Comparison of theoretical and measured P1dB of a photonic microwave link: influence of some physical parameters of the DFB laser

This paper studies a microwave photonic link built as an IM/DD or intensity modulation–direct detection semiconductor laser system. The radiofrequency gain and 1 dB compression point of the link are both simulated with a modelling approach and compared to measurements. The electrical model of the electro-optic transducer, a distributed feedback laser, is first presented. Taking into account the nonlinearities and noise sources, it is developed on the commercial electrical software Advanced Design System. Owing to this accurate model, the impact of the relaxation oscillation frequency is presented on the system nonlinearity characteristic as for example the input 1 dB compression point. The comparison of simulated results to measured ones confirms the accuracy of this model.