Remote Optical Frequency Up-Converter Based on Optoelectronic Oscillator

A remote optical frequency up-converter utilizing an electro-absorption modulator-based optoelectronic oscillator (EAM-OEO) for radio-over-fiber application is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed remote optical frequency up-converter has no data leakage from optical baseband signal and no phase noise degradation stemming from optical baseband data leakage, because the optical baseband signal is optically isolated from the OEO feedback loop by an optical band pass filter. Compared with the conventional remote optical frequency up-converter based on an EAM-OEO, the proposed system shows improved phase noise characteristics and receiver sensitivity.