Broadband chromatic-dispersion-induced power-fading compensation for radio-over-fiber links based on Hilbert transform

A Hilbert-transform-based broadband chromatic dispersion (CD) compensation scheme for radio-over-fiber links is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. By constructing a Hilbert transform path, CD-induced phase shifts, which initially lead to periodic power fading of the output RF signals, are transferred to the phases of the RF signals. As a result, the powers of the output RF signals are free from the effect of CD in a broadband frequency range. Experimental results show that a flat normalized amplitude-frequency response is actualized within 2–24 GHz, with only 3.02 dB/4.27 dB power fluctuation after transmission over an equivalent of a 38.6 km/43.6 km single-mode fiber. Besides, compared with a conventional dispersive path, the proposed CD compensation scheme significantly improves the third-order spurious-free dynamic range by 23.60 dB.