Millimeter-wave signal generation for a wireless transmission system based on on-chip photonic integrated circuit structures Articles uri icon

publication date

  • October 2016

start page

  • 4843

end page

  • 4846

issue

  • 20

volume

  • 41

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0146-9592

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1539-4794

abstract

  • We demonstrate and compare two different photonic-based signal sources for generating the carrier wave in a wireless communication link operating in the millimeter-wave range. The first signal source uses the optical heterodyne technique to generate a 113 GHz carrier wave frequency, while the second employs a different technique based on a pulsed mode-locked source with 100 GHz repetition rate frequency. The two optical sources were fabricated in a multi-project wafer run from an active/passive generic integration platform process using standardized building blocks, including multimode interference reflectors which allow us to define the structures on chip, without the need for cleaved facet mirrors. We highlight the superior performance of the mode-locked sources over an optical heterodyne technique. Error-free transmission was achieved in this experiment.

keywords

  • mode-locked lasers; photonic integrated circuits; wavelength filtering devices; array waveguide devices