Patent ID: 7761012

Claim:
A method of generating dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) optical mm-waves in an optical transmission system, comprising the steps of: generating a plurality of CW lightwaves with a plurality of distributed feedback semiconductor laser diodes (DFB-LDs) to produce individual wavelength signals with a specified channel spacing; multiplexing the CW lightwaves into a multiplexed DWDM optical signal with a arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer; intensity modulating the multiplexed DWDM optical signal with a LN Mach-Zehnder modulator (LN-MZM); phase modulating the intensity modulated DWDM optical signal to produce a phase modulated DWDM optical signal with a LiNbO 3 phase modulator, the phase modulator driven by an RF signal that is smaller than a half-wave voltage of the phase modulator, such that higher-order sidebands are minimized; applying the phase modulated DWDM optical signal to an input port of an optical interleaver, the optical interleaver having a specified bandwidth to suppress the optical carriers and convert the DWDM optical signal to DWDM optical mm-waves; and amplifying the DWDM optical mm-waves and transmitting the DWDM optical mm-waves over single mode fiber (SMF).