Microwave photonic quadrature filter based on an all-optical programmable Hilbert transformer

A microwave photonic quadrature filter, new to our knowledge, based on an all-optical Hilbert transformer is presented. It is based on mapping of a Hilbert transform transfer function between the optical and electrical domains, using a programmable Fourier-domain optical processor and high-speed photodiodes. The technique enables the realization of an extremely wide operating bandwidth, tunable programmable bandwidth, and a highly precise amplitude and phase response. Experimental results demonstrate a microwave quadrature filter from 10 to 20 GHz, which achieves an amplitude imbalance of less than ±0.23 dB and a phase imbalance of less than ±0.5°.     

Programmable multiple true-time-delay elements based on a Fourier-domain optical processor

A new technique to realize an array of multiple true-time-delay elements, which can be independently and continuously tuned, is reported. It is based on a WDM parallel signal processing approach in conjunction with a diffraction-based Fourier-domain optical signal processor. Programmable linear optical phase transfer functions are realized to obtain different electrical true-time delays. The technique can scale to a large number of wideband true-time-delay lines, with continuously tunable programmable delay. Results demonstrate multiple true-time-delay elements with independent tuning control and verify the concept by tuning the free spectral range of a microwave photonic notch filter. To our best knowledge, this is the first demonstration of multiple independently controllable true-time-delay lines for microwave photonic systems.     

基于注入半导体激光器的微波副载波相位调制信号产生

光载无线技术是解决终端超宽带无线通信的重要方法,光信号与微波/毫米波信号的融合处理技术在光-无线的数据格式转换中至关重要.提出了一种基于相位调制信号光注入Fabry-Perot型半导体激光器实现微波副载波相位调制信号产生的方法.光学注入半导体激光器的输出光场会产生一周期(P1)振荡效应, P1振荡产生的边带实现了相位调制信号光的调制分量的放大,被放大的调制分量与注入光载波在激光器腔内拍频形成微波副载波.注入光相位的变化导致新产生的微波副载波相位变化, 实现了注入信号光相位信息转化为微波副载波相位信息.本系统完成1.3 Gb/s, 2.7 Gb/s, 2 Gb/s光相位调制信号到微波副载波相位调制信号的转换,并测量了微波的单边带相位噪声. 通过光电转换和电域混频将还原出的光基带信号与原信号进行逻辑对比,证明了数据信息转换的正确性.     

基于光学-微波同步的低噪声微波产生方法

低噪声微波在冷原子光钟、光子雷达、大科学装置远程同步等领域具有重要的应用价值.本文介绍了一种基于光学-微波相位探测技术的低噪声微波产生方案,利用光纤环路光学-微波鉴相器,将超稳激光的频率稳定度相干传递至介质振荡器.实验采用梳齿相位参考至超稳激光的窄线宽掺铒光纤飞秒光学频率梳,结合光纤环路光学-微波鉴相器和精密锁相装置,将7 GHz介质振荡器同步至光频梳重复频率的高次谐波,同步后的光脉冲序列与微波信号的剩余相位噪声为–100 d Bc/Hz@1 Hz,定时抖动为8.6 fs [1 Hz—1.5 MHz];通过搭建两套低噪声微波产生系统,测得7 GHz微波的剩余相位噪声为–90 d Bc/Hz@1 Hz,对应的频率稳定度为4.8×10^–15@1 s.该研究结果对基于光学相干分频的低噪声微波产生提供了一种新思路.     

Optical Bistability and Multistability in an EIT Medium with Two-Photon Resonance Transitions

Intensity threshold of optical bistability (OB) and optical multistability (OM) can be controlled by amplitude and phase control of microwave driven field in the two-photon resonance transitions in a parametric region. It is found that in two-photon resonance case, the weak microwave field can reduce the threshold of optical bistability and strong microwave field can lead to optical multistability. The effect of relative phase between applied fields is also discussed. It is shown that for weak and strong microwave field, intensity threshold of OB and OM can be modified. Moreover, it is found that for strong microwave field, relative phase has an essential role for switching between OB and OM or vice versa.     

Coherent Coupling between Microwave and Optical Fields via Cold Atoms

We demonstrate a long-coherent-time coupling between microwave and optical fields through cold atomic ensembles.The phase information of the microwave field is stored in a coherent superposition state of a cold atomic ensemble and is then read out by two optical fields after 12 ms.A similar operation of mapping the phase of optical fields into a cold atomic ensemble and then retrieving by microwave is also demonstrated.These studies demonstrate that long-coherent-time cold atomic ensembles could resonantly couple with microwave and optical fields simultaneously,which paves the way for realizing high-efficiency,high-bandwidth,and noiseless atomic q uant um converters.     

控制液晶器件产生的程控透镜和微透镜阵列

研究了计算机程控光学器件的性能。通过对液晶空间光调制器进行电寻址控制,得到了振幅模式、二进制相位模式和连续相位模式的计算机程控透镜和程控微透镜阵列。实验结果和计算分析都表明,连续相位模式的程控透镜具有较好的聚焦性能和光效率。程控微透镜阵列的优点是阵列中的每一个微透镜都可以单独控制,可以得到所需要的阵列形式。实验给出了一个由这样的微透镜阵列产生的去掉了中心4×4阵列的8×8光斑阵列样式。还给出了利用程控透镜来方便有效地演示和研究透镜的像差方法。由计算机控制空间光调制器得到的光学器件虽然具有极大的灵活性,但是由于空间光调制器的像素的尺寸影响了它的精细程度,限制了它的应用。     

Balanced optical-microwave phase detectors for optoelectronic phase-locked loops

A balanced optical-microwave phase detector for the extraction of low-jitter, high-power, and drift-free microwave signals from optical pulse trains is presented. The phase detection is based on electro-optic sampling with a differentially biased Sagnac loop. Because the timing information is transferred in the optical domain, the regenerated microwave signal is robust against drifts and photodetector nonlinearities. In a first experimental implementation, 3 fs in-loop relative timing jitter (integrated from 1 Hz to 10 MHz) between a 44 MHz optical pulse train and a 10.225 GHz microwave signal is demonstrated.     

Photonic approach to the measurement of time-difference-of-arrival and angle-of-arrival of a microwave signal

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a photonic approach to the measurement of the time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) and the angle-of-arrival (AOA) of a microwave signal. In the proposed system, the TDOA and the AOA are equivalently converted into a phase shift between two replicas of a microwave signal received at two cascaded modulators. The light wave from a CW laser is externally modulated by the microwave signal at the first modulator, which is biased to suppress the optical carrier, leading to the generation of two first-order sidebands, which are further modulated by the phase-delayed microwave signal at the second modulator. Two optical components at the carrier wavelength are generated. The total power at the carrier wavelength is a function of the phase shift due to the coherent interference between the two components. Thus, by measuring the optical power, the phase shift is estimated. The AOA is calculated from the measured phase shifts. In our experiment, the phase shift of a microwave signal at 18 GHz from -160° to 40° is measured with measurement errors of less than ±2.5°.     

基于双通道马赫曾德尔调制器调制边带滤波的微波光子移相器

提出了一种基于双通道马赫曾德尔调制器(DPMZM)调制边带滤波的微波光子移相器。在双通道马赫曾德尔调制器的结构中,在一路马赫曾德尔干涉仪上实现抑制光载波的双边带调制输出,而在另一路马赫曾德尔的相位调节臂上通过调节偏置电压实现光载波信号的光学移相,两路光信号经过干涉合路后由光纤布拉格光栅(FBG)滤除其中一个一阶边带,最后输入到光电探测器(PD)进行光电转换得到移相的微波信号。实验结果表明,基于DPMZM调制边带滤波的微波光子移相器具有传输特性稳定、输出幅度波动小的优点。该结构还具有相移调节响应速度快、应用频带宽以及移相范围大于360°等特点。     

重复频率可调谐的超低抖动光窄脉冲源的研究

提出了一种新型的基于光电振荡器的重复频率可调谐的超低抖动光窄脉冲源. 光电振荡器系统可以产生超低相位噪声的微波信号; 被该信号调制的直调光经过两次相位调制之后, 使光脉冲的啁啾增强; 再通过一段色散补偿光纤, 光脉冲被进一步压窄. 实验中使用YIG可调滤波器, 可以得到8–12 GHz内步进为200 MHz的可调谐微波信号, 因此光脉冲的重复频率具有可调谐性. 当微波信号即脉冲重复频率为9.6 GHz时, 测得脉冲宽度为3.7 ps, 相位噪声为-130.1 dBc/Hz@10 kHz. 由此得出光脉冲的瞬时抖动为60.1 fs (100 Hz–1 MHz), 因此该方案产生的光窄脉冲源具有超低的抖动.     

Optical bistability using quantum coherence in a microwave-driven four-level atomic system

The behavior of the optical bistability (OB) is investigated in an optical system which consists of a four-level atomic system with a microwave drive field and an optical cavity. It is found that the optical bistability can be accomplished by adjusting different physical parameters in both steady and transient process. Due to the existence of the microwave drive field, the optical bistability can be also obtained even under weak coherent coupling field condition. Since the intensity and phase of microwave drive field can be conveniently modulated, this optical system provides a new experimental method to test the optical bistability theory.     

Photonic generation of a millimeter-wave signal based on sextuple-frequency multiplication

A millimeter-wave signal with sextuple-frequency multiplication of a microwave source is obtained with two cascaded optical modulators, which are driven by the same microwave source with phase deviation of pi/2 introduced by an electrical phase shifter. Without any optical filter, a wideband continuously tunable millimeter-wave signal is easily generated.     

Photonic instantaneous microwave frequency measurement based on two different phase modulation to intensity modulation conversions

A novel photonic technique for instantaneous frequency measurement of microwave signal based on phase modulation to intensity modulation conversion is proposed and demonstrated. In the proposed system, an optical carrier is modulated by a microwave signal with its frequency to be measured through a phase modulator. The phase-modulated optical signal is then converted to intensity-modulated signals in two independent paths using a dispersive media and a frequency discriminator respectively. Since the dependence of the received microwave power on the input microwave frequency in the two paths differs, the microwave power ratio between the two paths can be used to uniquely determine the microwave frequency. The major advantages of the approach lie in that only one laser source and the bias-free phase modulator is employed in the system, which improves the stability of the system. Experimental demonstrations of the frequency measurement based on the proposed approach are presented.     

基于布里渊载波相移的宽带可调谐二倍频微波信号生成

本文提出并实验验证了一种基于光纤中受激布里渊散射效应的光子二倍频微波信号生成技术.利用布里渊增益谱内的强色散特性,对光强度调制器产生的双边带调制信号的载波进行π/2相移,可实现载波与±1阶边带拍频仅生成二倍频微波信号.由于光纤中受激布里渊散射的窄带特性以及仅对双边带调制信号的载波进行相移,不影响调制信号两个边带的幅值和相位,因而生成的二倍频微波信号可实现宽带调谐,调谐范围仅受其他光器件的工作带宽限制.此外,信号光和产生受激布里渊散射的抽运光均来自同一光源,因而不受波长漂移的影响,系统具良好的稳定性.     

All-optical microwave bandpass filter and phase shifter using a broadband optical source and an optical phase modulator

We propose a system that can perform microwave bandpass filtering and phase shifting simultaneously without redundant optical-electrical and electrical-optical conversions. The principle is based on polarization-dependant phase modulation of a broadband optical source and the variable optical carrier time shift method. A single-bandpass microwave photonic filter with a central frequency of 10.8 GHz, a 3-dB bandwidth of 670 MHz, and a 360° phase tuning range is experimentally demonstrated. The capability of our configuration to implement wideband phase shifters is also verified.     

Ultralow phase noise microwave generation with an Er:fiber-based optical frequency divider

We present an optical frequency divider based on a 200 MHz repetition rate Er:fiber mode-locked laser that, when locked to a stable optical frequency reference, generates microwave signals with absolute phase noise that is equal to or better than cryogenic microwave oscillators. At 1 Hz offset from a 10 GHz carrier, the phase noise is below -100 dBc/Hz, limited by the optical reference. For offset frequencies >10 kHz, the phase noise is shot noise limited at -145 dBc/Hz. An analysis of the contribution of the residual noise from the Er:fiber optical frequency divider is also presented.     

Precision phase control of an ultrawide-bandwidth femtosecond laser: a network of ultrastable frequency marks across the visible spectrum

We demonstrate that the stability of the current optical frequency comb generated by a Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond laser is limited by the microwave reference used for phase locking the comb spacing. Hence we implement precision frequency/phase control of the entire comb to the fundamental and second-harmonic frequencies of a stable cw laser without any external microwave reference. The stability of a cw iodine-stabilized laser is transferred to millions of comb lines (with an instability of 3 x 10(-13)) covering more than one octave of the optical frequency spectrum. In addition, the mode spacing of the comb can be used as a stable microwave frequency derived directly from a stable optical oscillator.     

Microwave Photonic Phase Shifter Based on an Integrated Dual-polarization Dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder Modulator without Optical Filter

ABSTRACT

A frequency-doubled microwave photonic phase shifter (MPPS) without optical filter is proposed. The MPPS is based on an integrated dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DP-DPMZM) and a polarization modulator (PolM). The DP-DPMZM with a 90° polarization rotator in one arm is used to generate an optical carrier suppressed double sideband (OCS-DSB) signal with orthogonal polarization, and the PolM with two modes opposite phase modulation is used to introduce the optical phase shift between the two orthogonally polarized tones. Simulations show that the MPPS can realize a continuously tunable phase shift of 360° with only one DC bias voltage, and is not sensitive to the optical carrier wavelength and microwave signal frequency since no optical filter is used.     

飞秒激光非线性频率转换的自适应优化过程

使用闭环控制的自适应控制光学系统对飞秒激光的波前进行调控,可以有效改善激光与物质相互作用中由于相位畸变或光路偏差导致的效率下降。利用可编程纯相位的液晶空间光调制器结合模拟退火算法设计的自适应优化系统,在BBO晶体的飞秒倍频过程中实现了对相位畸变和光路偏差导致倍频效率下降的自动补偿,从而实现飞秒倍频效率的最优化。