Optical direct-detection OFDM signal generation for radio-over-fiber link using frequency doubling scheme with carrier suppression.

This investigation demonstrates the generation of OFDM-RoF signal using frequency doubling technique for the first time, to the author's best knowledge. The 4-Gb/s OFDM signal using 16-QAM format modulated on each subcarrier at a center frequency of 19GHz is experimentally demonstrated. Benchmarked against the OOK format, the 16-QAM OFDM format has the higher spectral efficiency with a sensitivity penalty of less than 2.6 dB. After transmission over 50-km single mode fiber, the power penalties of RF OOK and OFDM signals are less than 0.5 dB.