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1. Introduction
Analog photonic link has become extremely attractive in recent years for analog radio-
frequency (RF) signal transport and processing, because of its advantages such as broad
bandwidth, low insertion loss, and immunity against electromagnetic interference [1].
Significant applications have been demonstrated in the areas of radio over fiber (RoF) system,
phased array radar, cable television, and so on [2, 3]. Its frequency capacity, gain, and
dynamic range have been considered as the key quality factors [4]. Due to the capacity for
high carrier frequency, high power-handling potential, and commercial availability, external
intensity modulation by a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) is adopted in most high-
frequency links. But the nonlinear transfer function of the MZM decreases the signal fidelity.
Even in the sub-octave span applications, the generated third-order intermodulation distortion
(IMD3) occupies the same frequency band as the signal, which cannot be removed by simple
filtering. The spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) is then usually used to describe the signal
fidelity loss due to IMD3, and its improvement has been especially considered in the relative
research areas [5].
Over the past years, various approaches have been reported to improve the SFDR, which
can be classified according to where the IMD3 is eliminated. The pre-distortion, where the
linearization is performed at the transmitter, has been demonstrated by electronic and optic
ways. The electrical pre-distortion [6] has limited RF carrier frequency. Optical linearization
is usually to employ two MZMs in parallel [7] or series [8], one of which builds an additional
“nonlinear” link to cancel out exactly the nonlinearity of the other link. The input RF signal
has to be power split, which costs additional RF loss (e.g. the loss of a 50:50 broadband RF
power splitter can approach 6 dB). Keeping a precise and constant power split ratio under
widely changed RF carrier frequency range is also a challenge for current RF devices. Note
that the additional RF devices before the electro-optical conversion introduce extra link loss.
Though the link loss can be maintained by increasing the optical power, the noise floor at the
photo detector (PD) will be enlarged so that the noise figure will be worsened accordingly.
Another optical linearization at the transmitter can solve this problem, where the optical
carrier or the band around is manipulated [9,10]. Though additional loss nearly 4.8 dB was
also observed meanwhile, the link loss can be compensated optically by increasing the laser
power. Since the photo current of the PD is unchanged, the noise performance is maintained
[10]. However, the required advanced electro-optical modulator with complicated bias control
or specially designed and very narrow optical filter is a challenge now [9, 10].
Without complicating the transmitter, the post linearization at the receiver end can solve
the above problem. Lately, the post digital signal processing (DSP) linearization technique
[11–18] makes it a promising alternative to exclude IMD3 components for its flexibility and
accuracy. Such technology, in the digital domain, either builds a reversed system so that the
original signal can be perfectly recovered [11–14], or builds a cascaded nonlinear link so that
the newly generated IMD3 can balance out the actual one [15–18]. Digital linearizations, both
Received 10 Mar 2015; revised 11 Apr 2015; accepted 12 Apr 2015; published 21 Apr 2015
4 May 2015 | Vol. 23, No. 9 | DOI:10.1364/OE.23.011242 | OPTICS EXPRESS 11243