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Optical Zonu RF over Fiber Optics Links offer extreme performance in the form of the OZ1600 7 GHz Ultra Broadband RFoF Transceiver Module. This Product utilizes a state-of-the-art, Ultra Linear, Cooled DFB Laser, with an Integral thermoelectric cooler (TEC) device, and an optical isolator, to deliver the highest level of RFoF performance.
The typical cooled DFB Laser has a high “slope efficiency”, which means that the Laser is very sensitive and requires only a lower modulation current (compared to non-cooled DFB Lasers) to achieve the expected high modulation index. In all Lasers, the slope efficiency parameter is very temperature sensitive. As the Laser temperature changes, so does the slope efficiency of the Laser, and consequently, all of the other critical Laser parameters, such as, Gain/OMI, NF, IP3, etc.
The characteristic temperature of the Laser diode is such that with the increasing Laser temperature, the threshold current increases, while the slope efficiency of the device decreases. This phenomenon makes the Laser less efficient, reducing the RF signal gain, increasing the link Noise figure, and causing additional degradation in the Laser linearity. Since many Laser Analog RF Characteristics depend in large part on the temperature of the Laser diode, the Transmitters that utilize a TEC show marked improvement over the Transmitters that use non-cooled Lasers.
In many applications which require high SFDR, the ability of the Laser diode to perform well at elevated temperatures is of critical importance. The Laser must maintain high linearity and retain a low noise figure. The MTTF of the cooled Laser is improved since the TEC prevents the Laser diode from being exposed to higher operating temperatures.
Applications such as Antenna Range and EMI testing environments, Radar communications system testing and Antenna remoting, all benefit highly from the superior optoelectronic performance of the OZ1600 Series.