Predistortion of electroabsorption modulators for analog CATV systems at 1.55 μm

A predistortion circuit with adjustable amounts of third- and fifth-order predistortion is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The circuit is used to cancel the third- and fifth-order intermodulation distortion of a 1.55-/spl mu/m integrated electroabsorption modulator/DFB laser. The CSO obtained is -61 dBc and the CTB is reduced 22.6 dB to -65 dBc. This performance is maintained after fiber amplification and propagation through 13 km of nondispersion shifted fiber due to the modulator's low chirp. Dithering of the DFB laser's injection current is employed to increase the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) threshold to +13.4 dBm.