An analog photonic link with compensation of dispersion-induced power fading

A simple and low cost analog photonic link with the compensation of dispersion-induced power fading is proposed and demonstrated using a dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator. In the proposed link, the modulator is single-electrode driven to realize a novel double-sideband (DSB) modulation. By adjusting the dc bias of the modulator, the frequency response of a dispersive link can be controlled to compensate the power fading at any working frequency. Experimental results show that the power fading in a conventional DSB modulated link after fiber transmission over 25 and 50 km can be both successfully compensated in the proposed link, and the spurious-free dynamic range at 12 GHz of a link with 25 km of single-mode fiber is improved by 11.6 dB.