
were -12.16 and -9.6 dBm in the inverted and noninverted modes, respectively. This all-optical frequency up-conversion technique showed negligible power penalties for fiber length up to 29.6 km.