OFDM signal up and down frequency conversions by a sampling method using a SOA-MZI

Abstract

Up and down frequency conversions are performed in the range 0.5–39.5 GHz with an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing data format by using a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. Frequency conversion is achieved by the sampling technique using an optical pulse source at a sampling frequency of 7.8 GHz with 10-ps width optical pulses. Characterizations of the quality of the OFDM signal up and down conversions are done for different target frequencies, symbol rates, and numbers of subcarriers. We show that the maximum bit rate can attain up to 245.76 Mb/s for both up and down conversions.