## 2 Electro-Optical Basic Concept of Architectural Standard Modulation
### Electro-Optical Mixing Setup
The outlet of the SOA-MZI is equipped with an optical band-pass filter (OBPF) configured at 1550 nm, featuring a bandwidth of 0.6 nm. In the optical domain, the filtered up-converted signal is directly linked to a power meter (PM) to gauge its power output. In the electrical domain, the sampled signal is now detected by a 300 GHz second PD (PD2) with a sensitivity of 0.85 A/W. Following this, the signal gets strengthened by the second LNA (LNA2), which has an output gain of 33 dB. An electrical spectrum analyzer (ESA) is used to evaluate the accomplishments of the up-mixed transmission. During the simulations, the bit error rate (BER) evaluation for the electrically sampled M-ary QAM (BER_EL-M-QAM) section that is mentioned as (4) in Figure 2 is applied to determine the requested error vector magnitude (EVM) values using the VPI emulator [35]. The experiment uses a specialized tool called a digital sampling oscilloscope (DSO) and an application known as a vector signal analyzer (VSA), marked as (3) in Figure 2. This setup helps gather data on two important measures: EVMs and BERs. Moreover, one could incorporate an optical coupler (OC) at the OBPF's exit to examine the blending efficiency of the system simultaneously in both the optical and electrical realms. As an OC can divide the optical power into a 50/50 or 10/90 ratio, depending on the specific OC, there is also consideration for associated losses. Nonetheless, this practice is sidestepped to enhance not only the signal quality but also the overall performance of the system. It is noteworthy to mention that the utilized photodiodes (PD1 and PD2) are recognized as uni-traveling carrier (UTC) PDs (UTC-PDs), specifically chosen for their role in photodetection [36; 37; 38]. To compare the experiment results to the simulated ones, the authentic SOA-MZI from the Center for Integrated Photonics (CIP) is utilized, along with various additional components for experimental characterization. Furthermore, to perform a reliable comparison between the experimental and simulated investigations, all the operational points used in the simulations are replicated in the configuration. It is crucial to emphasize that the experimental arrangement is constrained by the bandwidth of the ESA. Consequently, the frequency scope is capped at a maximum of 59 GHz. For the purpose of comparing the up-converted transmissions between the experiments and simulated results, the resultant incorporating frequency values varying from \(f_{s}+f_{IF}=20\) GHz to \(3f_{s}+f_{IF}=59\) GHz are considered. The maximum achieved bandwidth is \(10f_{s}+f_{IF}=1.005\) THz when \(f_{s}=100\) GHz. Incorporating the SOA-MZI standard modulation mode into photonic networks is a significant achievement, enabling effective electro-optical mixing, which is a critical compo nent in essential wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technologies. Electro-optical mixing has far-reaching implications, particularly in the realm of signal analysis, where it enhances both data transmission speed and efficiency. SOA-MZI devices, utilizing interactions such as XPM and XGM, achieve ultrafast switching in the picosecond or femtosecond dimensions, leveraging the quick reaction times of SOAs (SOA1 and SOA2). These devices, integral components of photonic integrated circuits (PICs), play a crucial role in advancing optical technology systems, especially RoF and MMW applications. Furthermore, within the industry landscape, quantum information processing [39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44] presents an opportunity to explore and assess SOA-MZI systems, particularly in applications like quantum key distribution (QKD).