Ultra-High-Capacity Passive Optical Network Systems with Free-Space Optical Communications

This article experimentally demonstrates a hybrid fiber–free-space passive optical network that enables high spectral density, aggregated capacity, and total throughput through ultra-dense wavelength-division multiplexing baseband and radio-over-fiber channels. Ultra-dense wavelength-division multiplexing 10-Gb/s Nyquist-shaped 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation, 10-Gb/s radio-over-fiber orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing, and 8.75-Gb/s baseband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing signals per user were transmitted through a maximum 40-km passive optical network, which includes a 6-m free-space optics link with acceptable performance.