5 Gbps wireless transmission link with an optically pumped uni-traveling carrier photodiode mixer at the receiver

Abstract

Abstract:We report the first demonstration of a uni-traveling carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) used as a 5 Gbps wireless receiver. In this experiment, a 35.1 GHz carrier was electrically modulated with 5 Gbps non-return with zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK) data and transmitted wirelessly over a distance of 1.3 m. At the receiver, a UTC-PD was used as an optically pumped mixer (OPM) to down-convert the received radio frequency (RF) signal to an intermediate frequency (IF) of 11.7 GHz, before it was down-converted to the baseband using an electronic mixer. The recovered data show a clear eye diagram, and a bit error rate (BER) of less than 10 −8 was measured. The conversion loss of the UTC-PD optoelectronic mixer has been measured at 22 dB. The frequency of the local oscillator (LO) used for the UTC-PD is defined by the frequency spacing between the two optical tones, which can be broadly tuneable offering the frequency agility of this photodiode-based receiver. References and links1. A. Ng'oma, "Radio-over-fiber techniques for millimeter wave wireless

Resonant Tunnelling Diodes for next generation THz systems

“…Contemporary resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) are a case of a mesoscopic-scale semiconductor device with active regions <10 nm which are a strong contender to fill this requirement. Of the competing technologies, one can be reminded of unitravelling carrier photodiodes (UTC-PD) [2], [3], with powers of tens of µW, Gunn diodes [4], conventional Schottky diodes [5], high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) [6], as well as emerging plasmonics [7], and photonic crystals [8]. UTC-PDs do not typically offer a mechanism for phase coherence, and as such, THz radiation is collected by a hyperhemispherical silicon lens in a typical application, limiting the scope of miniaturisation.…”

Optically Pumped Mixing in Photonically Integrated Uni- Travelling Carrier Photodiode

“…7 shows a flat CL across the IF range except at 0.5 GHz due to impedance mismatching at this frequency [2]. The CL values presented here are higher than the values reported in [2,3] because the UTC-PDs on this PIC are optimized for MMW emission rather than mixing. Results around 10 GHz are not shown due to lasers relaxation oscillation at this frequency, which interfered with the down-converted IF.…”

“…Previously, optically pumped mixing (OPM) has been demonstrated at 100 GHz using a single non-integrated unitraveling carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) [2,3].…”

A Perspective on Terahertz Next-Generation Wireless Communications

“…This technology approach is quite relevant since its most commonly reported application is wireless communication [84,85], although terahertz sensing utilizes the same basic devices [86]. Both terahertz transmitters [81,85,87,88] and receivers [89,90] have been implemented that leverage the high maturity of optical fiber technology, but transmitters in particular have received more attention [91]. In this approach, two slightly detuned, frequency-stabilized and phase-locked semiconductor lasers (λ = 1.55 µm InP/InGaAs lasers are common) or an optical frequency comb generator [84] typically act as local oscillators, both illuminating an electronic photodiode.…”