Receiver sensitivity improvement in spectrally-efficient guard-band twin-SSB-OFDM using an optical IQ modulator

To further improve receiver sensitivity of spectrally-efficient guard-band direct-detection optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) with twin single-side-band (SSB) modulation technique, an optical IQ modulator (IQM) is employed to optimize optical carrier-to-signal power ratio (CSPR). The CSPRs for the guard-band twin-SSB-OFDM signal generated by using dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DD-MZM) and optical IQM are theoretically analyzed and supported by simulations. The optimal CSPR for the two types of guard-band twin-SSB-OFDM are identified. The simulations exhibit that the error vector magnitude (EVM) performance of the IQM-enabled guard-band twin-SSB-OFDM is improved by more than 4-dB compared to that of the twin-SSB-OFDM enabled by DD-MZM after 80-km single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission. In addition, more than 3-dB and 10 dB receiver sensitivity improvements in terms of received optical power (ROP) and optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) are also achieved, respectively.