Asymmetric carrier divider with an irregular RF phase on DD-MZ modulator for eliminating dispersion power fading in rof communication

The main problem of intensity modulation (IM) in radio-over-fiber (RoF) communication is dispersion power fading (DPF), which occurs when the signal is transmitted through a dispersive link that causes a sideband cancelation effect. The DPF level of the RoF link is determined by the deviation factor (DF). The optical single-sideband (OSSB) modulation scheme, which is generated by driving one of the dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulators (DD-MZMs), is usually used to overcome DPF. The DF value of OSSB modulation at modulation index m = 0.1 increases from 0.008 to 0.930 at m = 1. It can be said that this method is only effective at reducing DF at low m. However, as well-known information of the DD-MZM system, high-efficiency optic–electric conversions can be obtained at high m values, but DF will increase. Therefore, reducing the DPF value for high m ≥ 0.1 is interesting. It is known that in wireless communication, to reduce the impact of fading, direct signals are amplified and signals with irregular phases are used. Moreover, this paper proposes the DD-MZM with an asymmetric carrier divider as a direct signal and combines it with an irregular radio frequency (RF) phase to reduce the DPF at high m. The carrier that is generated by laser diode (LD) power (P_IN) is divided asymmetrically as power modulation (P_DD-MZM) and carrier arm (CA) power (P_CA). Furthermore, the minimum DF is obtained when the P_IN is separated as 75% for P_CA and 25% for P_DD-MZM with an irregular RF signal of θ = 48^◦ and a bias point value of γ = 3/4. As a result, with the same power as OSSB, this proposed structure produces DF at m = 0.1 and m = 1 with values of 0.008 and 0.03, or it can reduce DF of 96.7% at m = 1. The mathematical model and simulation model have very good agreement, which validates the proposed method.