Bias-Independent Inter-Modulation Method for Simultaneously Measuring Low-Frequency Modulation and Bias Half-Wave Voltages of Mach-Zehnder Modulators

A bias-independent inter-modulation method is proposed and demonstrated for measuring low-frequency modulation and bias half-wave voltages of Mach-Zehnder modulators(MZMs).The method consists of simultaneous sinusoidal modulation on the modulation and bias ports of the MZM under test.Sinusoidal-modulated sidebands heterodyne with each other and generate the desired inter-modulation products after photodetection,which allows extracting both the modulation depth and half-wave voltage for the modulation and bias ports of the MZM.Our method is independent of bias voltages of the MZM,which can be canceled out by carefully choosing the sinusoidal-modulation frequencies.Moreover,the proposed method enables the low swing voltage for measuring both the modulation depth and half-wave voltage of MZMs.Experiments indicate that the proposed method features the simple setup and high accuracy for low-frequency response measurement ranging from 1 Hz to 1 MHz.