A novel tunable cascaded IIR microwave photonic filter

A new tunable cascaded infinite impulse response (IIR) microwave photonic filter is presented, based on a novel configuration in which a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is inserted between two active recirculating delay line (RDL) loops. Due to wavelength conversion with cross-gain modulation (XGM) in SOA, interferences between light beams traveling different paths are canceled, ensuring a stable transmission. By employing this configuration, a cascaded IIR microwave photonic filter is firstly achieved. The free spectral range (FSR) and the Q factor are both increased significantly by adopting “vernier effect” technique in the IIR filter. The structure is also tunable by adjusting the length of one RDL loop.