Bit-error-rate performance analysis of self-heterodyne detected radio-over-fiber links using phase and intensity modulation

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the performance of two self-heterodyne detected radio-over-fiber (RoF) links employing phase modulation (PM) and quadrature biased intensity modulation (IM), in term of bit-error-rate (BER) and optical signal-to-noise-ratio (OSNR). In both links, self-heterodyne receivers perform down-conversion of radio frequency (RF) subcarrier signal. A theoretical model including noise analysis is constructed to calculate the Q factor and estimate the BER performance. Furthermore, we experimentally validate our prediction in the theoretical modeling. Both the experimental and theoretical results show that the PM link offers superior OSNR receiver sensitivity performance (higher than 6 dB) over the quadrature biased IM counterpart.