Duobinary modulation with a lumped-element Mach-Zehnder device

1. A modulation method for an optical signal comprising the steps of:

applying a substantially X-Gb/s bit sequence to an input of a X/k-Gb/s non-linear, lumped-element InP Mach-Zehnder Modulator, where k is >1; and

generating through the effect of lumped-electrode low-pass filtering of the Mach-Zehnder modulator a substantially X-Gb/s output signal,

wherein X is the bit rate in Gb/s of the applied bit sequence and the output signal and X/k is the bit rate in Gb/s at which the modulator is configured to operate.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

biasing the Mach-Zehnder modulator at substantially maximum extinction such that the substantially X-Gb/s output signal exhibits a duobinary format.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of:

filtering the output signal with an optical filter to reduce undesirable signal characteristics resulting from imperfections of the lumped-element low-pass filtering within the Mach-Zehnder modulator,

such that signal components of the output signal outside a predetermined frequency band are removed.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

biasing the lumped-element Mach-Zehnder modulator at quadrature such that the generated X-Gb/s output signal exhibits substantially NRZ format; and

optically equalizing the NRZ format X-Gb/s output signal.

5. A modulation method for an optical signal comprising the steps of:

applying a substantially 40-Gb/s bit sequence to an input of a 10-Gb/s non-linear, lumped-element InP Mach-Zehnder Modulator; and

generating through the effect of lumped-electrode low-pass filtering of the InP Mach-Zehnder modulator a substantially 40-Gb/s output signal.

6. A modulation method for an optical signal comprising the steps of:

applying a substantially 42.7-Gb/s bit sequence to an input of a 10.7-Gb/s non-linear, lumped-element Mach-Zehnder Modulator; and

generating through the effect of lumped-electrode low-pass filtering of the Mach-Zehnder modulator a substantially 42.7-Gb/s output signal.

7. A method of operating a non-linear InP Mach-Zehnder optical modulator having first and second waveguide arms corresponding to first and second lumped-element electrodes respectively, said non-linear InP Mach-Zehnder modulator being configured to operate at X/k-Gb/s where k is >1, said method comprising the steps of:

applying a substantially X-Gb/s bit sequence (DATA) to one of the lumped-element electrodes;

applying a substantially X-Gb/s bit sequence ( DATA ) to the other one of the lumped-element electrodes; and

operating said non-linear InP Mach-Zehnder modulator at maximum extinction, such that_through the effect of low-pass filtering by the lumped-element electrodes, it generates an X-Gb/s output signal in duobinary format, wherein X is the bit rate in Gb/s of the applied bit sequences and the output signal and X/k is the bit rate in Gb/s at which the Mach-Zehnder modulator is configured to operate.

8. The method claim 7 wherein said Mach-Zehnder modulator is biased at quadrature such that it generates an X-Gb/s output signal exhibiting NRZ format, said method further comprising the step of:

optically equalizing the X-Gb/s NRZ output signal.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of:

filtering the X-Gb/s duobinary output signal thereby reducing undesirable signal characteristics resulting from imperfections of the lumped-element low-pass filtering within the Mach-Zehnder modulator,

such that signal components of the output signal outside a predetermined frequency band are removed.

10. A method of operating a non-linear InP Mach-Zehnder optical modulator having first and second waveguide arms corresponding to first and second lumped-element electrodes respectively, said InP Mach-Zehnder modulator being configured to operate at 10-Gb/s, said method comprising the steps of:

applying a substantially 40-Gb/s bit sequence (DATA) to one of the lumped-element electrodes;

applying a substantially 40-Gb/s bit sequence ( DATA ) to the other one of the lumped-element electrodes; and

operating said non-linear InP Mach-Zehnder modulator at maximum extinction such that a substantially 40-Gb/s output signal in duobinary format is produced.

11. A method of operating a non-linear InP Mach-Zehnder optical modulator having first and second waveguide arms corresponding to first and second lumped-element electrodes respectively, said InP Mach-Zehnder modulator being rated to operate at substantially 10.7-Gb/s, said method comprising the steps of:

applying a substantially 42.7-Gb/s bit sequence (DATA) to one of the lumped-element electrodes;

applying a substantially 42.7-Gb/s bit sequence ( DATA ) to the other one of the lumped-element electrodes; and

operating said non-linear InP Mach-Zehnder modulator at maximum extinction such that a substantially 42.7-Gb/s output signal in duobinary format is produced.