Comparison of the impact of nonlinearity in a p-i-n and an MUTC photodetector on electro-optic frequency combs

We calculate the impact of nonlinearity in both a - - photodetector (PD) and a modified uni-traveling carrier (MUTC) PD on an RF-modulated frequency comb generated using 100-fs optical pulses with a 50-MHz repetition rate. We take into account bleaching (nonlinear saturation) that is due to the high...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2021-02, Vol.46 (4), p.813-816
Main Authors: Jamali Mahabadi, Seyed Ehsan, Carruthers, Thomas F, Menyuk, Curtis R, McKinney, Jason D, Williams, Keith J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bleaching
Continuous radiation
Intermodulation distortion
Mathematical analysis
Nonlinearity
Optical pulses
Photometers
Radio frequency
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Summary:We calculate the impact of nonlinearity in both a - - photodetector (PD) and a modified uni-traveling carrier (MUTC) PD on an RF-modulated frequency comb generated using 100-fs optical pulses with a 50-MHz repetition rate. We take into account bleaching (nonlinear saturation) that is due to the high peak-to-average-power ratio and contributes to the device nonlinearity. Nonlinear impairment of an RF-modulated continuous wave is typically characterized by the second- and third-order intermodulation distortion products (IMD2 and IMD3). In contrast, an RF-modulated frequency comb must be characterized by a distinct 2 and 3 for each comb line . We calculate 2 and 3 in both - - and MUTC PDs and compare the results. We also calculate the ratio of the 2 power and the 3 power to the fundamental power in both - - and MUTC PDs. We find that nonlinear distortion has a greater impact at high frequencies in the MUTC PD than in the - - PD.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.414026