Generation and transmission of 21.4-Gbaud PDM 64-QAM using a high-power DAC driving a single I/Q modulator
06 March 2011
We generate a 21.4-Gbaud PDM 64-QAM (256.8-Gb/s line rate) signal using a single I/Q modulator driven by 8-level electrical waveforms from a novel high-power digital-to-analog converter. We demonstrate coherent-detection performance within 5 dB of the theoretical limit at a bit-error rate of 1×10-3, and achieve transmission over 400 km of ultra-large-area fiber. ©2011 Optical Society of America