Concurrent M-QAM transmission performance assessment in a combined four SOA-MZIs arrangement

•Innovatively, this study achieves concurrent M-QAM signal generation by integrating four SOA-MZIs through bandpass sampling and nonlinearity.•The coexistent optical signal merges diverse data types, yielding replicas with varying frequency ranges.•Experimental assessment, using EVM and BER metrics, validates the efficacy of our novel system. In this paper, the utilization of four semiconductor optical amplifier Mach-Zehnder interferometers (SOA-MZIs) is explored to achieve concurrent M-QAM (M-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) transmission. Utilizing an actively mode-locked laser, we generate pulses with a duration of 0.5 ps at a repetition rate of 20 GHz, serving as our sampling source. The incoming M-QAM signals, spanning various frequencies, undergo down-mixing at the SOA-MZIs combined exit, resulting in diverse output frequencies by respecting the bandpass sampling procedures. The unparalleled simultaneous M-QAM transmission is assessed through critical metrics such as error vector magnitude (EVM) and bit error rate (BER). The SOA-MZI conversion efficiency (CE) exhibits a notable transition, ranging from 90 % at 76 GHz to 68 % at 84 GHz based on 1024-QAM data. The concurrent down-mixed signals showcase EVM values of 3, 2, 1, and 0.25 % for 16-, 64-, 256-, and 1024-QAM, respectively, at the first range of output frequencies. Besides, an exceptional BER value of 93×10−6 is attained at a symbol rate of 0.25 GSymb/s at 84 GHz for the 1024-QAM replica. A comparative analysis reveals that under identical parameter settings, the proposed Gaussian filter expounds lower EVM values compared to the root raised cosine (RRC) filter. These results highlight the success of the novel experimental approach employing SOA-MZIs for simultaneous down-mixing of four M-QAM carriers with varying levels, showcasing outstanding performance outcomes.