Optical frequency tuning for coherent THz wireless signals

Abstract

THz wireless signals have become of interest for future broadband wireless communication. In a scenario where the wireless signals are distributed to many small remote antenna units, this will require systems which allow flexible frequency tuning of the generated THz carrier. In this paper, we demonstrate experimentally the implementation of two tuning methods using an optical frequency comb generator for coherent optical frequency tuning in THz wireless-over-fiber systems. The first method is based on using a photonic integrated circuit optical phase lock loop (OPLL) subsystem implemented as a high quality optical filter for single comb line selection and optical amplification. The OPLL generates an optical carrier, which is frequency and phase stabilized in reference to one of the optical comb lines with a frequency offset precisely selectable between 4 and 12 GHz. The second method is based on optical single sideband suppressed carrier (SSB-SC) modulation from the filtered comb line using an optical IQ modulator. With this technique, it is possible to suppress the other unwanted optical tones by more than 40 dB. This generated optical carrier is then heterodyned with another filtered optical comb line to generate a tuneable and stable THz carrier. The full system implementations for both methods are demonstrated by transmitting THz wireless signal over fiber with 20 Gb/s data in QPSK modulation. The system performance and the quality of the generated THz carrier are evaluated for both methods at different tuned THz carrier frequencies. The demonstrated methods confirm that a high quality tuneable THz carrier can easily be implemented in systems where dynamic frequency allocation is required.