Photonic microwave bandpass filter with improved dynamic range

A technique to improve the dynamic range of a photonic microwave bandpass filter is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The filter is implemented based on phase modulation to intensity modulation conversion using fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) serving as frequency discriminators, with the optical carriers located at the left or right slopes of the FBGs, to generate positive or negative tap coefficients. The dynamic range of the photonic microwave bandpass filter is increased by reducing the optical-carrier-induced shot noise and relative intensity noise at the photodetector, which is realized by placing the optical carriers at the lower slopes of the FBG reflection spectra. A photonic microwave bandpass filter with an improvement in dynamic range of about 10 dB is demonstrated.