Fiber-Optic Broadband Signal Distribution Link Based on a Millimeter-Wave Self-Heterodyne Transmission/Optical Remote Heterodyne Detection Technique

A fiber-optic broadband signal distribution link based on a millimeter-wave self-heterodyne transmission/optical remote heterodyne detection technique was developed. To avoid having to use expensive optical and millimeter-wave devices to construct a frequency-stable fiber-optic millimeter-signal transmission system, a millimeter-wave self-heterodyne transmission technique was used, in which transmitted signals were generated by an optical remote heterodyne detection scheme. Theoretical discussion and experiments demonstrated that it is possible to construct an inexpensive millimeter-wave signal distribution link without the complexity or difficulties of a conventional link structure because applying the principle of the millimeter-wave self-heterodyne transmission technique enables the use of an unstable millimeter-wave carrier generated by heterodyning of two independently operating lasers. It was experimentally demonstrated that the proposed fiber-optic millimeter-wave link could successfully achieve bit-error-free transmission of a 156-Mb/s QPSK-formatted signal over a 10-km fiber link and a 5-m pseudo-air link. key words: millimeter-wave, optical remote heterodyne, self-heterodyne, optical SSB modulator