Predistortion for Frequency-Dependent Nonlinearity of a Laser in RoF Systems

In radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems, nonlinear compensation is essential to improve performance. Among the several existing nonlinear compensation techniques, we investigate a predistortion technique for a directly modulated laser in an RoF system. First, we obtain the input-to-output response of a directly modulated laser at 160, 820, and 1,540 MHz. The results show that the laser response is dependent on the frequency band. Second, we design an optimal predistortion circuit to compensate for the nonlinear responses of three frequency bands. We design the predistortion circuit with two options: each predistortion circuit for each frequency band and one single predistortion circuit for all the three frequency bands. Finally, we present the simulation results of the predistortion system obtained using a commercial simulator. These results show that the third intermodulation distortion (IMD3) is improved by 0.6-9 dB for the three frequency bands with only a single predistortion circuit.