A Novel Scheme for Optical Millimeter

Wave Generation Using LiNbO3 Mach–

Zehnder Modulator Without Amplifier

P. K. Anand Prem & Arvind Chakrapani

Proceedings of the National Academy

of Sciences, India Section A: Physical
Sciences

ISSN 0369-8203

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. A Phys.

Sci.
DOI 10.1007/s40010-018-0532-4

1 23
Your article is protected by copyright and all
rights are held exclusively by The National
Academy of Sciences, India. This e-offprint
is for personal use only and shall not be self-
archived in electronic repositories. If you wish
to self-archive your article, please use the
accepted manuscript version for posting on
your own website. You may further deposit
the accepted manuscript version in any
repository, provided it is only made publicly
available 12 months after official publication
or later and provided acknowledgement is
given to the original source of publication
and a link is inserted to the published article
on Springer's website. The link must be
accompanied by the following text: "The final
publication is available at link.springer.com”.

1 23
 Author's personal copy
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. A Phys. Sci.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40010-018-0532-4
RESEARCH ARTICLE
A Novel Scheme for Optical Millimeter Wave Generation Using
LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder Modulator Without Amplifier
P. K. Anand Prem1 • Arvind Chakrapani1
Received: 5 November 2016 / Revised: 30 April 2018 / Accepted: 11 July 2018
 The National Academy of Sciences, India 2018
Abstract This article proposes a novel quadrupler method
for optical millimeter wave (mmw) generation by sup-
pressing optical carrier signal using a LiNbO3 MZM
modulator. The scheme is experimentally demonstrated
and the quality of the generated signal is analyzed by using
optical spectrum, electrical spectrum, eye diagram and Q
factor. The optical carrier suppression modulation is per-
formed for the generation of optical mmw and 2.5 Gbaud
data transmission is done through a standard single mode
fiber of length 60 km without using amplifier in the base
station. An analysis in terms of quality factor versus length
of fiber and bit error rate versus extinction ratio is per-
formed to ensure the robustness of the generated mmw
signal.
Keywords LiNbO3 MZM (lithium niobate Mach–Zehnder
modulator)  Frequency quadrupler  Millimeter wave 
Optical carrier suppression modulation
1 Introduction
In recent days large broadband data transfer between
devices requires specialized communication techniques for
efficient data transmission. Optical communication seems
to be a promising field to support the ever increasing
demand for broadband connectivity and its associated
wireless systems. Data rate and quality of the signal in
optical domain is high when compared to other
& P. K. Anand Prem
anandprem.2008@gmail.com
1
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,
Karpagam College of Engineering, Coimbatore 641032, India
conventional methods in electrical domain [1]. The mil-
limeter wave generation finds application in various fields
including spectroscopic sensing, radar, medical imaging,
data transmission and modern instrumentation [2]. For
transmission of millimeter wave signal the best option is to
use of optical fiber due to its wide frequency range and
simple mechanism [3, 4]. Due to the efficiency of data
transmission by optical means, many researchers have
introduced methods to generate mmw for radio over fiber
(RoF) systems. The widely used mmw generation methods
are direct modulation, up and down conversion, heterodyne
technique and external modulator scheme [5]. Among the
aforementioned methods external intensity modulation
technique is preferred for long distance data transmission
with negligible interference [6]. In addition, the mmw
generated has wide frequency tunability, system reliability
and high spectral purity [7]. In this paper a novel optical
millimeter wave generation method using LiNbO3 MZM
modulator based on frequency quadrupler is proposed. This
experiment also proves that data can be transmitted for a
long distance without using an amplifier in the base station
which leads to dramatic reduction in the cost. Low fre-
quency bandwidth for electrical and optical components
can be achieved by the optical carrier suppression tech-
nique [8, 9]. The experimental analysis is carried out by
transmitting the optical mmw signal for a distance of
60 km while the quality of signal is estimated by using the
eye diagram, optical spectrum and RF spectrum.
123
 Author's personal copy
2 Basic Principle of mmw Generation Using
LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder Modulator
In the external modulation technique Mach–Zehnder
Modulator (MZM) is the commonly used electro-optic
modulator for the optical millimeter wave generation. The
block diagram of the proposed LiNbO3 MZM shows in
Fig. 1. In the central station, a CW laser is the message
signal which given as the input for MZM by using the
signal generator as a carrier of the message signal. The
MZM is an external modulator which plays an important
role to generate mmw signal by increasing the frequency of
the input signal generator. The bias voltage of optical
MZM can be varied by using the simulation process to
achieve high frequency mmw by iteration method. The
MZM circuit has two splitted arms, when voltage is applied
in one of the arms the optical wave travelling through the
other arm exhibit a phase change. When two arms are
recombined either a constructive or destructive frequency
modulation are generated due to the phase shift in MZM. In
this proposed system it is evident that by the iteration
method and a bias voltage of 6 V has the ability to multiply
the frequency into four times. Thus by using LiNbO3
MZM modulator a quadrupler frequency is generated and
transmitted through a 60 km SSMF by maintaining same
frequency to the base station without using an amplifier.
The output from the external modulator is a carrier
suppressed modulated signal which is passed through an
optical fiber of length 60 km to reach the base station (BS).
The BS contains a photo detector to convert the optical
signal into electrical signal then by filter process the signal
is given to the antenna.
3 Simulation Setup for Optical mmw Generation
The central station and the bases station setup is shown in
Fig. 2 uses a LiNbO3 MZM, which is an intensity modu-
lator used to increase the modulation frequency of the
carrier signal. By varying the bias voltage of the MZ
Bias Voltage Antenna
Central Base
Station Station
LiNbO3
CW Photo-detector
MZM
Laser Fiber
Signal Generator Analyzers
Pseudo random bit sequence
Fig. 1 Proposed LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder modulator for mmw
generation
123
P. K. A. Prem, A. Chakrapani
modulator, the undesired even order optical sidebands can
be suppressed so that the resultant signal produces a fre-
quency four times of the input carrier signal. At central
station, two signal generators are used as per the require-
ments of LiNbO3 modulator which has a same frequency
with no phase change and the base station uses a signal
generator with frequency 40 GHz. The electrical signal
output from the photodiode is compared with the signal
generator by the filter to prevent the undesired signal and
passes the desired signal.
It is assumed that both the optical carrier and the elec-
trical drive signal are continuous wave (CW) in nature.
The modulator electric field applied is expressed as
Ein ðtÞ ¼ E0 cosðx0 tÞ
The voltage of the millimeter wave signal is given as
V1 ðtÞ ¼ Ve cosðxc t þ u1 Þ
where E0 is the electric field amplitude while Ve and u1 are
amplitude and phase of electrical signal respectively.
The bias voltage value of the modulator is given as 6 V in
order to suppress all the undesired even optical sidebands and
the electric field output of the modulator can be expressed by


Eout1 ðtÞ ¼ E0 cosðxo tÞ cos p=2 þ b1 cosðxc þ u1 Þ
¼ B1 ðb1 ÞE0 fcosððxo  xc Þt  u1 Þ
þ cosððxo þ xc Þt þ u1 Þg
 
where b1 ¼ Ve=Vp1 : p2, is the phase modulation index of
the first MZM.B1 is the first order Bessel function of the
first kind, b1 is the phase modulation index. u1 and u2 are
the critical phase of the signal applied to the first and
second modulator respectively.
The first modulator output is given to the next modulator
which have mmw signal with the frequency xc and phase
u2 . The bias voltage of second MZM modulator is given as
6 V to completely suppress the carrier signal and thus first
order sideband with center frequency xo  xc and xo þ xc
are preserved. The pseudo random bit sequence generator
is given to the second modulator with a bit rate of
2.5 Gbaud and transmitted for a distance of 60 km optical
fiber.
The output of second modulator can be expressed as
Eout2 ðtÞ ¼ B1 ðb1 ÞB1 ðb2 ÞE0 fcos ½ðxo  2xc Þt  u1  u2 
þ B1 ðb1 ÞB1 ðb2 ÞE0 cos ½ðxo þ 2xc Þt þ u1 þ u2 
Filter
þ 2B1 ðb1 ÞB1 ðb2 ÞE0 cosðu2  u1 Þcosðx0 tÞg
 
where b2 ¼ Ve1=Vp2 : p2 is the phase modulation index of
second MZM. The Ve1 and Vp2 are the amplitude and half-
wave voltage of the second modulator.
The electric field of the optical signal at the output of
second modulator when a phase change of p2 is given by the
phase shifter is
 Author's personal copy
A Novel Scheme for Optical Millimeter Wave Generation Using LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder Modulator…

Fig. 2 Simulation setup

Eout2 ðtÞ ¼ B1 ðb1 ÞB1 ðb2 ÞE0 cos ½ðxo  2xc Þt  u1  u2 

þ B1 ðb1 ÞB1 ðb2 ÞE0 cos ½ðxo þ 2xc Þt þ u1 þ u2 

From the equation it is evident that the second order

sidebands are present and having a frequency separation of
four times the driving signal frequency.
The output of photodiode is expressed as
Vout ðtÞ ¼ B21 ðb1 ÞB21 ðb2 ÞE02 cosð4xc t þ 2u1 þ 2u2 Þ
The theoretical analysis shows the conditions and
method employed for achieving frequency quadrupler.
The proposed system is observed with the help of optical
and electrical spectrum of generated millimeter wave. The Fig. 3 Optical spectrum of the generated 40 GHz millimeter wave
block representation of the base station is given in Fig. 3. signal
The quality of signal is checked after transmitting the
optical signal through 60 km length fiber by using eye extinction ratio are presented in this section. The CW laser
diagram visualizer. used as the source signal has a frequency of 193.1 THz,
linewidth 10 MHz. The 2.5 Gbaud pseudorandom bit
sequence is modulated on to 10 Ghz radio frequency local
4 Simulation Results oscillator with a voltage of 6 V.
At the central station the frequency quadrupling optical
In order to determine the robustness and quality of the mmw with first order sideband is obtained without giving
mmw generated using the proposed method, the prelimi- any phase shift and modulated on to 40 GHz. The data is
nary results including spectrum, eye diagram, Q-factor and transmitted over a SSMF for a distance of 60 km. In the

123
 Author's personal copy
P. K. A. Prem, A. Chakrapani

base station the frequency quadrupling optical mmw is

sensed by the photo detector. The conversion of optical
signal into electrical signal is performed in this area and the
electrical signal is passed through a low pass filter. The Q
factor is obtained by using BER analyzer and the quality of
signal is observed by using eye diagram.
The optical spectrum and the electrical spectrum of the
generated mmw signal for the frequency 40 GHz at a
distance of 60 km is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The eye
diagram is shown in Fig. 5, which is wide open when the
mmw is transmitted over 60 km. It is a clear indication that
the data transmitted using optical signal is preserved and
can be reconstructed. Since the resonant photon’s average
life time is proportional to the Q-factor, it is expressed as a Fig. 6 Q factor
function of time in Fig. 6. The mmw in time domain is
shown in the Fig. 7 in which the unnecessary sidebands are
suppressed and only the desired sidebands are preserved.
Moreover no significant distortion is observed in the signal

Fig. 7 Time domain waveform of the generated signal

Fig. 4 Electrical spectrum of generated millimeter wave signal
at the base station after transmission of signal through a
60 km fiber.

5 Fiber Length Versus Quality Factor

As the quality factor increases the rate of energy loss

decreases. Hence in order to ensure the energy conserva-
tion ability of the proposed method, the Q-factor of the

Table 1 Fiber length versus quality factor

Fiber length in km Quality factor

30 53.331
40 52.538
50 52.432
60 51.764
Fig. 5 Eye diagram of baseband signal at 60 km 70 30.212

123
 Author's personal copy
A Novel Scheme for Optical Millimeter Wave Generation Using LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder Modulator…

Table 2 BER versus extinction ratio In order to check the sensitivity of BER to modulator
Extinction ratio Bit error rate (BER)
extinction ratio, BER curve is plotted as a function of
extinction ratio of the MZM. From Fig. 8 it is clear that
5 10-32 when extinction ratio is less, the BER reduces and when
10 10-15 extinction ratio increases, the BER value also increases
20 10-10 thus the deterioration of the produced optical signal is
30 10-20 negligible.
40 10-15 On an experimental basis the extinction ratio of modu-
50 10-10 lator is increased up to a value of 68 by keeping the fiber
60 10-15 length 60 km fixed. It is observed that the error produced
68 10-9 during transmission is negligible at the receiving end.
Hence it is clear from the experimental results that there is
mmw is measured at different length of the fiber. The negligible data loss in the base station and the quality of
Table 1 presents quality factor according to the change in signal is better even without using an amplifier in the base
optical fiber length. The resonator used is an optical res- station.
onator, which consists of a pair of mirrors facing each other
placed in the active laser medium for optical amplification.
It is inferred from the Table 1 that the proposed method 7 Conclusion
is reliable when the signal has to transmitted within a
distance of 60 km through an optical fiber. When Q-factor The 2.5 Gbaud data has been transmitted in the millimeter
is less than 50 there is a need for an amplifier in the base wave range through a single mode optical fiber for 60 km
station to recover the data at the receiving end. For a fiber without using an amplifier in the base station. The mmw
length of 60 km the quality factor is above 50 and when the signal generated using LiNbO3 intensity modulator with
optical fiber length increases to 70 km, a sudden decrease optical carrier suppression technique is a novel method
in the quality factor is observed. After 60 km an amplifier based on the frequency quadrupler scheme. The proposed
has to be used to increase the quality factor but it increases cost effective model is analyzed and the result proves the
the overall cost. robustness of the signal generated by optical means.
According to the experimental results the fiber length
versus quality factor and the BER versus extinction ratio
6 BER Versus Extinction Ratio preserves the quality of the generated signal received in the
base station without having an amplifier to exhibit better
The Table 2 given below shows the different BER performance.
according to the changes in the values of extinction ratio.
When extinction ratio increases the bit error ratio also
increases.

Fig. 8 BER versus extinction ratio

123
 Author's personal copy
References
1. Wells J (2009) Faster than fiber, the future of multi-Gb/s wireless.
IEEE Microw Mag 10:104–112
2. Seeds AJ, Williams KJ (2006) Microw photonics. J Lightw
Technol 24(12):4628–4641
3. Khawaja A, Cryan MJ (2008) Characterization of multimode fiber
for use in millimeter wave radio-over-fiber systems. Microw Opt
Technol Lett 50:2005–2007
4. Smoczynski L, Marciniak M (2002) A comparison of different
radio over fibre system concepts with regard to applications in
mobile internet and multimedia. In: Proceedings of the 4th
international conference on transparent optical network, vol 1,
pp 211–213
5. Jianxin Ma, Zhan Yu, Chongxiu Yu (2010) 64 Ghz optical
millimeter wave generation by octupling 8 Ghz local oscillator via
a nested LiNbO3 modulator. Opt Laser Technol 42:264–268
123
P. K. A. Prem, A. Chakrapani
6. Wiberg Andreas, Pérez-Millán Pere, Andrés Miguel V, Andrekson
Peter A, Hedekvist Per Olof (2005) Fiber-optic 40 GHz mm-wave
link with 2.5 Gb/s data transmission. IEEE Photon Technol Lett
17:1938–1940
7. Li W, Yao J (2010) Microwave and terahertz generation based on
photonically assisted microwave frequency twelve tupling with
large tunability. IEEE Photon J 2(6):954–959
8. Yu J, Jia Z, Yi L, Su Y, Chang G-K, Wang T (2006) Optical
millimeter-wave generation or up-conversion using external mod-
ulators. IEEE Photon Technol Lett 18:1
9. Shih P-T, Chen J, Lin C-T, Jiang WJ, Huang H-S, Peng P-C, Chi S
(2010) Optical millimeter-wave signal generation via frequency
12-tupling. J Lightw Technol 28:1