Efficient transmission scheme for AWG-based DWDM millimeter-wave fiber-radio systems

We propose and demonstrate an upstream transmission scheme using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) for arrayed waveguide grating (AWG)-based dense wavelength-division-multiplexed (DWDM) millimeter-wave fiber-radio systems and show improved link performance. In our scheme, unused optical carriers from the cyclic AWG in the downlink (DL) are tapped for uplink (UL) transmission. An SOA in conjunction with the AWG simultaneously amplifies the DL RF subcarriers and UL optical carrier, thus improving carrier-to-sideband ratio in the DL while also yielding an improved power budget for the UL. Our experimental results show that the proposed scheme can be a practical solution for future bidirectional wavelength interleaved DWDM transmission systems.