Half-duplex 12-channel dense WDM 26-GHz-band radio-over-fiber system employing a 15 GHz bandwidth reflective semiconductor optical amplifier

We demonstrate a half-duplex system for 2.6-GHz-band radio-over-fiber (RoF) signals. Twelve 156-Mbits/s differential phase-shift keying channels operating at the same frequency band as the WiMax standard are successfully distributed after being transmitted through 26.5 km of standard single-mode fiber. At the access point, we employ a 1.5 GHz limited bandwidth reflective semiconductor optical amplifier to remodulate the downlink signal with a 156 Mbits/s2.6 GHz uplink RoF signal. Both the downlink and uplink signals reach error-free operation after transmission, with a negligible power penalty with respect to the back-to-back operation.